life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Death”

27 Sep 2012

and on the third day…LIFE conquers death!

Death Begets Life
Photograph by Ireena Worthy on Flickr

______________________________

Creator of the universe, create in me.

Lover of all beings, fill me with your love,

and trust in your mercy and grace.

Great One, whose Oneness heals all things,

may I be a power for your delight,

for the healing of the world.

Beloved, be my love,

my hope,

my life.

Amen.

__________________    

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
unfoldinglight5@hotmail.com
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in action, awareness, Beginning, Change, confidence, courage, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gospel, Hope, Impossible, Joy, Life, Love, Miracles, nature, People, soul and spirit, strength, success | Leave a comment
20 Sep 2012

only love

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No losses are ever losses when we love; what we love is always with us, becoming part of who we are.
– Ann Voskamp

Posted in beloved, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gospel, Gratitude, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, People, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts | Leave a comment
18 Jun 2012

life is about change…let it flow

Each new step in life is also a leaving, a surrendering of an old reality to move into a new one.

Be grateful for the love that surrounds you, and for the opportunities you have to love. Be mindful of your place in this world, and your connection to people you care about. Never doubt that you are loved, though those who love you may be far away. Spend your love recklessly; it will never be wasted. It is the spending, not the result, that enriches us.

Pay attention to the moment that you’re in. It will pass. It is a transition, not a final destination. Love in this moment. Receive what this moment offers you. Be lovingly attentive to what is, in the present moment. What comes next is full of promise, not the least of which is this: that there will always be more love. Trust this, and let God’s delight fill you.

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

Posted in attitude, Change, Choice, compassion, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Grieving, Growth, Habits, healing, inspiration, Letting Go, Life, Love, Passion, People, Prayer, Seasons, Smile, soul and spirit, strength, thankfulness, Thoughts, Today, Trust | Leave a comment
03 May 2012

What really matters in life is not what we buy, but what we build; not what we have, but what we share with the world; not our capability but our character; and not our success but our true significance.  Live a life that makes you proud – one that matters and makes a difference.  Live a life filled with passion and love.
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose
Read full post: 20 Bad Habits Holding Good People Back
http://www.marcandangel.com/

Finding a Box of Family Letters
by Dana Gioia

The dead say little in their letters
they haven’t said before.
We find no secrets, and yet
how different every sentence sounds
heard across the years.

My father breaks my heart
simply by being so young and handsome.
He’s half my age, with jet-black hair.
Look at him in his navy uniform
grinning beside his dive-bomber.

Come back, Dad! I want to shout.
He says he misses all of us
(though I haven’t yet been born).
He writes from places I never knew he saw,
and everyone he mentions now is dead.

There is a large, long photograph
curled like a diploma—a banquet sixty years ago.
My parents sit uncomfortably
among tables of dark-suited strangers.
The mildewed paper reeks of regret.

I wonder what song the band was playing,
just out of frame, as the photographer
arranged your smiles. A waltz? A foxtrot?
Get out there on the floor and dance!
You don’t have forever.

What does it cost to send a postcard
to the underworld? I’ll buy
a penny stamp from World War II
and mail it downtown at the old post office
just as the courthouse clock strikes twelve.

Surely the ghost of some postal worker
still makes his nightly rounds, his routine
too tedious for him to notice when it ended.
He works so slowly he moves back in time
carrying our dead letters to their lost addresses.

It’s silly to get sentimental.
The dead have moved on. So should we.
But isn’t it equally simpleminded to miss
the special expertise of the departed
in clarifying our long-term plans?

They never let us forget that the line
between them and us is only temporary.
Get out there and dance! the letters shout
adding, Love always. Can’t wait to get home!
 And soon we will be. See you there.

from Pity the Beautiful. © Graywolf Press, 2012.
http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/

Posted in Beginning, Choice, Dancing, Death, determination, do, Dreams, Encouragement, find art at pinterest, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Happiness, inspiration, Joy, Letting Go, Life, Love, moment, Passion, People, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today | Leave a comment
18 Apr 2012

LOVE this thought…a ‘wow’ poem for us today!!!!

Flesh and Bones

“Look at my hands and my feet;
         see that it is I myself.
         Touch me and see;
         for a ghost does not have flesh and bones
         as you see that I have.”
                  —Luke 24.39

The Roman Imperium by its sword
tried to sever Jesus from his life,
to pry him from his own flesh;
and their minions ever since have sought
to separate the spiritual from the physical
Death, they reasoned, ought to do it well.

How daft of them to think
The One who made all things,
who crafted earth and us from dust,
who fashioned smooth and rugged stones,
and lungs and lips and eyes and hands,
and bones that bear their burdens
with such elegance and grace,
and skin, its mounds and cups and curves
and plains and folds so eloquent,
alluring, and divine—
that the Creating One would by their force
forget pronouncing all things,
in their concrete thingness, good.
They didn’t know the one thing that God wants
is for all love to be made flesh.
So when they robbed poor Jesus of his breath
and blood, the one thing that God gave him, new
and holy, raising him from death, was this:
a body, flawed but breathing, flesh and bone.

Believer, show yourself your hands and side,
your trembling, lusting, spiritual mass,
your creaking, flabby, leaking, blessed flesh.
Look at your hands, that God has made. This is
the glory in which resurrection comes.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Choice, commitment, courage, Death, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Glory, Gospel, Gratitude, Growth, healing, inspiration, Joy, Life, Love, Miracles, Patience, People, Poetry, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, Respect, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, touch, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, Winning | Leave a comment
08 Apr 2012

Happy Easter!!!

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Love crucified arose! Wooo hoooo!

Posted in Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Change, Choice, confidence, courage, Death, determination, do, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Gratitude, Growth, Happiness, Happy Holiday!, Hope, inspiration, Joy, Life, Love, Miracles, Passion, People, Prayer, Reality, Relationships, Spring, Tears, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, truth, Vulnerability, Winning, words | Leave a comment
25 Feb 2012

face the truth

Where the Wild Things Are

Go with him
into the deserted places
where mind won’t survive,

deep in your wilds, exposed,
with the beasts,
feral, shifty, wise

in their wordless ways,
their primal hungers,
their devouring instincts,

disappearing easily
into your canyons and outcroppings.
You don’t vanquish them,

you watch,
and learn to survive among them,
and witness the mystery,

how they lie down beside him.
Even they know
these washes and gulches

are a palm.
In this extremity,
you find your place

among your terrors,
your wastelands,
your angels.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

Posted in Adventure, America, art, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Blog, Change, Choice, courage, create, Dancing, Death, determination, do, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Grieving, Growth, Habits, Happiness, home, Hope, Imagine, Joy, Life, light, Love, Miracles, People, Poetry, Prayer, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, Solitude, strength, Tears, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, Vulnerability | Leave a comment
23 Feb 2012

Can you feel the music?

A lot of the daily messages I get right now are about Lent. I didn’t grow up with Lent and so I find it somewhat exotic. Over the past several years I have observed the practice and have found it so beautiful and beneficial. It is an important event, and it is a time to go deep into some tough issues. The messages I get in my daily inspirational doses are great (for the most part) and present Lent as both difficult, but joyous! Which I believe is true. We must begin to be vulnerable to our brokenness, if we want to feel our deepest joy!

It is interesting to me the contrast of when I hear people talking about Lent in everyday conversation. Like at my job, or in a restaurant. It seems a lot of people feel like Lent is about deprivation and punishment. I over hear them dreading ‘giving up’ chocolate, beer or meat and wondering if it will interfere with their entertainment schedule, or if is just too hard. Most of them seem to be dreading it. When I can, I try to insert myself into their  conversation (I hope they appreciate it at some point! ha) and assure them that is not what Lent is about – we are not called to punishment! We are called to a deeper experience of life. We are called to freedom, love and joy! Life is beautiful  – that is the message!

I try to encourage the people who feel this way to turn it around this year. Don’t be punished by ‘giving up’ use the 40 days to ADD something special. Write a 40 day journal and concentrate on looking for one good thing a day to be thankful and write about!

Lent is about reflection about deepening our lives in every way. Let’s try to get the message out that Jesus never wanted religion – his beautiful life and death was because of love to give us truth and freedom. He wants our love, relationship, communion, fellowship, passion. Yes, it’s all about love.

 

Posted in Adventure, Alone, art, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Career, Change, Choice, courage, create, Dancing, Death, determination, do, Dreams, Encouragement, Faith, find art at pinterest, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Grieving, Growth, Habits, Happiness, home, Hope, Imagine, Impossible, Joy, kindness, laugh, Letting Go, Life, light, Lonely, Love, Miracles, music, Party, Passion, Patience, Peace, People, power, Prayer, Proof, Purpose, quiet, Quotes, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, Respect, Smile, Solitude, strength, success, Sweet, Tears, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, Vulnerability, words | Leave a comment
16 Feb 2012

love sets free

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.

http://songsfromthevalley.com/July-09-2-14-Freedom.pdf

Posted in Adventure, Alone, America, art, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Blog, Burnign Bridges, Career, Change, Choice, courage, create, Dancing, Death, determination, do, dominance, Dreams, Encouragement, force, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Grieving, Growth, Habits, Happiness, Happy Holiday!, home, Hope, Imagine, Impossible, Joy, Judging, kindness, laugh, Leadership, Letting Go, Life, light, Lonely, Losing, Love, Miracles, Mother, music, Newsletter, Party, Passion, Peace, People, Poetry, politics, power, Prayer, Proof, Purpose, quiet, Quotes, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, Respect, Seasons, Smile, Solitude, Songs from the Valley, Spring, Stars and Moonlight, strength, success, Sweet, Tears, Tenderness, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, Uncategorized, Vulnerability, Winning, words, worry, Writing | Leave a comment
13 Feb 2012
2 Comments

The Importance of Personal Responsibility

's avatarHeartWork

An Invitation to Wholehearted Living hosted by Elaine Hansen and Margaret Rahn

http://heartworkguides.com/brene-brown-the-price-of-invulnerability-and

The importance of vulnerability and tenderness has become increasingly into the forefront of my thinking over the past couple of years. It is one of the most important choices we have to make as humans and the choices we make over this is a ‘life or death’ kind of choice. There are little decisions we make over this that lead us to live a false life.

Our society seems to encourage and celebrate ‘badness’. ‘Good girls gone bad’ seem to make people laugh and admire them for going this direction. Tiny example of this – I heard a father singing a song with his 8-year-old daughter, ‘…whips and chains excite me’. WHAT?????? WHY???HOW????? Can we truly believe we can sing and laugh over these types of words and actions and our lives and relationships will move into happy directions? Words are soooo important!!!!

Somehow we have decided we don’t want to live in reality. There is much pain in life – there is also much joy in life and in order to truly experience life, we have to allow both of these things to be felt, embraced, and accepted. We are here to help each other be better, to heal, to give love and lift each other up. We are given the choice of how we experience and share these things! And we have the power to live a happy, or an unhappy life.

Mostly we just react to life. We don’t realize we are choosing, we just strike back when someone hurts us, not realizing what we are doing. It feels natural. It feels powerful and good in that moment. But the consequences are very grave. As we choose to shut down our hearts, as we choose darkness, anger, revenge and blame, our actions become more desperate to ‘feel’ and so we spiral into addictions, abuse and secret behaviors that lead us further and further into darkness and way from shame. We begin to believe lies and forget that we are the beloved creations of God and we are loved beyond what we can ever comprehend.

If you click on the link above you will find out about a workshop I went to on Saturday and will also see two TED talks by Brene Brown on her vulnerability research. Sooooo good!!!

I have lots more to say about this…but I am out of time for this morning…think about these things!!! Make choices towards your own personal responsibility and happiness! Determine to seek it out for yourself! This is your personal life story – don’t let someone else rob you of your happiness and love!

Posted in Adventure, art, beauty, Becoming Yourself, Beginning, Beliefs, Blessing, Career, Change, Choice, courage, create, Dancing, Death, determination, do, Dreams, Encouragement, Freedom, fun, Gratitude, Grieving, Growth, Habits, Happiness, home, Hope, Imagine, Impossible, Joy, Judging, kindness, laugh, Leadership, Letting Go, Life, light, Love, Miracles, music, Passion, Peace, People, Prayer, Purpose, Reality, Reflection, Relationships, Respect, strength, success, thankfulness, Thoughts, time, Today, Trust, Vulnerability, words

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