life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Adventure”
only You
Blessed are the poor in spirit
for thiers is the realm of heaven.
—Matthew 5.3
When you have nothing
then God fills your life.
When you are powerless
there is nothing but the infinite power of God.
When you are stripped naked
you are clothed in the glory God gave you.
It is in darkness and chaos
that God creates.
When you are on the cross,
you are where God saves;
when you are in the grave,
you are where God raises us up.
When you are weak and discouraged,
alone and hurting,
in that lowest place,
you are in the very place where Christ comes:
you are accompanied;
you are blessed.
What we most fear is all we desire:
to lose everything,
falling in love until all we have is love
and the Beloved.
Empty your life
and all will be God.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
You can watch life. Or actually play life. And only one way wins. – Ann Voskamp
That just calls for repeating!! Did you and I really get that?
One more time…slowly…
You can watch life. Or actually play life. And only one way wins.
So your space won’t look normal, and so your space won’t be comfortable, and so your space won’t be standard or steady or safe. Make your space and play anyway.
You don’t have to know if you have what it takes.
You just have to know that you will take what you’ve been given and make something of that.
Days when you will just have to salvage time planks. Because you don’t get space and time. You get given the materials to make time and space. Days when you will have to make space.
Days when you will have to make your own field — and then go be out standing in it.
– Ann Voskamp
http://www.aholyexperience.com
“Nothing ever goes away until it teaches us what we need to know.” – Pema Chodron
The sky in my rearview
is a huge bowl of rainbow sherbet
the beautiful kind of flavor-ite.
I love eating
that certain shade of raspberry, orange n lime
swatches of lemon, indigo and periwinkle
float in and out
around.
Flaming.
Framing.
Dancing.
Living.
At one point a bold, red-gold-tangerine fills the top of the hilly crest
and head light ‘stars’ of Friday night traffic
blaze brilliant against the backdrop,
indigo stretches wide above,
high, cut-thru mountains frame the sides as I drive,
framing this unending sky-filling masterpiece
– I lose my breath in wonder.
At times I find it hard to keep moving forward
into the matt gray and dirty white
of drudgery ahead.
with so much loveliness going on
right behind me.
How can it be so different at the same time?
How can this reflection be so clear?
how can I keep heading away from it?
How can I not be a part of this splendor?
How can I not be enveloped,
devoured,
consumed by this color?
Eventually midnight blue seizes its moment of glory,
then night falls over all the world I can see on any side,
and I am left
aching with the beauty,
the majesty,
the extravagant display,
the glorious wonder,
of this wonderful world.
The ache gets deeper,
wider.
I go to wondering
if this longing for the kiss,
which should have been,
will ever be answered?
if my whole life
I will wait
for a moment which passed,
never to be realized under this piece of ever-changing sky –
always a whisper in my soul.
This magic of first love,
a thing with wings
hovering over my heart
for another 38 years –
echoing on into eternity.
AL 1/25/14
being human
I spot one.
a coin laudro-mat
I feel blessed to be able to wash my clothes.
towels and unmentionables.
a small bag.
I walk into the familiar,
yet for a while now,
Blessedly Unfamiliar.
I remember the years of this in my life
my most missed luxury in all of life
was washing and drying clothes
at home.
So hard this part of life became.
So challenging and humbling.
$4.50 to wash
a quarter for 5 minutes to dry.
I struggle to adjust.
I hadn’t planned on this.
I don’t look the part today.
I have to ask questions to reacquaint myself with this system.
Here in the midst of
hard working and living men,
tired mothers and crying babies,
the immigrants and struggling,
These to whom I belong.
those who make their living
through making clean the dirty.
I stand and watch the circle go round
Hot tears stinging my eyes
I remember.
Those days.
Those tough as nails days.
Plunged from luxury to poverty
in a heartbeat break of life.
So soon we forget…
So quickly we remember…
I watch the water rise –
I didn’t put in enough soap.
There are no suds.
I pray that hot water I chose
for those 2 extra, hard earned quarters,
will do it’s work
and my clothes will smell good.
I will not prolong my stay –
or use more of my precious coins.
I pray each of our guardian-laundry angels
will bless each of us
doing laundry every day
in all types of conditions.
This would be pure luxury in parts of this world.
I pray for grace.
I pray to remember.
I pray to be grace.
I pray to be The Words of God to heal the broken.
I pray for grace.
I pray for the crying baby,
and the tired man,
whose current outfit could use a good washing itself.
I pray for the immigrant family,
quietly folding together,
speaking Spanish in hushed voices.
I pray for the fabulous girl at the dryers,
with the faux Burberry scarf flung jauntily over her shoulder,
I hope to carry myself with such flair and dignity.
We are all here –
Bearing the high cost,
and inconvenience,
of poverty in our society.
I pray as quiet tears run.
I stand in my washer’s corner hoping nobody sees my memories.
I blow my over-productive nose.
and give thanks for all things.
Especially that I have known these struggles.
That I know how this feels.
That I am part of this humanity.
Not separate
I am one with all God’s created people.
All seeking clean clothes,
washing machines
and hope.
The crying baby starts to laugh
I smile as well.
God is always good
I am always blessed –
If I am willing to see the blessings –
even if it takes years to see them.
AL 12/22/13
ahhhh, the warmth of presence
Yes, these days come, too:
gray, banal, post-epiphany,
the child in hiding,
the gold spent,
the myrrh lost on the way to Egypt,
the wise men long gone
to a country too far to hail,
the wailing over but
the sadness not,
the road leading
nowhere in particular,
starless.
Remember
it was often this way,
the star lost in fog,
the road drifted over
by weariness.
Still, something led you on.
Someone walked in you
those miles, bore your heart
deep in their robes,
safe from the swirling,
deadening sands.
That is how you have come
to this dreary day.
The promise is not glory,
not certainty, but presence.
This gray
is the inside of God’s robes,
bearing you,
without your guiding,
by another road.
________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
closing doors
Saying goodbye
to Short Beach
at Lighthouse Point.
This has been my sanctuary
these past two months.
My place of learning with God.
A pure divinity school,
with sparkly rocks,
seagulls named Lefty
and water that reflects
the face and moods of God.
It is time to say goodbye
time to fly –
like the cranes have taught me –
time to go to work,
co-creating with God,
all the things I’ve been taught
during these years of learning.
The truths of intimacy
and the extreme possibilities
of love manifested.
Which is the only thing that has changed my heart.
The only medicine which has bound up my wounds
and healed my broken places.
The Love, which is God,
I have come to know this truth –
it is the one, and only, thing
that will change the world.
AL 4/16/13
I spend the day
Moving into
ruthless
radical
Trust.
I confess.
I weep.
I let go.
I praise.
I let go more.
I move into new areas –
Of hope
and faith.
I walk to the shore.
Every rock glitters
I talk to my favorite seagull,
Lefty –
I can tell it’s him
when he moves
his empty leg evident.
My seagull friend, Speckles, I know immediately
those red-brown dots on his cheeks
stand out among his fair faced brothers.
They move over as I get too close –
I am not a seagull after all –
They must keep some distance
Not trusting humans
as they trust their creator.
I cant resist glittering rocks,
Colorful shells.
The sparkling glory of God
Is everywhere.
How do I not remember all this glitter in the sunshine?
I walk back with heavy pockets –
Grateful for gravity,
which will keep me on this earth
after I have emptied my treasure.
I am aware of the world –
Connection –
Trusting all of life.
As I live trust
into this new moment.
of life.
of spring.
Signs are everywhere –
Flowers and buds
appearing before my very eyes.
All of nature trusting.
Always.
Only we humans
Struggle to trust.
Only I –
think I can handle my own life.
Think I am separate.
Think I must earn my living.
Earn my worth.
Prove my value
Hide who I really am.
Allow my ego to rule my delusions.
Like I have done anything to put myself here.
Like I can pretend that I don’t need,
or that Im not enough.
that I can be someone Im not.
what arrogance have I been taught?
What Foolishness have I held on to?
What silliness, and damning lies, have I refused to let go of?
I fall on my knees in humble thankfulness.
I am not my own.
I am the beloved
Lord, I trust –
You.
Open my eyes.
Renovate my heart.
I am Yours.
3/15/13
Being Loving doesn’t mean that you just let people walk all over you and be “nice” all the time – far from it. Being Loving means having boundaries, standing up for what you believe in and not letting people walk all over you. There is a fine line between standing up for yourself and being a jerk. And it takes some time and some mistakes to understand the difference. – Mastin Kipp
Being Loving does not mean you are weak – au contraire! Being Loving means that you are STRONG! Strong in your conviction, strong in your compassion, strong in your vulnerability and strong in your forgiveness. – Mastin Kipp
New Year. turn the page.
Why not grow roses in your soul?
Don’t try to invent them,
it’s been done.
Don’t labor over making them,
it will happen.
Ask what the Beloved is doing in you,
ask again and again,
slowly,
until you see.
Ask what you can do to help,
to clear the space,
to hold the light,
and that will be your path.
And promise that no matter
how disappointingly plain
or outrageously beautiful the results,
you will husband the fruits
of God’s work in you.
Even if you spend the whole year
simply wondering
it will be a splendid year.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
life: acoustic & amplified 