On May 24, 1738 John Wesley recorded in his journal: “In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”
God, I thank you for your love, alive in me without my knowing or feeling. Open my heart to trust your grace.
I pray for those whose hearts have not been warmed, who do not know they are so cherished, forgiven, gifted, blessed and loved. I pray for all who are afraid you don’t love them, for those who live under a “law of sin and death” enforced by abuse or violence in word or flesh, who have been labeled, violated, condemned, judged or rejected. I pray especially for those who have been hurt by life and its hurtful teachings.
I pray that I may bear your love to all I meet today, that I may be the sign, the word that your grace may warm their heart. For all who may come “very unwillingly” to this life, may I be a gentle, welcoming, saving word. Amen.
__________________
Love sometimes wants to do us a great favor: hold us upside down and shake all the nonsense out.
Your love
Should never be offered to the mouth of a stranger,
Only to someone who has the valor and daring
To cut pieces of their soul off with a knife
Then weave them into a blanket
To protect you.
Stay close to any sounds that make you glad you are alive.
Ever since happiness heard your name, it has been running through the streets trying to find you.
I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in the darkness, the astonishing light of your own being.
There are different wells within your heart.
Some fill with each good rain,
Others are far too deep for that
Fear is the cheapest room in the house. I would like to see you living in better conditions.
Even after all this time the sun never says to the Earth, “You owe me”
There is no pleasure without a tincture of bitterness.
💙
– Hafez
I stand in the cold surf
waiting
for what I am to receive
I look at,
then past,
glistening rocks,
colored shells,
green sea glass,
none of them right.
My back to the Sound,
head down,
Waves coming and going,
Sand shifting under my wet feet.
I scan,
wait for what I must recognize –
then I see it.
this????
a black glob of rocks stuck together
browns and grey and bits of reds
it’s ugly
it’s heavy
it’s rough
it’s jagged
it’s not what I thought I wanted,
it’s not what I thought was valuable.
what is it, that the water has just delivered,
and I feel lead to pick up
to take home with me?
I want it to be romantic.
Maybe…
I search for romance…
Could it be a meteorite?
a mystery from another planet?
I walk the mile home,
wondering what lessons I will learn from this ‘gift’
I have just received from the ocean.
Almost home,
one more curve,
I spot my favorite kinda caterpillar,
the brown and black,
softest, loveliest velvet
crawler in the world.
I loved the feel of them as a little girl,
let them crawl all over me.
I pass it,
then double back,
as directed by intuition,
to visit this small friend.
I am bent down,
as my fuzzy friend moves along,
and recognition comes.
I carry,
in my hands….
asphalt,
ASPHALT???!!!
a piece of the road,
which came to me by way of the ocean.
I belly laugh
as I my lesson,
my gift,
becomes clear.
I am,
right now,
every moment,
in the ocean of grace
no matter where I am
the path is in the ocean of love,
of God.
This road is everywhere!
It rises to meet me,
no matter where I stand!
I comes one small glimpse at a time.
This is gift –
The opposite of joy is not sorrow. It is unbelief.
❤️
–Leslie Weatherhead
Truthfulness.
Being honest with someone else really just means opening up to share out of our own self-honesty, being transparent about our own experience, the deepest within us, in a way that creates the space for the other to also feel safe exposing the vulnerability within themselves.
When truth is more important to us than fear of loss, we discover our wings.
When we are no longer afraid of change, of losing what we think we have, or the fulfillment we imagine to be sourced outside of us, and are willing to risk it all for our heart’s knowing, for the uncompromising integrity in that, the relief is surprisingly immediate.
Though it may involve facing the hurt of disillusionment, the fall of pride, the surfacing of old wounds, that is simply a part of the rebirth offered by a radical commitment to self-honesty.
The self-respect and confidence that emerges out of such an honoring, the willingness to offer up the surface dance to a deeper wisdom, makes it possible to gaze into the eyes and soul of another, with no need of approval, or fear of rejection, and no shame in being fully seen. True self-honesty diffuses self-judgement, and therefore any need for defensiveness. It reveals our innocence. We can finally just be ourselves.
And, maybe for the first time, without any subtle need of them, without any emotional dependency, we really truly see the one in front of us. We meet the naked beauty of the other, as never before, on equal ground. When we aren’t hiding from ourselves, we no longer need to hide from the world, which will always reflect back to us what we are avoiding. In this way, life is in continuous support of our liberation.
Free from the subconsious pressure of hope and expectation born of fantasy, of projected values and assumptions, free from the inner conflict of unexpressed gut feelings, it becomes so easy to give, to receive, to experience the fulfillment of true connection. Unconditional presence. Real love. The joy of that is far greater than any birthing pains.
Be honest to your heart, and give that a voice in your relationships. You’ll never regret it.
We have to cross to come alive once more.
May we have the courage to take the step
Into the unknown that beckons us;
Trust that a richer life awaits us there,
That we will lose nothing
But what has already died;
Feel the deeper knowing in us sure
Of all that is about to be born beyond
The pale frames where we stayed confined,
Not realizing how such vacant endurance
Was bleaching our soul’s desire.
❤️
– John O’Donohue
What are waves to rocks
before they become
the softness of sand…
Is that not love?
Whoever said ferocity
cannot be kind
never saw the way a seed
is destroyed as it
comes alive.
~Joshua Israelievitch
If you want to succeed in your life, remember this phrase: The past does not equal the future. Because you failed yesterday; or all day today; or a moment ago; or for the last six months; the last sixteen years; or the last fifty years of life, doesn’t mean anything… All that matters is:
life: acoustic & amplified 