releasing all that holds me from
allowing the flow
stepping into what feels so good
love opening in every direction from my center
returning to me from every direction to my center
I fly free
At home in the blue sky
AL
Yesterday there was a facebook post from Jen Lemen over at Hopeful World http://hopefulworld.org (she’s one of my most admired people on the planet) telling me that it was a half-way-between-solstice moment and she would be burning a fire in celebration and prayer. If anyone wanted to be part…just say ‘yes’ and she would bring us! I said, ‘Yes, please’ as quickly as I could type it!!!
And so, last night, while I was sleeping…Jen Lemen was doing something so amazing, I get chill bumps every time I think about it!!! She was holding me, and mine, in that space between.
Yes, there was INTENTION, there was fire, there was singing, there was celebrating and grieving, there was prayer for the world, for everyone who requested it…and, Holy Batman, Batman, there was prayer for ME and all I hold within and without me.
What a gift! Beauty and all she is! Powerful and humbling! Encouraging and valuing! I feel it all this morning and I say, Thank you, Jen! Thank you, more than I can say! I am so blessed by you and your work!! 💞
I woke up to these words from Jen this morning:
Writing blessings. Saying prayers. May you be happy and peaceful. May no harm come to you. May no difficulty come to you. May you be deeply blessed. May you take care of anyone and everything smaller and sweeter than you are. May you surrender your power to make space for a forgotten voice. May you notice the earth and how she moves and breathes. May you say yes when you’re called and stay quietly beside until the time is right. May you become love and be love and find love and hope for more love, when others say it doesn’t matter or all hope is gone. #pathofprayerandpleasure #urbanfamily #bliss #mysticlife #blessings #imbolc #brigid #celticspring
🙏🏻
– Jen Lemen @ Hopeful World
The poet gives you a little stone to stand on,
a ledge, a moment of the world or your own mind
to notice, to ground yourself in,
and from there to leap
maybe to another stone, a similar noticing,
maybe to another star, the light you are made of,
or a beauty pouring itself into you,
or maybe just leap all the way to God.
When you are praying
the smallest thing
can be what you stand on,
can be your prayer.
Any time, from even a single twig
you can leap
and wherever you land will be God.
The leaping is God.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
Follow and support Jen Lemen @
art and photo sources found at http://www.pinterest.com
miles go
some stay a while
some roll on beneath our feet
or our wheels
barely noticed
driving in the fast lane
with the windows rolled up tightly
in God we trust
unfolding on every bill we pull from pocket
but, the world doesn’t work that way…
or does it?
peace,
love,
always seal the deal
walk away free,
changed
ready to see some new things
every choice brings us to our new place
right here
right now
notice it
say thank you
❤️
AL
Grace
Nothing I have ever done or will ever do
can separate me from
or bring me into the heart of the Beloved.
Oh, I can distract myself from the longing
that whispers day and night for that sacred union,
and some days I am too tired to notice
that what I ache for is and always has been here:
. . . . right here in and at my fingertips,
in the way the breeze lifts my hair,
the way the earth pulls me to her,
the way shared laughter makes my sides ache.
Nothing I have done or will ever do
can make me worthy or unworthy
of being touched by the Lover’s hand and heart,
of being the Lover’s hand and heart in the world.
Grace – the way Infinite Love
gives Himself to us in every moment,
the way God unfurls Her tender mercy in our hearts-
is a constant invitation to say with the fullness of our being:
Yes.
Yes.
Yes.
❤️
~Oriah Mountain Dreamer
there is terrible beauty in every human heart
tell me a story that will live with me forever
love always shares grace always wins
you can’t miss if you show up
pay attention…
the message is always revealed at the appointed intersection
letting go brings the right miracle
at the right time the song playlist repeats
crazy love flows into mystic waters slowly drips the sweetest tupelo honey
deep calling to deep
honor chooses to say yes to the best invitations
making the call brings me the messages I need to build the new bridge from the friend bench of this manna-filled moment
there is always more than enough to share
gratitude buckets fill and overflow
removing scales from blurry, tearful, kaleidoscope eyes
as perfect peace falls into rightful place
color shards blooming into new masterpieces of never before seen glory
diamonds dance on the water
flaming beauty evolves, drives me to my knees,
shedding shoes, and fear,
as we talk
I lift my face to the sun and free soar
full wing, open soul, with the gulls,
who always fly in trust, never a shadow of doubt, that they are loved to the sky
right here, and in every tick of time,
in, and in between, every click of the second hand,
around the bend of eternity and back again
🌀
AL 1/30/16
in gratitude and honor for connecting with Liz on this beautiful morning of sun, warm and snow drifts

photo above by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
🌃
photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
a small fragile tender wisp
trembling as I hung on the vine
yesterday I was a gust of air
short lived, but not insignificant
full of bone rattling cold and hat disturbing bravado
yesterday I was a large, slow, snow flake
plopping down like a wet goose feather
making the world a magical place
yesterday I was a world made of glass
lying shattered on the floor
hoping to be recycled into a new and useful object
yesterday I was various people
a student, a host, a friend, a lover
feeling my way into the next moment hoping to find a way home
yesterday I stood tall as a tree
shaking, hurting, yet proud, with stubborn certainly
accepting what winter brings, gently weeping, waiting for spring
❄️
AL
you make the water of my life into wine,
my ordinary into your holy.
You request miracles of me
the moment before I know I’m ready.
What was for purification of uncleanness
you make into celebration of beauty.
You change my despair to gratitude
in secret, my dark certainty to wonder.
You make this life into a wedding feast,
my faithful marriage to the Holy One.
Always you turn piety into a party.
And always the best is yet to come.
This wine is not for discussion.
It’s to drink. It’s good. It’s really good.
Let’s dance.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com
If you want to know the past, to know what has caused you, look at yourself in the PRESENT, for that is the past’s effect. If you want to know your future, then look at yourself in the PRESENT, for that is the cause of the future.
🍾
Holy One,
as a new year approaches
I seek to become not a new person
but more myself,
more aware of what is infinitely good in me,
more attentive to you in me,
who you become in me to be.
I am grateful for your presence,
in awe of your glory,
open to your grace
in me.
Unfold your light in me
and I will become you.
Unbind your compassion in me
and I will shine with you.
Be in me;
I will be in you.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
today and tomorrow,
emanating from within.
Visibility will be mixed
as some hide the light and others glow.
An atmosphere of glory will prevail
as God moves through us all.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
of the impossible
Gabriel,
so usually unseeable—
startling,
though you thought him so foreign,
how nearer than you
to the seed of your life—
fills the room with his wings,
wraps with his words
this world
beside God’s so small,
sets it in the greater one
among stars
and you
lit by the same light,
and calls forth your trust in heaven’s actual, —
for with God nothing is impossible—
the divine within,
inviting your invitation
from even deeper in,
a Word,
a world entrusted to you,
your being
that by gift and labor blesses,
brought with singing
through the portal of this blood of birth
and that crucial other,
calling to life
in your drab littleness
the body of your holiness,
the flesh that God without you cannot have.
Even God waits
to see the miracle,
the birth that only you can birth.
There is no test for paradise,
only paradise.
Say yes.
😇
_________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.designlovefest.com/2012/12/holiday-centerpiece/