life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Beginning”

holding hands

I said to the man who stood at the gate of year:
“Give me a light that I may tread
safely into the unknown.”

And he replied, “Go into the darkness, and
put your hand into the hand of God:
That shall be to you better than light
and safer than a known way!”
– Minnie Louise Haskins

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As this year ends and gives way to a new one
think of it as a gift you have received.
In the joys and struggles, delights and losses,
grace has made its way into you.
Give thanks even if you don’t know what for.

Whatever regrets you have for the year just passed,
hand them over now. Without judgment,
place them in the hands of the Forgiving One
and let it all simply become part of your story.

Whatever hopes you have for the year to come,
trust it as another gift.
Be prepared to welcome the moment
each moment, with wonder and love.

Whatever resolutions you make for the new year,
know that a deeper current than what you want
or what you resolve is what God is doing in you.
Attend, and follow.

The new year will bring you grace.
May you receive it deeply.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

decisions

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Thanks-full for you

Ever meet someone who immediately fits right into your bones? Someone you just want to talk to for 5-10-unlimited days straight, just to see where the conversation could take you? Someone who speaks your language, makes you laugh AND gives you chill bumps in that brief encounter? sigh…I hope you have…cause it’s really good!

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Friendship is like a garden. -Al

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Never put a period where God put a comma… – Al

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy;
they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.
-Marcel Proust

The only way to find your voice is to use it. – Austin Kleon

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I walk in the whipping wind to reach my spot
At times I wonder why???
cause, Oh Baby, it’s cold outside…
Then I step on the beach,
and understanding breaks through,
here I am –
touching the Divine.
It’s crazy.
How could it be that someone like me,
someone simply ordinary,
with so many and varied,
flaws and imperfections,
can see and touch and breathe divinity?
Very God.
I stand,
humbled and grateful,
full of hope for this wonder-filled world.
The cold wind is directly in my face,
waves crash against rocks.
I am small and fragile,
here on the edge of the seagull flock
(I wonder, is that what a bunch of seagulls are called? a flock? a gaggle? a herd?)
I remember being here
almost two years ago now.
Remember how the seagulls taught me great lessons
about God’s care and love.
How different I was then.
The same sun shone,
but back then all was dark and frozen-still inside me.
Today I feel the sunshine in my very soul.
I stand and cry,
very cold, wet tears of overwhelming gratitude
as ‘To Make You Feel My Love’
plays in my pocket.
So much brokenness.
I have not forgotten.
I will never forget.
Yet here I am,
somehow on the other side of the great gulf of grief.
Somehow standing in the center of the light.
Somehow understanding things that I can’t humanly comprehend.
Somehow knowing without knowing.
Somehow beginning with each new morning,
a new joy,
a new journey,
a new birth,
a new song,
a new view,
a new life,
a new story,
a new adventure.
I bow in gratitude.
I know I must sing
because I carry songs which are ready to be sung,
to be birthed in the world.
Just as the birds on the wires above me, I sing
because I cannot NOT sing.
I sing because it is who I was created to be.
I sing because I’m happy.
I sing because I’m free.
His eye is on the sparrow –
and I am worth many sparrows!
I am beloved!
and
SO ARE YOU!

ACL q11/18/14

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If there was just one thing I could tell you about living the life of your dreams, knowing that it would be enough if you understood it, I would ask you to realize that you already are.

In the presence of greatness,
The Universe

The present is the only point where time touches eternity. – C. S. Lewis

Jane Hirshfield has a line of poetry which has been tweeted all over the world which reminds us –
How fragile we are between the few good moments.

I think somehow we have been sold the idea that life should be all thrill. That, if every moment isn’t exciting, we are somehow failing at life. I have learned, over the past 18 years, that the real wonder of life is not in the passing thrilling moments, but in the recognition of the simple and divine in the every day ordinary.

Andy Rooney says it like this –

For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his/her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.

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The world is full of wonder! Happiness and joy are available to all who open their senses to the beauty of the unexpected sources carried in every breath we take.
Asking, seeking and knocking are all that’s required to begin!

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Change starts with you but it doesn’t start until you do. – Tom Ziglar

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What if this road, that has held no surprises
these many years, decided not to go
home after all; what if it could turn
left or right with no more ado
than a kite-tail? What if its tarry skin
were like a long, supple bolt of cloth,
that is shaken and rolled out, and takes
a new shape from the contours beneath?
And if it chose to lay itself down
in a new way; around a blind corner,
across hills you must climb without knowing
what’s on the other side; who would not hanker
to be going, at all risks? Who wants to know
a story’s end, or where a road will go?

What If This Road by Sheenagh Pugh

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carry the beauty with you

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Photos by Fisherman Dan of Branford, CT

Sometimes we forget people, even people we appreciate, after they’re no longer present. Recently I have been gifted with a re-visit of the music of John Denver. As I have re-connected with his gifts, his spirit, his voice, it has taken me to new places of beauty and old places of re-birthing. πŸ’ž Am so grateful for the talents each of us bring to the world. Our gifts, when shared, are eternal. Don’t withhold who you have been created to be. Share your truth now! Today! Every day! Beauty brings hope! Sharing brings eternal joy and changes the world! There are no accidental gifts! Embrace yourself!

joy comes

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settle in

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I smiled at myself
in the mirror this morning
said, ‘good morning’
to the crazy haired girl
looking at me with happy eyes
I make happy coffee
and smile as the heaven-brew
hits morning tastebuds
I have many thoughts this morning
plans and inspiration
floating through
I smile at the fresh pink fuzz
on the backyard tree
at the birds hopping through grass
at the dirty pig statue
looking so perfectly thrilled
To be so dirty
I believe I will live this quote today:
The only thing that ultimately matters is to eat an ice cream
cone, play a slide trombone, plant a small tree, good God, now
you’re free.
– Ray Manzarek
Hmmm wonder where I’ll find that trombone?

ACL 4/15/13

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The light has begun to shine! – SLK

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He picked up a pebble
and threw it into the sea.

And another, and another.
He couldn’t stop.

He wasn’t trying to fill the sea.
He wasn’t trying to empty the beach.

He was just throwing away,
nothing else but.

Like a kitten playing
he was practicing for the future

when there’ll be so many things
he’ll want to throw away

if only his fingers will unclench
and let them go.

“Small boy” by Norman MacCaig

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