Freedom only belongs
to those who choose to use it,
but belongs is not really the right word,
because freedom will only exist for those who let go completely,
those who allow it to stay free. Freedom, unused or manipulated,
is no longer freedom.
Like any great gift,
it does nothing
until it is received,
open handed,
open spirited,
used in practical living.
I’ve sat in prisons
for many years
not realizing the doors were unlocked.
Granted, many of the doors were difficult to get open,
people I trusted TOLD me they were locked,
some were rusted over,
others had puzzle latches
I had to figure out,
but one by one they all opened,
and I stepped out into sunshine.
Increasingly lighter,
increasingly comprehending of this grace-thing called freedom.
The mystery, the magnitude,
the path, the fire, the gift
called freedom.
There I go again,
falling in love with free will,
falling in love with free air, surf and sky,
falling in love with me.
I fit words together,
hoping they mean something.
Wanting them to make sense.
Allowing them emotion.
Willing to give them freely.
Creating a monument,
for a moment in time,
to share with the world.
These words become something tangible.
A thing,
a gift,
a piece of art.
A part of me,
stays with them.
Little pieces of me,
like shapes in a puzzle,
becoming
a picture,
a flower,
a song.
Small particles of my soul,
like a rose bud,
opening in my hand,
mesmerizes with it’s
beauty,
touch,
fragrance.
I write words on a page,
and feel love
spreading outward,
as the flowering happens,
as this thought blooms.
As words become thoughts about…
As the pieces become beautiful…
As the poem is born,
of water,
blood,
star dust
and becomes…
a small piece of me,
left behind on pages,
for others to find,
sharing a small moment,
never to be lost,
because it has been
recorded,
acknowledged,
emptied.
Gratitude makes room for new
miracles,
learning,
beauty,
as they find their new home
ready,
emptied,
expectant.
Waiting for more
truth,
goodness,
love,
to flow and enter in.
There is always more,
and more than enough.
The heart that gives gathers,
but never tries to hold anything hostage.
Love,
giving,
pretty much everything,
about life,
only works when we allow it,
all of it,
every sacred cow,
every spec of mud,
to be free.
The Celtic understanding of friendship finds its inspiration and culmination in the sublime notion of the anam cara. Anam is the Gaelic word for soul; cara is the word for friend. The anam cara was a person to whom you could reveal the hidden intimacies of your life. This friendship was an act of recognition and belonging. When you had an anam cara, your friendship cut across all convention and category. You were joined in an ancient and eternal way with the friend of your soul.
– John O’Donohue
is a Quaker axiom which is defined as: “To undertake a service or course of action without prior clarity about all the details but with confidence that divine guidance will make these apparent, and assure an appropriate outcome.”
abandoned to divine guidance
living with this confidence… the way will open
God will provide!
This is a difficult saying,
even more difficult to fall into the arms
of mystery
and begin every day
new
in this way of living.
It is not a natural way to live.
it is a radical way to live.
doesn’t make sense,
least of all to me,
the most stubborn and selfish of girls,
the one who is known to love shoes
even more than chocolate.
it is only with the spirit that I can choose this path.
true love is its only source,
true love is radical,
it takes me to the cross,
and asks me to lay down willingly…
and because I have experienced this grace amazing,
because I know how good this love is,
because I know how much I have been forgiven,
I DO!
I peacefully give up.
I joyfully lay down.
I patiently learn to wait.
I step out into the valley
and then
I gladly learn to die.
Not my will,
Thine be done.
In earth.
In heaven.
In me.
To me.
For me.
Through me.
In spite of me.
The past year
I have walked this way
it is the only way I find
I want to live,
can now live at all;
waiting for grace
to illuminate my next step.
counting miracles every minute,
letting go of my wants,
reveals love beyond imagination.
provision at every turn,
Every bush is blazing holy.
Shoes can only be discarded.
To God be the Glory
Forever and ever
Amen
The prosecutor of your soul can’t ever nail you: Time can’t wreck your life. You can’t wreck your life. Nothing in all of this world can separate you from the love of Christ and His love is your life. Your life is unwreckable because Christ’s love is unstoppable.
– Ann Voskamp www.aholyexperience.com
Grace is surely amazing
Everyone’s life is unwreckable
because Christ’s love is unstoppable
I love these lovely words.
I adore these grand thoughts.
What a fabulous trade off.
I had no real idea,
that to accept this invitation,
is to give up,
my selfish desires,
my ego,
my broken heart,
my unbearable pain.
For this life changing
love,
grace,
freedom,
healing.
It is stepping into
an ever deepening mystery,
the adventure of a lifetime,
wisdom and beauty unknown,
this wild pool of faith.
I have gotten so much more than I could ever have imagined!
I got it all!
life and life abundantly
grace that is greater
than I’ll ever be able to fully comprehend.
I asked you questions.
direct ones.
You avoided answering,
so now I know the answers –
the ones you didn’t want me to know.
The ones you hid behind a smokescreen of words
that said nothing.
Proclaiming honesty,
when they were honestly nothing.
No meaning.
Then you asked me to define what you should say.
To which I give you the brilliant answer,
learned from my friend, Peter Block, Exactly
AL 7/15/13
One of the very best lyricists of our day, in my humble opinion, is Sara Bareilles. She has this amazing truths about relationships she shares in her songs. They touch me, they help me, they give me ah ha moments. I have been listening to her new album on iTunes for free the past week and the album dropped on this past Tuesday! GET IT!!!! So very good. Sharing the first release with you today. So amazing, these words! WOW!
Brave
Sara Bareilles
You can be amazing
You can turn a phrase into a weapon or a drug
You can be the outcast
Or be the backlash of somebody’s lack of love
Or you can start speaking up
Nothing’s gonna hurt you the way that words do
And they settle ‘neath your skin
Kept on the inside and no sunlight
Sometimes a shadow wins
But I wonder what would happen if you
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
Everybody’s been there, everybody’s been stared down
By the enemy
Fallen for the fear and done some disappearing
Bow down to the mighty
Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Maybe one of these days you can let the light in
Show me how big your brave is
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
Innocence, your history of silence
Won’t do you any good
Did you think it would?
Let your words be anything but empty
Why don’t you tell them the truth?
Say what you wanna say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
With what you want to say
And let the words fall out
Honestly I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I wanna see you be brave
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you
I just wanna see you.
The historic story of Christ, the outside story of Christ, suddenly emerges as the inside story of yourself – and it is this inner story, this inner parallel, that really makes the Bible inspired, so that your condition becomes the living word of God.
– George MacLeod
One of my very favorite quotes is by Maya Angelou, Do the best you can until you know better. When you know better, do better. This is the gospel in us. We are called to allow God to work in us, to be open and learn…continually. Truth is a moving and living word within us to allow us to become more as we grow in relationship with love. We will never be ‘perfect’ in this life. We will never get to retire from this life’s calling. This is the amazing part of amazing grace. It never leaves us a lone to figure it out on our own. Love continues…always…and causes us to do something remarkable…to move from obedience to surrender and every day to fall deeper and deeper in love.
My daughter, Heather, recommended a book to me and I have started to read it. It is called Manuscript Found in Accra by Paulo Coelho and Margaret Jull Costa. As I have begun to read it, I found these two lines that struck me. “They don’t understand that religion was created in order to share the mystery and worship, not to oppress or convert others. The greatest manifestation of the miracle of God is life.”
Wow, what a mouthful. Simple, yet so difficult for most of us to do, which bothers me to no end! Last week, I was able to participate in the Valley Beth Shalom honoring of my friend and teacher, Rabbi Ed Feinstein. Ed has spent the last 20 years sharing the mystery and worship of God with all of us in Los Angeles. He has honored life and truly sees the reflection of God in each and every person. So, what stops the rest of us from doing this better?
Because we think that money, power and prestige are all that matters. Because we think that narcissism is natural and right. Because we believe that oppressing/blaming someone else will make the truth we know about our own shortcomings and errors go away! Because we believe that without converting others to “our way” we must be wrong. Because we don’t believe in anything really, so we must make another believe in “our way.”
I suggest that we follow Rabbi Ed’s example. He reaches out to the poor and gives them a meal, not a thrashing. He welcomes the stranger and gets to know them, again over a meal, without trying to convert them. He cares for the sick, the orphan and widow with words of comfort and love, not blame and disdain. Rabbi Ed is a master teacher. Yet, his actions speak so much louder than his words.
I don’t want to oppress you or convert you. I do want you to join me in being addicted to redemption. Why? So that all of us can appreciate the Miracle of God, life, a little bit more. So that all of us can share the mystery of life and God with each other and everyone else. So that all of us can join together to find the path to worship through caring for each other. So that each us can live lives of meaning, purpose and passion. Your way is good, Her way is good, and my way is good if we all are on the way to worshiping, enlarging, sharing and enjoying LIFE a little more each day.
The Jewish Journal believes that great community depends on great conversation. So, jewishjournal.com provides a forum for insightful voices across the political and religious spectrum. Most bloggers are not employees of The Jewish Journal, and their opinions are their own. Our entire blog policy is here. Please alert us to any violations of our policy by clicking here. (editor@jewishjournal.com). If you’d like to join our blogging community, email us. (webmaster@jewishjournal.com).
Freedom, unused or manipulated,
sunshine.
life: acoustic & amplified 