life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Adventure”

17 Jul 2013

living in eternity

Time is too slow for those who wait, too swift for those who fear, too long for those who grieve, too short for those who rejoice, but for those who love, time is eternity. –Henry Van Dyke

there is grace on ground like this
we can say that every step we take
of every day we live
Wherever we are is sacred ground
every bush we see burning with holy
every rock singing glory
every bird testament of abundance
every flower testament to extravagant love
every waterfall
every rainbow
and moonbow
and drop of the summer rain
shimmers with promise
rocks standing firm in the faith
glittering in sunshine
we are made of stars
held together with mud
breathing the very same breath as our creator
the anti matter of the universe swirls around our feet
life and death our greatest gifts
the space between can be our brilliantly colored heaven
or the darkest shades of hell
we choose our path with every decision
free will is our constant companion
choices are most important
we keep rising from the ashes of our choices
better or bitter
we become the words we speak
wake up and guard them well
how well and often we give thanks
determines our joy
until we cross the portal
into the next adventurous chapter

al 7/16/13

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, Change, Choice, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gospel, Gratitude, Joy, kindness, Life, Love, soul and spirit | Leave a comment

16 Jul 2013

just to cool down!

In the middle of Summer heat I find an eternal winter of coolness! haha
Love this little guy!
Preview of the amazing artist Terry Cervi featured in the upcoming August issue of Songs from the Valley Newsletter
http://www.terrycervi.com

Posted in action, Adventure, Dancing, Encouragement, Letting Go, Life, Love, nature, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

14 Jul 2013

There are no interruptions in a day. There are only manifestations of Christ. Manifestations of Love. – Ann Voskamp

You are doing something great with your life – when you’re doing all the small things with His Great love.
– Ann Voskamp

Posted in action, Adventure, community, compassion, find art at pinterest, giving, Glory, Gospel, Life, Love, Respect | Leave a comment

13 Jul 2013

a little help from my friends

Dragonfly
I love
to see
your shimmering wings

above the still pond
– Tina Michel

Now I see skinny lizards, skiting through the grass
And darting geckos,
Naked with the vulnerability of rubber bands,
And tiny, twitchy frogs as curious as babies.

I have grown intimate with ants
And carefree with cockroaches.
I hear the whizzing of the dragonfly
Above the whirring of the fan.
I have learned to apprehend mosquitoes,
And sat transfixed while butterflies
With wings more beautiful than peacock damask
Visited my blue bag time and time again.

A whole and complicated order of creation
Imposed itself upon my gaze
While I sat still and drank my coffee
In the garden.

Or rather, I should say,
I opened my eyes and saw it,
Opened my ears and heard it,
Narrowed my field and selected it.
Together we changed me.

Kathy Galloway
Struggles to Love, The Spirituality of the Beatitudes, 1994

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, Change, community | Leave a comment

12 Jul 2013

1 Comment

unexpected miracles

Robbed and wounded on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho,
you lie in life’s rough ditch, unable.
Your strength and your treasure pass you by.

Your shadow sees you and is moved with compassion.
Your pain comes to you.
Your failure bends over you.

Your need for forgiveness bathes your wounds.
Your weakness wraps you in clean bands.
Your unworthiness gathers you in knowing arms.

Your brokenness carries you to safe shelter.
Your poverty says, “Treat this one as my Beloved.
I will return, and pay the cost.”

There is no other grace.
There is no less dangerous life.
There is no other salvation.

Who can tell what stranger will be chosen
without knowledge
as your innkeeper, your care giver?

Who can know what dark Samaritan,
pushed away, will come
back to you in your need?
_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, awareness, compassion, dark, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, friendship, grace, Gratitude, Letting Go, Love, Miracles, mystery, perceptions, Poetry, soul and spirit

10 Jul 2013

on our way

You are on your way from Jerusalem to Jericho,
going out from the heart of your religion into your daily life.
Along the way you are assaulted.
Whatever your religion has given you is taken.
You are stripped of a good way to present yourself.
You are robbed of your worthiness, whatever is to your credit.

The priest who would receive your sacrifice is not interested.
The Levite who would assure your righteousness does not.
You have no power, no treasure, nothing to offer,
nothing with which to prove or defend yourself.
You are utterly dependent, and deeply alone.
There is no reason to love you.
And your enemy draws near and bends over you.
Your fear, what you reject and despise, looms.

And heals you.
The one you distance makes you a neighbor.
The one you judge shows you mercy.
The one you refuse to love loves you.

We are loved without reason.
We are saved, not successful.
Only the one dependent on mercy can show us mercy.
Only the vulnerable can teach us trust.
We need the poor, to learn to receive.
We need the guilty, to learn to be forgiven.
We need the alien, to see ourselves, and all souls.

Without them, how destitute we are
on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho,
poor and naked, lost in the land of grace,
love draining out of us, ravenously sucking on our egos,
shivering in the rags of our self-sufficiency.

I don’t know about trusting the Lord
what the mother in the projects knows.
I don’t understand forgiveness like the prisoner.
I need to learn humility from the prostitute.
I will truly get mercy only side by side
with those who have no other hope.

The Samaritan I fear and despise
is my teacher, my master,
my savior,
my Christ.

________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, Alone, attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, courage, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Growth, healing, inspiration, Life, Lonely, Love, Miracles, People, perceptions, receiving, Relationships, soul and spirit, strength, success, Trust, truth, Vulnerability | Leave a comment

04 Jul 2013

1 Comment

we are here to share, live and love with each other

What can we hope for?

The wisest man ever once said,
All is vanity
He also said, There is a time for every season.
My four year old nephew figures it out,
asking his mom,
So we just keep getting older
and then we die?
The response is,
Yes, that about covers it.
To which he replies,
Oh man.

An 83 year old loses her mental capacities.
She asks, Why are there cowboys and Indians in the yard?
She curses the surgeon who allows her to continue walking.
I wonder, Has he done her a favor?
She asks me,
Can I borrow your scissors to slit my throat?
When I say, No
She responds,
Awwww man.

In this world we are assured
we will have trouble.
There will also be intensely good,
even great, moments.
Life is our gift.
We choose to make it better or bitter.
We live.
We die.
We seek.
We find.

Why are we here?
That question has been asked by many.
Answered in a variety of ways and meanings.

All I have personally found true is:
We are here for love.
To find it.
To give it.
To receive it.
To allow it to flow in us,
around us,
through us,
to us.
We are here to help each other.
To share love and life with one another.
We are all a part of one.
We are all beloved.

Who am I to judge how we each find this love?
Have I, at long last, become enlightened?
My response to this amazing question,
Oh my!

AL 6/16/13

Posted in Adventure, attitude, awareness, Blessing, courage, Death, find art at pinterest, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, People, Writing

02 Jul 2013

thoughts for you as you journey today

The only way to care for the disadvantaged – is to disadvantage yourself – which is guaranteed to turn out for your advantage.
– Ann Voskamp

God is not interested in my comfort, He’s interested in my healing. – Paul Jones

Sometimes as I wake up and face the morning, I don’t feel hope or anticipation. I feel a weight on me—not a great, crushing burden, just a little load, enough to weigh my spirit down. It’s usually the weight of something unpleasant coming, some duty or obligation, some sense of something I ought to do, something between me and joy. Maybe it’s a big responsibility at work, or maybe it’s just a household chore. Or guilt over something that I messed up. Maybe it’s loneliness. Maybe it’s fear that this is not going to be a brilliant day. Maybe it’s a vague sense that I need to prove myself, or that my life ought to be somehow different, and that that difference is a long way off. It’s a heavy feeling, a binding-up, discouraging feeling.
That’s when I sit down and come back to the present moment. I disregard all those thoughts about the future or some other existence, and simply be aware of myself sitting in this room, breathing, alive, created by God, and a delight to God. I direct my attention to God’s presence. I don’t expect to feel it, but I let my deep awareness go beyond my feelings. I become aware that God is lovingly present, embracing me and dwelling within me. And in that presence I lay my burdens down. I lay down my fears and expectations, my thoughts and feelings, all of it. I lay down the burden of my despair, the burden of the rest of the day, the burden of upholding who I am. I simply be, here and now, and let God be with me. In this moment, in this breath, there is only God.
And when after a time I go, I leave my burdens down by that riverside. I leave them. And God goes with me, from this present moment into the next—free, beloved, and light. Although sometimes I have to stop again and lay my burdens down once more and enter the joy and freedom of the present moment, the blessing of God’s presence. That’s the pilgrimage: not to carry your treasure to some far off destination; but to lay your burdens down and leave them and walk in the grace of God. That’s the most beautiful journey of all.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/

Posted in Adventure, Alone, awareness, beloved | Leave a comment

30 Jun 2013

2 Comments

then sings my soul

There are things that make my soul sing –
Like hay bales in a newly mowed field.
Corn with tassels as far as the eye can see.
Tobacco hanging straight on rods drying high in a barn.
Farms fenced with white wood, their pastures dotted
with cows, horses and John Deer green.
Coming down a hill to see
city skyline soft in rainy mist,
or night-time lights.
Fog draping anything.
Crossing a body of water on a brilliantly engineered bridge.
All make me hold my breath with the sight of so much beauty.
The lines and shades of green from the tree farm pine trees looking like Christmas all year.
Small deli’s with homemade sausage and hand cut meats,
where the owner takes care of getting your order,
then comes out to ring you up.
All of these are miracles of extraordinary proportion.
These have fed my soul today.
So much more in store for me tomorrow.
The lavish gifts life brings are many and varied.
I am blessed to be awed by a few on my way.

AL 6/28/13

Posted in Adventure, America, art, attitude, awareness, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Miracles

24 Jun 2013

making the day yellow…with a little orange & a splash of pink thrown in

Words that do not become flesh in us remain “just words.” They have no power to affect our lives. If someone says, “I love you,” without any deep emotion, the words do more harm than good. But if these same words are spoken from the heart, they can create new life.

It is important that we keep in touch with the source of our words. Our great temptation is to become “pleasers,” people who say the right words to please others but whose words have no roots in their interior lives. We have to keep making sure our words are rooted in our hearts. The best way to do that is in prayerful silence.

– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org