life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Beliefs”
all the hidden things
All the things hidden in my heart,
I, like Mary,
watching and observing Jesus.
Being the witness of the unseen miracles.
The keeper of all I have seen.
My faith is real,
because I have experienced great acts of God,
faithfulness
on the inside, and outside, of my life,
In the daily progression of my journey.
You can’t take any of it away from me.
I know what I have seen.
I know my personal transformation of heart.
This is not my daddy’s faith
This is not my momma’s relationship.
This is all mine.
Intimacy
Walking together.
Miracles.
Clouds and colors,
falling stars and pillars of fire,
pointing the way.
Falling in love.
Commitment.
Yes, the words of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount
changed my life.
When I began to try to live them daily.
When I stepped into the great unknown.
Became an observer of my own soul.
Became open to the door of the unknown.
Became comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Became strong in the divine otherness within me.
Fell in passionate love with grace.
Fell in love with this great, incomprehensible love.
Walked through the unlocked door into freedom.
All the hidden things will be revealed
All the hidden things will be proclaimed
All the hidden things will be shouted from the rooftops.
All the hidden things will be joyfully sung at the top of my lungs.
All the hidden things will remain hidden no more.
Glory rises as the sun rises.
Glory rises as the sun sets.
AL 10/19/13
go deep for happiness
You can guess about anything
Tell yourself answers that sound good.
Convincing.
Convicting.
Make up endings
like all good fairy tales.
But guessing,
Making up the endings,
Wont make it so.
Only staying open
To the unexpected.
To the glory in the grey.
Eyes wide open.
The messy truth
will create truth and peace.
Acting on a made up premise
keeps us trapped.
Looking.
Seeing,
with true eyes of understanding,
sets us free
and brings us wisdom.
True love.
The narrow way of honesty brings life.
Way down deep –
It always is what it is
Now, in this moment,
and for all eternity.
AL 10/16/13
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
receive? yes, please give me more
The most intimate belonging is self belonging. Yet your self is not something you could ever own; it is rather the total gift that every moment of your life endeavors to receive with honor. True belonging is gracious receptivity.
– John ODonohue
Do I believe this life revolves around me? No. Do I believe in grace or do I believe that I need to do something to be worthy? Grace alone.
If I truly believe God created such a one-and-only-one, as me. Unique, and equal in value, to every other amazing creation He has created, for such a moment in time as this, what kind of self absorbed, and foolish, person would I be not to recognize who I am as a daughter of God?
How can I not say a continual thank you and move into as much of my belovedness as I possibly could understand?
As Henri Nouwen says, “The question is not how much I can prove and love God, but how much I will allow Him to love me”.
How much of God’s love will I receive? I believe we can have as much of God as we want…and so I say, this and every, day…
FILL MY CUP, LORD….as the deer pants for water, I am thirsty for You, give me more…
I believe
To be happy, you don’t have to do anything new. You just have to remember how to believe again… Believe everything good is possible. Believe in your dreams. Believe in people. Believe in love. But most of all… Believe in yourself.
– Doe Zantamata
completeing the gift cycle…how to change the world
Yesterday my post was how to find your life. The quote I used was, “You have never really lived until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” I believe it is true, yet all day as I looked at that quote, I realized it was just one side of this thing called a gift. Giving feels great! We all want to be in a position to give. It has been proven through research, that even watching someone give makes us feel good. Yet, many of us don’t think about the other part of the cycle of giving is receiving a gift from someone who you can never repay. The part of receiving is for losers, homeless people who should be grateful if we give them our change, people down-on-their-luck (which we never intend to be), etc. Receiving has become a dirty word. We all claim we want to help heal others, yet, being needy is not part of the equation for most of us. We don’t need anything, or anyone. WE are better than that. We are the givers, don’t ya know. How then will we receive God’s grace?
This past year has been a learning experience for me in both these valuable lessons in the ‘gift-cycle”.
I found a really important quote about giving, a few years ago, which has allowed me to complete this very important circle.
By giving we heal ourselves. By receiving we heal others. – Unknown
Both parts of this are extremely important and, if we are going to change the world, must be understood. This is not about mistreating, manipulating, holding something over someone’s head, or taking advantage of others. This is a lesson in the value of the human soul and equality. Every soul, every person, every creature, every piece of creation is a part of God and in so being, has the same value. We are all beloved, and we must treat each other and help each other from that place of recognition. This is why Christ told his disciples to go out ‘without any money or clothes’ – you can tell a whole lot about a person by the way they give, and by the way they receive.
Most of us are good at giving in some respects, we are not as good at receiving, especially as proud Americans. We want to be the givers, we want to be what we think is the most important part of giving – feeling good, and healing, ourselves. We are proud of ourselves that we give so much charity to others. What about humility? Not really a part of our country, or our citizens any more. What we fail to think of is the other person and the value for them in feeling good, and for their healing, as well. We are especially reluctant in receiving what cannot be repaid. Mostly we don’t want feel vulnerable and we don’t want to be in debt to anyone, I understand this, probably more than most, and what I have come to believe is, so many people have used gifts in the wrong way, it has skewed the truth. All of that is because of insecurity. People manipulate and misuse power because they don’t realize their own intrinsic value. We must see ourselves as we truly are – loved beyond measure, in our imperfect state chosen, created by the creator for good works. and then we must share this same gift to each person we meet. We are all needy, so we must also receive this same gift from everyone we meet. This full gift-cycle will change the world. Grace is everything and everything is grace!
Lovely, lovely to give and to receive. I am healed by these truths. I am healed by giving to you and also by allowing your healing. How cool is that!
life: acoustic & amplified 
