compassion | life: acoustic & amplified

Archive for the category “compassion”

05 Dec 2014

the 🍏 project

It all started about a month ago, Jen Lemen, over at Hopeful World http://hopefulworld.org/ showed up in my email inbox, which always makes me smile.

I enjoy Jen’s words, her heart, her search for love, her work in the world, and her vulnerability in being human. That day Jen wrote about baking her magic apple cake and sending one lucky reader a slice.

Well, seems like me, and about 45 or so others, were feeling lucky…and so we sent our requests to be selected!! Jen wrote a lovely response back saying such nice things and including, ‘You may have misread me, I only meant one person!’ and she sent the magical apple cake recipe (paraphrasing Jen’s words and loved her written recipe, which looked very interesting and yummy to the baker side of me).

I totally got her panic and it made me laughed and reply something like, ‘one lottery selection is fine, and that I felt very lucky and knew I was going to be eating apple cake soon’

Then…next day. I believe, there arrives another message from Jen and this one says something along the lines of, ‘All the responses had made her think about community and what if we could all eat cake? All of the people could get slices of cake and tea and we could all eat from the same shared cake and we could all be connected in this very special way. Wouldn’t that be a really good thing to happen in the world?’

To which I said, ‘YAY!’

Well, I like this all very much and I am totally inspired by Jen’s Let Them Eat Apple Cake thoughts and words. And I am inspired, at that moment, by my local apple orchard, Bishop’s Orchard http://www.bishopsorchards.com/ who is at the very same time, doing their yearly Random Acts of Apples and delivering apples to people who need them. And by my friend, Robin OK, who had just been to visit me and had experienced apple karma and we had gone for apples for her trip, taken pictures of her in front of the apple sign at Bishop’s!

And so…I write Jen and I ask if she needs me to help? I would love to be part of this project and bake a few magical apple cakes and send them out, with much love, on her behalf (per her vision and instructions), and, the short version of what Jen said is, ‘Yes, thank you, that would be lovely.’

Over the past few weeks I have slowly and steadily prepared and walked toward the magic apples and over the past three days I have executed Operation Apple Cake! On the two year anniversary of my descent into the dark night of the soul, two years from arriving at a place of no hope, I stood in the light and baked two yummy apple cakes with so much joy, gratitude and hope which connected me to people from California to NJ and many places in between. Yesterday I mailed out my 15 boxes of chucky magic apple cake to amazing women I may never know, but will always be connected to through loving prayer and apple cake, and, I must say, I have not felt so good in many a moon!

The post office people totally enjoyed the story of the apple cake for the world and have requested pieces for themselves, which is a wish I feel that I want to fulfill – they are a vital part of the cake delivery process, so, looks like I will be making more apple cake before this project is completed.

Not everyone gets it, of course. I was telling a girl at the cafe about my appley project and she said, ‘Why would you do that? What do you get from them?’

At one time in life I would have tried to explain to her about how important these things are in the world. Now I just smile and say, ‘I get to have a happy heart!’ and I go my way with said happiness trailing along like Pigpen’s dust trails. Yes, surely, goodness and mercy follow me all the days of my life! (don’t call me Shirley 😃)

I feel so fortunate to have been a part of this project, so blessed to be able to share, care and send love into the world one small box o’ cake at a time!

Thanks, Jen Lemen, for bringing hope and love into the world and allowing me to be a part of such a very cool project!

ACL 12/5/14

http://dharmacomics.com

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Blessing, Choice, compassion, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, inspiration, kindness, Vulnerability, www.pinterest.com | Leave a comment

06 Nov 2014

be

My Dearest, I love you deeply.
I’m not worried to impress you,
or to keep you from getting mad at me;
nor do I need to figure you out,
or to tell you how I want you to be.
I just love you, weak in the knees.

My Love, when I think of you I forget myself;
I fill with joy and warmth at the thought of you.
When I think of other things, you are still on my mind.
I’m obsessed with you.

Beautiful Lover, I like you the way you are.
I enjoy your presence. I like being with you.
My world is made better because of you,
and I am grateful for you.

Beloved, my love is for your sake, not mine.
Yes, I want to hold you, enjoy you,
take you into myself.
But I don’t want to possess you; I want to bless you.
I care about you, and want the best for you.
My deepest soul honors you. My heart is yours.
I entrust myself completely to you.
My heart goes out to you, and belongs to you.
I will do anything for you, for your sake.
My whole life is my promise to you.
I give you myself, all of my living, for all of my life.

O Love, I am yours.
With joy, with gratitude, with utter trust,
with all of my being, forever,
I love you.

Amen.

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

Worthiness
Accepting Our Calling
by Madisyn Taylor

Our worth of being on the planet at this time cannot be judged as we are all worthy and essential to being here now.

The issue of worthiness may come up in many areas of our lives, as we ask, often unconsciously, whether we are worthy of success, love, happiness, and countless other things, from supportive relationships to a beautiful home. In the end, though, it all comes down to one thing: our willingness to claim our space in this life as humans on this planet at this time. When we accept our divinity, we no longer question whether we are worthy, because we know that we are meant to be here to fulfill a particular purpose, a purpose that no one other than us can fulfill.

There are no replacements who can take over and live our lives for us, no other person who has had the experiences we have had, who has access to the same resources and relationships, who carries the same message to share with the world. Our purpose may be large or small, and in most cases it is multi-leveled, with important actions taking place on the interpersonal level, as well as in terms of the work we do in the world. Small acts of kindness share the stage with large acts of sacrifice, and only through accepting and honoring our divinity can we know what we are called to do and when.

Ultimately, we are all equally, exactly, completely worthy of being here in this life. Moreover, we are all essential to the unfolding plan of which we are each one small, but important, part. If we suffer from low self worth, it is because we have lost track of understanding this truth, and allowing it to guide our actions in the world. Seeing ourselves as part of something larger, as beings called to serve, is the ultimate cure for feelings of unworthiness. In the end, it’s not about evaluating ourselves as worthy or unworthy, so much as it’s about accepting that we have been called here to serve and taking the steps required to listen and respond to what our lives are asking us to do.

http://www.dailyom.com

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17 Sep 2014

courage, dear heart

If you could be soft in what you are. In what you’ve felt in the world.

If you could release, just for a moment, how he held you, or how the kids should have come home.

If you just put down the can of paint. Listen.

All along you’ve been waiting. A couple long sighs, a piece of the way things wave and you’re off.

Have you considered much what it is to sit on the lawn. What is under your fingers, what is under your hands. And how to live an agreeable life, and how much it takes in a night to get through what you must first get through in order to just sit here and be happy.

“If You Could Be Soft” by Nina Alvarez

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14 Sep 2014

Sunday morning easy…😉

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09 Aug 2014

Modern religion has tended to degenerate into a decent formula whereby people can embellish an otherwise comfortable life. – Alfred North Whitehead

And the bottom line is: We will be known by our fruits — not by what name we call ourselves or by what fame we want to be known for. We will be known for our actual fruits, not the intentions of our imaginations.

The greatest of these is love. And love’s actual fruit is service: Love bears service. Love says: Let me serve.

And the actual fruit of serving is peace: Service grows peace. Service says: Let me help bring peace. Which means — all of us are simply just one hand reach away from working for world peace.
– Ann Voskamp

Life is never about being correct, but only and always about being connected. Just stay connected. At all costs stay connected. Our only holiness is by participation and surrender to the Body of Love, and not by any private performance. Because Love is One, and this Love is either shared and passed on or it is not the Great Love at all. The One Love is always eager.
– Richard Rohr

both the receiving of love, and the letting go of it for others, are always. very real dying to our present state. Whenever we choose to love, we will – and must – die to who ever we were before we loved. Our former self is taken from us by the object of our love. We only realize this is what has happened after the letting go.
– Richard Rohr

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08 Jul 2014

wounded healers

Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. John 12:24-25, The Message

Nobody escapes being wounded. We all are wounded people, whether physically, emotionally, mentally, or spiritually. The main question is not “How can we hide our wounds?” so we don’t have to be embarrassed, but “How can we put our woundedness in the service of others?” When our wounds cease to be a source of shame, and become a source of healing, we have become wounded healers.

Jesus is God’s wounded healer: through his wounds we are healed. Jesus’ suffering and death brought joy and life. His humiliation brought glory; his rejection brought a community of love. As followers of Jesus we can also allow our wounds to bring healing to others.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org

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04 Jul 2014

ringing loud

…and that we all feel this undeniable bond with the land of our birth, and she knows it: we are all born of the dust of the earth and the breath of God.

Heavenly patriotism is this belief that all human lives everywhere are worth the same.

That we’re a country of countries, a world of families, a earth of one human race, and that was it — the essence of this great land she lived in.

What really unites this great land is more than a flag — it’s an idea. The idea that all peoples under heaven are the idea of a Great God.

That all peoples under heaven, in our back alleys and in our hospitals, in our prisons and shelters and headlines and every person in our far-flung world, are flagged as the handiwork of God, the dream of God, the art of God.

Everywhere she looked, there it was — “I was the stranger and you welcomed me in.“

It was strange and glorious, how it was happening in her, for her nation, for all the nations: Heavenly patriotism makes you patriotic for all of humanity.

You are doing something great with your life – when you’re doing all the small things with His Great love.

You aren’t a citizen of here working your way into heaven. You’re a citizen of heaven working His Way through here.

And it was there in every flag: the stripes that went on like a road, like The Way of Love that goes everywhere and always welcomes the wanderer in.

All those stars like a Love that can’t be contained by the walls in this world.

There under the bloom of fireworks,she could feel it –

the love of Christ exploding a heart.

– Ann Voskamp (edited)
http://www.aholyexperience.com
such good stuff! read her patriotic and amazing blog – http://www.aholyexperience.com/2014/07/what-really-unites-a-great-land-people-the-real-power-of-patriotism/

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29 May 2014

I am loved by God as I am, not as I should be. – Brennan Manning

A good humored Christian who accepts others as they are, not as they should be, is an evangelist.
– Brennan Manning

Lord, help me in what You have called me to do…

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12 May 2014

cup of life

When we hold firm our cups of life, fully acknowledging their sorrows and joys, we will also be able to lift our cups in human solidarity. Lifting our cups means that we are not ashamed of what we are living, and this gesture encourages others to befriend their truths as we are trying to befriend ours. By lifting up our cups and saying to each other, “To life” or “To your health,” we proclaim that we are willing to look truthfully at our lives together. Thus, we can become a community of people encouraging one another to fully drink the cups that have been given to us in the conviction that they will lead us to true fulfillment.

After firmly holding the cups of our lives and lifting them up as signs of hope for others, we have to drink them. Drinking our cups means fully appropriating and interiorizing what each of us has acknowledged as our life, with all its unique sorrows and joys.

How do we drink our cups? We drink them as we listen in silence to the truth of our lives, as we speak in trust with friends about ways we want to grow, and as we act in deeds of service. Drinking our cups is following freely and courageously God’s call and staying faithfully on the path that is ours. Thus our life cups become the cups of salvation. When we have emptied them to the bottom, God will fill them with “water” for eternal life.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org