life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “commitment”
the missionaries prayer
God of love,
I Pray for the peace of Christ:
in the face of fear, to trust,
in the face of violence, to be gentle,
in the face of sorrow to be healing,
in all things to offer blessing.
Christ, grant me your peace:
with those who are rejected to stand in unity,
for those who are afraid to offer my hand,
beside the outcast to sojourn in longing,
to those who are cursed to offer blessing.
Spirit of compassion,
be the grace and strength in me
to risk for the sake of justice,
to suffer for the sake of healing,
to give of myself for the sake of love,
to offer blessing, to offer blessing.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7
You will seek me and find me
When you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13
climb
We climb mountains.
We get back up when we fall.
We keep fighting for our dreams.
We refuse to die, while there is breath within our bones.
We stare our suffering in the eye,
and walk straight through the dark forest with courage,
trusting our steps will not fall.
We will not fail.
We are warriors.
We are aware of the value of the soul.
We are strong yet soft.
We know ourselves.
Acknowledge our weaknesses,
seeking for truth.
Bow in humility when we make a mistake.
Easily say the words –
forgive me
and
I forgive you
Light glows within us.
We are the children.
We are the beloved.
We are the followers,
of this man Christ,
who comes to us right where we are,
but never leaves us there.
From glory to glory
we are learning to be holy.
As we walk the mountains
and valleys
listening for the call,
thirsty for grace,
abandoned to love,
eyes to the sky.
Lifting up the man
who gives us all good things –
peace unshakable,
Joy unending,
Patience to wait for a drop more of this un-understandable mystery,
Love unconditional and unlimited.
We become free to be who we were created to be.
We do nothing from guilt or manipulation.
Our love songs come from gratitude,
expressions of love pour out unfettered,
joy-full.
We speak with authority,
not to judge,
but from experience.
nothing can rip our faith from our hearts
we Know that we Know
because of the practical living of our faith,
because we wear trust like a garment,
because we have seen with our eyes,
heard with our ears,
touched with our own hands,
been moved,
sometimes in spite of ourselves,
in direct opposition to our own selfishness.
And so we climb,
ever upward and outward,
towards the stars
toward the heavens.
They say God saves his best work
for the inside of things.
May it be so, Lord.
May it be so.
AL 10/17/13
close your eyes
I closed my eyes
and returned
to people,
and places,
I love.
I closed my eyes
and opened
my heart
to magic,
and mystery,
I fell in love.
I closed my eyes
and committed
my life
to God, my father,
and Christ,
my soul’s beloved.
I closed my eyes
and saw
a new heaven,
and earth,
a world of love.
I closed my eyes
and found
myself,
within myself
deep calling to deep
I closed my eyes
and sang
my words,
songs you gave me,
my love song to You.
AL 10/09/13
my friends
Trees
by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is press’d
Against the sweet earths flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Check our this 98 year old MS Pixel painter! Really wonderful –
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/pixel-painter-ms-paint/
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http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19890#sthash.WEL6bt1t.dpuf
Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply
by Brian Johnson
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” ~ Bruce Lee from Striking Thoughts
This is a HUGE theme of all these Notes and Optimal Living 101.
Knowing something is nice, but it means NOTHING if we don’t actually apply it to our lives. As we often say, THEORY (or knowing something) is RUDIMENTARY philosophy. PRACTICE (or actually living a truth) is the advanced stuff.
Are you spending all your time in theory—simply talking about all the stuff you believe to be true? Or, are you focused on LIVING it?
Vernon Howard puts it brilliantly in The Power of Your Supermind: “You see, knowing the words is not the same thing as living the meaning. Suppose I memorize the printed instructions on a first-aid kit. Does that mean I can give first aid? No. The full meaning comes when I admit I know nothing and then try, practice, succeed.”
Let’s take another moment for reflection.
What’s the #1 thing you KNOW would be great for you to do but you just haven’t gotten yourself to make an essential part of who you are?
* Insert Jeopardy music *
“Upon reflection, it’s clear to me that, although I *know* this is important and would have huge positive benefits in my life, I haven’t yet made this knowledge an essential part of my day- to-day living:
I hereby commit to rockin’ it. Amen.”
If you do nothing
Nothing will be done.
Sounds like we should know this,
right?
It’s just fascinating for me to see
this in practice,
the result of a decision to create a newsletter,
then to commit to creating that publication for one full year.
Now, 6 full years later,
as I end that project,
to make way for new projects,
there are over 135 issues
on a website devoted to that good thing.
2 years ago
I decided to begin a daily poetry and quotes blog,
(hello reader :))
I now have around 800 blog posts
chock-full of good stuff.
Last December, I committed to a poem a day.
11 months later,
I have almost 600 poems written.
It’s crazy cool!
And it has been a huge lesson to me,
Dreams and Ideas are great,
but only the commitment, focus
and actually acting on the idea,
will call it forth into the world. 
All those words, ideas and poems would still be inside me somewhere,
if I had not said, yes,
to DOING it –
every damn day.
Nothing gets done without the work.
Intention and action go together
then the magic happens.
Doing the work is essential,
in order to build the house,
in order to change the world.
10/07/13
life: acoustic & amplified 