Blessing | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “Blessing”

13 Jan 2013

the still small voice of love

Many voices ask for our attention. There is a voice that says, “Prove that you are a good person.” Another voice says, “You’d better be ashamed of yourself.” There also is a voice that says, “Nobody really cares about you,” and one that says, “Be sure to become successful, popular, and powerful.” But underneath all these often very noisy voices is a still, small voice that says, “You are my Beloved, my favor rests on you.” That’s the voice we need most of all to hear. To hear that voice, however, requires special effort; it requires solitude, silence, and a strong determination to listen.

That’s what prayer is. It is listening to the voice that calls us “my Beloved.”

Henri Nouwen

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Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, inspiration, Life, Love, Prayer, quiet, Solitude, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts, truth

12 Jan 2013

touch

Healing Our Bodies

Incorporating human touch in to our everyday lives is vital to the healing of our emotional and physical selves.

Sometimes we might concentrate so much on our spiritual lives that we overlook the wonders of being present in our physical form. When we are more aware of the fact that our bodies are also important in terms of our personal growth, we may find it easier to nurture them. One of the most powerful ways to do this is through human touch, for a loving, comforting touch allows us to access the part of ourselves that yearns for a sense of oneness with the world around us. Even simple forms of touch connect us not just to our bodies but also to the energetic presence of other people.

There are so many ways to incorporate touch in our daily lives, one of the easiest being a heartfelt embrace. Just making a point to hug someone on a daily basis and really feel our energy pass between each other can strengthen the bonds that keep us together. Hugs help us heal any hurt or upset we may have recently experienced by letting us release into the moment of the embrace and realize that no matter what happens to us, we have someone in our lives who supports and cares for us.

Another nourishing form of touch is massage. While we may think of massage as a luxury, it is actually an ancient form of healing that enables us to open up our energetic pathways in order to receive unlimited energy from the universe. It doesn’t matter whether a simple massage comes from a loved one or a massage therapist, but by giving ourselves the gift of massage every once in a while, we are doing something healthy and beneficial for our bodies. Massage helps our bodies activate their own restorative powers, creating a wonderful way to engage fully in our own healing.

Letting ourselves take advantage of the healing nature of touch creates space where we can truly live in and experience the world through our bodies, allowing us to completely immerse ourselves in the loving sense of joy and wonder that is our life.

http://www.dailyom.com

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, healing, intimacy, Life, Love, soul and spirit, Tenderness, touch, Vulnerability | Leave a comment

11 Jan 2013

A Lifetime A Day

In the space between breaths
It can be gone –
A month’s worth of words
erased with a fingertip.
A 12, 30 even 60 year marriage over
With 4 words spoken:
I want a divorce.
A home with all its possessions
destroyed in a matter of minutes
in the fury of nature –
Fire
or storm
or selfishness

Life!
so fragile,
with no guarantees
of longevity
or comfort,
begs to be lived
now.
A lifetime a day
is the only way
to count
for the sake of goodness.
This is the only moment that counts
The only thing eternal
are these moments
that don’t wait.
Take a deep deep breath
of the spirit that is giving it all.
say thank you
for the only gift that matter,
the only thing that remains.
All else can be destroyed.
When nothing else remains,
what is this eternal gift?
Love

AL 12/22/12

Holy One,
I am your vessel,
your cup, your picture frame.
I am the brush and you are the art.
I am the candle; you are the flame.
I am the school bus and you are the children.
I am the ship and you are my freight.
I am the body and you are my soul,
my heartbeat, my nerve, my breath.
You are the harp and I am the string;
I am the string and you are the music;
I am the music and you are the words.
Holy One, I am your life in this life,
and you are my life.
Bear me on
as I bear you
into the world,
O Holy One.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, Blessing, create, dark, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, inspiration, Life, Love, Poetry, Reflection, Relationships, soul and spirit, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

10 Jan 2013

A Blessing for One Who is Exhausted

by John O’Donohue

When the rhythm of the heart becomes hectic,
Time takes on the strain until it breaks;
Then all the unattended stress falls in
On the mind like an endless, increasing weight,

The light in the mind becomes dim.
Things you could take in your stride before
Now become laborsome events of will.

Weariness invades your spirit.
Gravity begins falling inside you,
Dragging down every bone.

The tide you never valued has gone out.
And you are marooned on unsure ground.
Something within you has closed down;
And you cannot push yourself back to life.

You have been forced to enter empty time.
The desire that drove you has relinquished.
There is nothing else to do now but rest
And patiently learn to receive the self
You have forsaken for the race of days.

At first your thinking will darken
And sadness take over like listless weather.
The flow of unwept tears will frighten you.

You have traveled too fast over false ground;
Now your soul has come to take you back.

Take refuge in your senses, open up
To all the small miracles you rushed through.

Become inclined to watch the way of rain
When it falls slow and free.

Imitate the habit of twilight,
Taking time to open the well of color
That fostered the brightness of day.

Draw alongside the silence of stone
Until its calmness can claim you.
Be excessively gentle with yourself.

Stay clear of those vexed in spirit.
Learn to linger around someone of ease
Who feels they have all the time in the world.

Gradually, you will return to yourself,
Having learned a new respect for your heart
And the joy that dwells far within slow time.

Worn
Tenth Avenue North
Album: The Struggle

I’m Tired I’m worn
My heart is heavy
From the work it takes to keep on breathing
I’ve made mistakes
I’ve let my hope fail
My soul feels crushed by the weight of this world
And I know that you can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left

I know I need to lift my eyes up
But im too weak
Life just won’t let up
And I know that you can give me rest
So I cry out with all that I have left

Let me see redemption win
Let me know the struggle ends
That you can mend a heart that’s frail and torn
I wanna know the sun can rise from the ashes of a broken life
And all that’s dead inside can be reborn
Cause I’m worn
My prayers are wearing thin
And I’m worn
Even before the day begins
I’m worn
I’ve lost my will to fight
I’m worn
Heaven come and flood my eyes

Though I’m worn
Yeah I’m worn

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, compassion, dark, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, inspiration, Life, Love, Tenderness, thankfulness | Leave a comment

07 Jan 2013

the thin thread in the dark

The past 5 months have been some of the toughest I have ever experienced – and I have been through some tough times over these past 23 years – but the past 5 months have been brutal. They have worn me down and out. My faith has been strong and I have had miracles and amazing people come into my life to help me in every way possible, but there is something about day after day of this type of faith – walking for months in extremely difficult living, months of having no money, pain and grief from loss. Living with no relief for months on end, not knowing where you will eat or sleep next – which wears you out and drains your resources to the very last drop.

And then one day, after 127 days of this, I woke up and it was the day I had known could happen. The day I had feared would come. The day I had dreaded and tried to keep from coming. It was upon me. I woke up with no hope and all was dark. I’ve had a few such days, weeks, even months over these past years and they are some of the hardest, bleakest of times I have ever experienced. I shudder when I think about them. I wasn’t able to write, or share during those times. I would completely shut myself off and not even talk to people for the most part. When I have gone into the dark, it has been me, alone, locked into the darkness struggling to find God, to find my way forward, my way out, wrestling with the questions which have no answer. I am always concerned I won’t make it, I won’t recover, I won’t come out, I won’t have the strength to make this next choice I need to make – I will finally just give up and stay there. Everything I have hoped for, and struggled so hard for, will never be accomplished and I will die of my brokenness. This time was different, this time I had no defense and there was no more fight, no more struggle.

Somehow in the darkest of my days, I am always given some thin thread of hope. Sometimes just a whisper. A glimpse of God working. When I can’t. God does. Every time. I have found that I am never alone. God is always in the dark with me, and that is why my faith has taken over my life. I have found the love of God to be so transformative I have nothing else I can do but to remove my will so that God can, hopefully, be seen more and more –

Union with God means every bit of our human nature transfigured in Christ, woven up into his creative life and activity, into his redeeming purpose, heart soul, mind and strength. Each time it happens it means that one of God’s creatures has achieved its destiny. – Evelyn Underhill

As I move through this darness I am more and more aware of the magnitude of God. I am finding glimpses of devastating grace and am learning how little I know about the mystery and magnitude of God.

The next few days I will be sharing some insights from my place of darkness. This darkness has been a scary thing to encounter and I pray that it is the right thing to share it. This is new territory for me and I am not sure where it will lead me. My constant prayer is, ‘Help me – Not my will, but Thine be done.”

I share this to bring hope to myself, and to others who also find themselves in the darkness, it’s always easier when we walk together. Once again I have found, I do not know the answers to this mystery and we are never alone.

Posted in awareness, Becoming Yourself, Beliefs, beloved, Blessing, courage, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gospel, Life, light, Lonely, Love, People, soul and spirit | Leave a comment

03 Jan 2013

Epiphany

The light,
and always that gentle,

the King
of love,
no weapons, laws or armies,
a tender child
who makes you tender,

what would it take for you
to empty out the treasure
of yourself
and give everything away,

what would it be like,
every moment,
even the dangerous ones,
to kneel like that?
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in awareness, beloved, Blessing, Faith, find art at pinterest, giving, Gratitude, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Patience, Prayer, receiving, soul and spirit, Vulnerability | Leave a comment

30 Dec 2012

important reminder list

The most destructive habit……………………….Worry
The greatest Joy……………………………….Giving
The greatest loss………………….Loss of self-respect
The most satisfying work…………………Helping others
The ugliest personality trait……………….Selfishness
The greatest “shot in the arm”…………….Encouragement
The deadliest weapon………………………..The tongue
The two most power-filled words…………………”I Can”
The greatest asset………………………………Faith
The most worthless emotion……………………Self-pity
The most beautiful attire……………………….SMILE!
The most prized possession…………………..Integrity
The most powerful channel of communication……….Prayer
The most contagious spirit………………….Enthusiasm
The most important thing in life…………………..GOD
The greatest problem to overcome………………….Fear
The most effective sleeping pill………….Peace of Mind
The most crippling failure disease……………..Excuses
The most powerful force in life…………………..Love
The most dangerous pariah…………………..A gossiper
The world’s most incredible computer………….The brain
The worst thing to be without…………………….Hope
– Unknown

http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/

Posted in attitude, awareness, Blessing, Change, Choice, courage, create, determination, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Growth, Habits, Life, Love, People, power, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

29 Dec 2012

The lord is not intimidated by the darkness or by the rejection of his own. His light is stronger than all the shadows. – Gustavo Gurièrrez

Spiritual depth, if it is true, is the working of God coming down and penetrating to the depths if our hearts, and not of our own soul’s climbing. No ladder of mysticism can ever meet or find or possess God. Faith is a power given to us. It is never simply our ability or strength of will to believe. The spiritual experience that is truly genuine is given to us by God in the coming of his Spirit, and only as we surrender our whole lives to an active expression of his will.
To put it quite simply, spiritual experience, whether it be faith, hope or love, is something we cannot manufacture, but which we can only receive.
The service of God makes the most impossible demands on us, demands which we know our strength cannot carry out, or which our hearts cannot bear. But our calling is obedience, even to the hardest demands; and we must take them up in the faith that our minds or bodies will be supported by the strength of God.

– Philip Britts

Posted in attitude, awareness, beloved, Blessing, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gospel, Impossible, Letting Go, Life, Love, Quotes, soul and spirit | Leave a comment

28 Dec 2012

3 more days of 2012!

Resurrection

These are the last days of the year
I feel like I want to slow them down
Drain them dry
Not sure why
First time i’ve had this feeling
Between Christmas
and a New Year
Usually I can’t wait
for the page to turn
Im always ready for
the bright shiny new year
To come and bring new things
Shimmering with possibility
Glimmering with potential
Empty slate-start over time
This year I feel these last few days of 2012
Are important for me
To grasp
In ways Ive never felt before
In three days a lot can happen
A death and burial
Even, on occasion,
a resurrection

AL 12/27/12

At Christmas time we think of the “Christ child,” though we know nothing of Jesus’ childhood. But there is this: Luke says when Jesus was twelve, when his family went to the temple in Jerusalem they accidentally left him behind. After three days they found him, in the temple.

Insert your own funny family story here of the kid being left somewhere (ours is a gas station). But wait― three days? Clearly, this is not a biographical story, but a symbolic one. It’s a story about losing and finding, being with and without, separation and reunion. In the Bible three days is not chronological time, it’s symbolic time: Abraham and Isaac on the mountain… Jonah in the whale… Jesus in the tomb. Three days means loss and transformation, death and resurrection. And it comes at Christmas time.

Because Christ comes to us to be with us in our death. Christ comes to us because we are broken hearted. The peace and joy of Christmas is not just for fun, but because we need it. We need the healing for our sorrows, the mercy in our terror, the company in our wanderings. Christ comes to be with us because we are lost, and searching, and alone. Sometimes, like his parents, we feel like we have lost the Holy Child with us or within us. We feel death’s shadow. But the good news is that we haven’t lost God; we are not alone; death does not have the last word. The light of Christmas shines on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

For many people the ribbons of Christmas are braided with sorrow. And this year it has been for us, too. My wife Beth’s youngest sister Paula passed away suddenly and unexpectedly last weekend, two days before Christmas. Family is gathered, yet sundered, both lost and united. We have been more aware than usual that the promise of Christmas is not happy times; the promise is that God is with us, even in the sorrowful times. Sometimes we have to search for three days to know it. But when we return to the sacred center, we find that it is we who have wandered, who have not seen the presence of God. We are not alone. And death never has the last word.

There will be sorrows and fears; there will be times when we feel without God. But “after three days”―beyond the appearances of time and space― we will be reunited with the Beloved, and we will find ourselves in a holy place.

This Christmas pray for all those who do not yet see light in their lives, who are in sorrow, or searching and feel alone.

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

Posted in awareness, Beliefs, beloved, Blessing, create, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Grieving, Happy Holiday!, Life, Love, Poetry, Reality, soul and spirit, Today | Leave a comment

27 Dec 2012

connections

In the tiny villages of the night sky
a star’s windows gleam, waiting,
longing us home.

Your being, quiet as a star,
leads the hopeful
to a place of belonging.

•

The simple star
offers its gift with open hands
to the plains
with their little towns,
to the star-blind cities
and the furrows of the sea.

You do not need to know
that your compassion extends
to all living beings
for it to be so.

•

Deep in the black sky
a star gleams
its glory and hope
upon the little child.

Bright one,
never doubt
that your light is beautiful,
nor that what it shines on
is holy.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in attitude, awareness, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Life, Love, Poetry, Relationships, soul and spirit | Leave a comment

life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Blessing”

the still small voice of love

touch

A Lifetime A Day

A Blessing for One Who is Exhausted

the thin thread in the dark

Epiphany

important reminder list

The lord is not intimidated by the darkness or by the rejection of his own. His light is stronger than all the shadows. – Gustavo Gurièrrez

3 more days of 2012!

connections

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