Sonnet 116:
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
by William Shakespeare
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
Defining Love
Posted Friday, April 23, 2012 by Women of Faith
Love is difficult to define. It is one of those intangibles—something we cannot touch, taste, see, hear, or smell. Still, we do try. The dictionary defines love as an intense emotional attachment. For many of us, love is just that—a feeling we have—and feelings can be very hard to put into words. It doesn’t simplify matters to define love by saying that God is love, because we can’t really define Him either. But think about it for a minute. God says, “I am God. I am love. These are My people and I love them. How have I behaved towards those I love? See, this is what love expects, how love reacts, what love is willing to do. This is love.” It may not help us to slap a nice, tidy definition on love, but it does help us to understand what love is supposed to look like.
This week, stretch your mind and heart a bit as you try to comprehend the bigness of God’s love for you. Do you have a view of the ocean where you live? God’s love is much more vast and deep! Do you have mountains to admire? God’s love is higher than they are! Do you live in wide open places—”big sky country”? God’s love stretches beyond those horizons! Are you blessed with a view of the night sky, with all its stars? The love of God for you is higher even than these! Take comfort and confidence in the unchanging faithfulness of God’s love. Give thanks for the gentleness of God’s love. Pray that you will be able to receive God’s love, for that is just the thing your heart needs today.
Excerpted from Receiving God’s Love. Copyright 2005 Thomas Nelson, Inc. Published by Thomas Nelson. http://www.womenoffaith.com/
I started on this journey many years ago and had no idea where it would lead me. I certainly never thought I would be where I am! I get multiple ‘inspirational’ type of emails daily. Many of them are from a Christian perspective, many are not. I truly believe they are all seeking to help me with their words, and they do in all different ways. Words are very powerful and st times I am inspired, helped, encouraged, filled with joy and laughter, entertained, discouraged, angered, saddened, broken and many other emotions as I read from all of these sources who are all so different. I love sharing all of these thoughts and perspectives and I soak it all up! I feel so blessed to be able to learn so much, and to be stretched out of my comfort zone, every day. To be able to share my own thoughts with others is a great blessing. I realize that my words may conjure up as many emotions, or more than those I have listed above!
I admire and respect everyone for who they are and what they believe. God as my helper, you will never hear me tell you that I have it all figured out! My goal is to make you think! I think about all the things I read and is seems, for the most part, they either give me a false positive – like I am a ‘goddess’, or a ‘diva’ – or they tell me I am a ‘sinner’ and ‘I stink’ with very little hope that it will ever get better. Ha What I have found to be true is a little different from either of these things, and to me, it makes all the difference to me.
My walk of faith has brought me to a place of confidence. When I did some research on ‘confidence’ a few weeks ago guess what came up? A whole bunch of people (some beautiful…some painfully not beautiful) showing their bodies. Why do we equate taking our clothes off to mean we have confidence? My confidence is not about what I look like, or my body image. It is not about being some sort of Wonder Woman who can save the world because I’m so awesome, but the exact opposite!
My confidence brings me to a place of rest, beauty and beloved-ness because of the love I have found in God. It is not about my struggling to be ‘Purpose-filled’ it is about me being enough. I have found I don’t HAVE to do anything! It is about me expressing my love from the place of who I am – just as I am – because I was created to be….me…just me! Amy Carol – beloved song of Christ. I am accepted, just as I am, and as I except that one precious fact, I begin to live the purpose for which I have been placed into this beautiful world – just at this moment – for such a time as this! It’s all about me (personal responsibility)…but it’s not at all about me (laying down my agenda for the light of God to shine through me)! Ha the amazing conundrum of grace!
This is what I believe. We are human. There is good and bad in each of us. We are all capable of wonderful, and/or terrifying, things. We are created beings – made from the dust. We are born and we die. We have been given freewill to choose what we will do with the ‘dash’ in between. The years we are given to enjoy between life and death matter very much. Every moment of every day we are faced with a multitude of choices – the choices we make are the deciding factors of who we become.
When Christ died for us – he did so because he loved us more than we can ever truly comprehend. God wanted more for us than that we would continue to live with the belief that we are only, always ‘sinners’. He gave us life abundantly. When he talks about the ‘narrow way’ and encourages us to choose it, he doesn’t say it leads to ‘heaven’, he says it leads to ‘LIFE’!!! We are here to live! To experience love, joy, peace, to shine, to enjoy. He binds up and heals our broken spirits so that we may overcome and so that we may KNOW – that we are beautiful, that we are beloved. We no longer need to fear death, or anything else that comes our way. We are no longer bound by our ‘sins’ – they are buried. They are gone! We are free!!!!
I am not suggesting we will never make mistakes. We are human – we do and we will! We need to be transparent with who we are – awareness! choice! openness! truth! love! These set us free! Our faults are many, but when we realize what has been done for us, who we truly are, what God wants for us – instead of hating ourselves, and concentrating on the ‘worm’ that I am, I must redirect all of my energy to celebrate the light which lives in me, and in all of us. I want it to blaze! I don’t allow the focus to dwell on me for any longer than I have to, because it might distract someone from that light in their own life! I move aside and allow God’s light shine so bright it draws people, not to me…who am I? I know that any good in me is all GOD! I want to show other people this light, which has done so much for me! Look, look to the light of the world!
When I REALLY KNOW that I am loved. I must realize, and want to give up, the selfishness of my unworthiness, because as I come into relationship, into true love and intimacy with God and Jesus, it can only be when I am at an equal place with them. I cannot have intimacy if I am not equal. I am a daughter of God, a lover of Christ! I live, give and receive as such! I become desperate for grace, and then I gradually am drawn to realize, as Henri Nouwen says, EVERYTHING is grace and I am overwhelmed by my glimpse of what is so much more than I could ever imagine!
In this season of Lent, may we do all of our remembering in the light of the joyful fact that Christ came to set us free – so that we would not ever be under the law, or stay in a place of judgment, but that we would truly be friends of God, near to His heart – beloved. The great mystery of faith is that we must give up and keep letting go of everything we think we know, in order to gain the whole world! And that is, truly, much more than amazing grace!
Every action is either strong or weak, and when every action is strong we are successful.
Wallace D. Wattles said that, and he was right. You know when the action you take is strong, and you know when it is weak. You can tell in your stomach. Endeavor to take no weak action whatsoever. Run away from it. Reject it. Go for the strong action, the strong choice, every time.
You know, by the way, what is meant by all of this. You have been weak in some of your choices and decisions, and you have been strong. You have been both in your life. But no more, right? Only strong from now on, yes?
And you know exactly why you received this message today.
In Lent, as we fast from rich, sweet foods, we fast from our rich, sweet Alleluia. On Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras, in French) an old tradition is to use up all the fat — the milk, eggs and butter in the house (usually in pancakes). And we use up all the alleluias. A liturgical tradition for this day includes burying the alleluias,carrying a small casket out of the church and interring it, as we would for someone we love. It’s a tender moment.
Use up your alleluias today. Relish the word. Walk around singing it, saying it, praying it. Rejoice in being “shriven” —having confessed and been absolved (hence another name for today, “Shrove Tuesday”) — before you enter into a season when your freedom is still being worked out. Then tonight, bury yourAlleluias. Kiss them goodbye. Wish them well. They will go down into the darkness, into the silence, to be drowned out by the moans and the cries. Let them go. They have infinite life in them. They will arise again on Easter, having seen Hell and transfigured it, and returned, singing.
But today do not worry yourself about the dark journey to come. This is the day the Lord is creating. Let us rejoice and be glad. Alleluia!
The disciples were having no strange vision, nor the evangelist concocting a tableau for the delight of Renaissance painters. It was simply this: for a moment Jesus’ friends were seeing truly, seeing him as he was, seeing a human being as we all truly are, shining with the whole glory of Creation, stardust that we are. They saw through the scruff and dirt that this rough world leaves on us, saw past the judgments and appearances, the masks and costumes and shrouds that we throw on each other: they saw the heaven within a person, the image of God. If only they hadn’t been so shocked they would have noticed it in themselves. Jesus had to tell them later: “You are light for the world.” God shines in you, gleams with the splendid light of heaven. Beyond any smudge this world can put on you, or any human word or deed can remove, you are dazzling, radiant with newborn light. Right now, sitting there reading this, you breathe God’s light in and out. Your nerves spark with life. Your eyes light up the world. Let this light fill you, the fire of God. Be mindful of this radiance. Look for the light in all whom you meet.
Trust the light. Give thanks for the light Even in your sleep, the light closes its eye, but breathes deeply, calmly, faithfully.
Light, refracted from the rising Son, increasing throughout the day as it condenses within each living being, until, even after nightfall, all glimmers with wonder.
__________________ Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used with Permission Unfolding Light www.unfoldinglight.net
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. – C.S. Lewis
Today is a ‘Freedom Anniversary’ for me! It is a big deal! My life has been a progression of stepping towards freedom.
The battles have been long, dangerous and hard to win in order to free myself. Both physically and spiritually. I am not completely there yet – it is a life-long exploration and journey to free myself. The chains and bars in my prisons, because I find they are legion, are very strong. My Alcatraz type barren -rock islands were such a long way from shore, with many snipers, predators and sharp rocks in the water and on all sides of the shores. My guards were very alert and ready to shoot me, or keep me locked down and in solitary for my whole life. They were gleeful when I fell and happy over my pain and destruction.
And yet, the love, the words, and truth, of God were so much more powerful than any of these things, that no prison in this world could not hold me and, for 22 years now, I keep walking out of my prisons into the brilliant light and sunshine of the free!!!!
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage|
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
When we talk to one another, we often talk about what happened, what we are doing, or what we plan to do. Often we say, “What’s up?” and we encourage one another to share the details of our daily lives. But often we want to hear something else. We want to hear, “I’ve been thinking of you today,” or “I missed you,” or “I wish you were here,” or “I really love you.” It is not always easy to say these words, but such words can deepen our bonds with one another.
Telling someone “I love you” in whatever way is always delivering good news. Nobody will respond by saying, “Well, I knew that already, you don’t have to say it again”! Words of love and affirmation are like bread. We need them each day, over and over. They keep us alive inside.
Did I really think that on Valentine’s Day, or any day, i would be satisfied with a silly post? Ha
The Alchemist is one of my very favorite books. So glad Paulo Coelho posted this today!!!
“Why do we have to listen to our hearts?” the boy asked, when they had made camp that day.
“Because, wherever your heart is, that is where you’ll find your treasure.”
“But my heart is agitated,” the boy said. “It has its dreams, it gets emotional, and it’s become passionate over a woman of the desert. It asks things of me, and it keeps me from sleeping many nights, when I’m thinking about her.”
“Well, that’s good. Your heart is alive. Keep listening to what it has to say.”
“My heart is a traitor,” the boy said to the alchemist, when they had paused to rest the horses. “It doesn’t want me to go on.”
“That makes sense. Naturally it’s afraid that, in pursuing your dream, you might lose everything you’ve on.”
“Well, then, why should I listen to my heart?”
“Because you will never again be able to keep it quiet. ”
“You mean I should listen, even if it’s treasonous?”
“Treason is a blow that comes unexpectedly. If you know your heart well, it will never be able to do that to you. Because you’ll know its dreams and wishes, and will know how to deal with them.
“My heart is afraid that it will have to suffer,” the boy told the alchemist one night as they looked up at the moonless sky.
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.”
Last week I opened my lunch box and Chris had slipped a little stone in it. When I asked him why, he responded he wanted me to ‘be reminded that he loves me and wants me in his life. I have a home with him.’ Home has a huge meaning for me at this time in my life after years of wandering it is such a blessing to have a home. The stone is beside my keyboard and I find myself picking it up and being reminded several times a day of where I am in this journey, praying for this man, for this gift of our relationship, for the home we will build, breathing thanks. It is a very good feeling and makes me smile a lot. It gives me hope and strengthens me! 🙂 I am very blessed!
The people of God have always built monuments of stones as reminders of God’s grace and deliverance. In the Bible you find the people of God stacking stones in various places as they go.
We forget things so easily – let’s start living, and remembering, with intention, something as small as a pebble can have a great impact in our lives! These are the things that matter most!
Intention Set in Stone Prayer Stone Stacks
Add a stone blessed with a prayer to a mound and your intentions merge with those who have left stones before you.
Stone has played a role in spirituality from the very moment humanity externalized its sacred vision. Humans gave form to their devotion by scratching images of their deities into rock faces, carving holy statuary, and building stone shrines. The earliest of these were nothing more than simple piles of rocks that honored sacred places, revelations, people, and events. Following in the footsteps of this ancient tradition provides us with a simple and beautiful way to externalize our own spirituality. In your travels, you may have encountered on the sides of roads, trails, or pathways stacks of stones that look like random sculpture. Add a stone blessed with a prayer to such a mound, and your intentions merge with those who have left stones before you, empowering you all.
Associating a prayer with a particular stone alters the substance of both, and the formation of a prayer mound can balance and intensify the energy of a site. The mere act of choosing a stone can inspire mindfulness, as we lose ourselves in the moment seeking a pebble that speaks to our souls. And placing a prayer stone on a towering cairn is a meditation in patience—slowness and stillness allow us to find our stone’s center of gravity so the delicate ceremonial structure before us remains intact. Be cautious, however, when you feel guided to place a prayer rock upon stone mounds you see intermittently alongside well-worn but unmarked hiking paths. Hikers often use small cairns as guide markers to ensure that those who follow in their footsteps will not lose the trail. When in doubt, begin a new prayer pile slightly further away from the path itself and consider adding a relic of some kind to help others understand its purpose.
When you mindfully place a prayer by beginning a stone heap or adding to an existing mound, your thoughts and intentions are left in the care of fate itself. The cairn of which your prayer was one part may be unintentionally knocked down or destroyed by Mother Nature’s own hand. Try not to let this weigh heavily upon your spirit. The potent energy of your prayer was released by this destruction, ensuring that the purpose underlying that prayer will spread outward in the direction of the furthest reaches of the universe. www.dailyom.com
Sonnet 116:
life: acoustic & amplified 