Maybe no one needs us to out-debate them this summer, like they need us to out-love them. Maybe no one needs us to prove anything like they need us to have proof of what mends us… of what moves us. – Ann Voskamp
Read full blog post at http://www.aholyexperience.com/2015/07/when-you-feel-a-bit-like-the-worlds-ablaze-with-hard-things-the-emmaus-option/
Listen to Adele sing To Make You Feel My Love http://youtu.be/ZzmTFBPMhk8
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com
There is a teaching that says that behind all hardening and tightening and rigidity of the heart, there’s always fear. But if you touch fear, behind fear there is a soft spot. And if you touch that soft spot, you find the vast blue sky. You find that which is ineffable, ungraspable, and unbiased, that which can support and awaken us at any time.
– Pema Chodron
Listen to JJ Heller sing What Love Really Means http://youtu.be/PgGUKWiw7Wk
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
You see, I want a lot.
Perhaps I want everything
the darkness that comes with every infinite fall
and the shivering blaze of every step up.
So many live on and want nothing
And are raised to the rank of prince
By the slippery ease of their light judgments
But what you love to see are faces
that do work and feel thirst.
You love most of all those who need you
as they need a crowbar or a hoe.
You have not grown old, and it is not too late
To dive into your increasing depths
where life calmly gives out its own secret.
💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥💥
The Book of Hours by Rainer Maria Rilke
On this day of your life I believe God wants you to know…
…that life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
You won’t find glory at the center of safety, but at its edge. You won’t find love at a place where you are covered, but in the space where you are naked.
You gotta take some risks. You have to not only pick up the dice, but roll ’em. So go ahead, take the gamble.
You have nothing to lose except the chance to win.
Life is not long enough to spend it on the sidelines. And you will not have to think but a second to know exactly why you received this message today.
💕💕💕💕💕💕💞💞💝💝💝💝
– Neale Donald Walsh
http://www.nealedonaldwalsch.com
Listen to Brett Dennen sing The One Who Loves You Most http://youtu.be/4XwSRzNCYIA
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
Sometimes you just need someone to storm heaven for you
Sometimes you just need someone to hoarse whisper it for you —
“Father of the Tired & Broken-Hearted…
oh, hear our prayer….
Give Your Child the wisdom to know it this week:
Hiding when you’re hurting won’t heal you and growing isolated can just let infection grow.
Give Your Child the love to live it:
The secret way to heal a broken heart is to let love leak out like an ocean through all the cracks.
When you’re most wounded by words, run to the only Word that always brings healing.
And may all the trials be but a trail,
all the stones on the way be but grace stairs to God.
In the name of Jesus —
who broke His heart to heal ours…”
💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💖
– Ann Voskamp (edited) read full post at aholyexperience.com
Listen to Natasha Bedingfield sing Unwritten http://youtu.be/TtGY4G7II6s
💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌💌
Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
Listen to Plumb sing Exhale http://youtu.be/dOgUjSW4agg
A great storm lashes this nation
while much of the people sleep,
a storm of racial hatred, a storm of fear.
In fear a white man seeks out blacks
and kills them in their church.
This is not new.
The storm will not stop,
the waves of death will not stop.
He is only one wave of the storm,
blown by great winds of fear.
It is not out of hope or happiness he kills,
he kills out of fear.
The one wave is not the problem; the storm is.
The storm envelopes us all.
It defeats us, makes us anxious.
We cry, “Do you not care that we are perishing?”
A great storm battered the disciples’ boat.
Wind, invisible and relentless,
howled down on them, pushing against them.
Waves would not stop, would not stop
bashing them, beating them,
filling the boat, threatening to swallow them.
Fear howled in them like the wind,
fear beat in them like waves,
a relentless storm of fear.
Their hearts cried, “Save us! Manage this!”
But Jesus was asleep, not worrying,
not in control. Serene. At peace.
“Jesus, join our anxiety! Won’t you despair with us?”
But Jesus was unafraid.
Maybe weary, maybe needing not to be needed,
but also unafraid. At peace.
It was not fear, but his sisters’ and brothers’ cries
that awakened him. In his deep calm he rose,
not in fear, not in anger, but in peace
and gave his peace to the others,
and gave his peace to the winds and the seas.
Infinite peace flowed through him like wind,
passed out into the world like waves,
peace stronger than the storm.
It was not fear, but peace that calmed the storm.
The Man of Peace cries out in our own souls.
Calms the storms of our fears.
Grants us peace beyond understanding.
We let it fill us, that divine peace,
deep peace with all the world,
deepest love for this world and all its children,
children with and without mercy,
peace with the world and all is raging wounds,
peace even with the storm,
for it is peace with all of life.
This peace is also agony for our sisters and brothers.
It is care that we are perishing.
But it is care, not fear. It is deep peace.
And in that peace we shall awaken.
Not fear but our sister’s and brothers’ cries awaken us.
We rise, as Christ rises, always in hope.
In deep peace, not in fear or anger,
we will rise and stand in the storm.
The winds will whip us.
The waves will batter us. But we will stand,
because Christ stands in us.
We will cry out to the storm,
and cry out to our sisters and bothers
with a peace stronger than the storm,
“Peace! Be still!”
The wind will still lash us, the waves batter.
Fear will react; anger will rise like new waves.
The wounds will retract and hide, afraid to be touched,
the wind afraid to be named.
But in the storm we shall stand in that peace that is love,
cry out with that peace that is anguish,
hold fast with that peace that is courage,
endure with that peace stronger than the storm.
And there shall be peace.
Peace. Be Still.
Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
No, my friends
darkness is not everywhere
for here and there
I find faces illuminated
from within.
Japanese lanterns
floating
among dark trees
😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
Light by Carole Ann Borges
Listen to Cat Stevens sing Morning Has Broken http://youtu.be/e0TInLOJuUM
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
“One isn’t necessarily born with courage, but one is born with potential. Without courage, we cannot practice any other virtue with consistency. We can’t be kind, true, merciful, generous, or honest.” ~Maya Angelou
Listen to Eric Clapton sing Let it Grow http://youtu.be/V069wWEnCys
💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣
photo sources at www.pinterest.com/al513
Your prayers are not little,
they are the cries of God.
Your power is not slight,
it is the sun in your heart.
Your path is not through a city of strangers,
but through heaven.
You are walking neither on air nor earth
but the hands of angels.
God is not far off,
but within.
You are not alone,
but surrounded by love.
This world is the bread,
this moment the chalice.
This visible world is a window
into the glorious world within it.
This is not the last chapter.
There is more.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
Listen to Seal sing I’m Alive http://youtu.be/RwwnxpBxiRo
⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️⌛️
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
When you send forth your spirit, we are created
—Psalm 104.30
Holy One,
breath of the big bang,
idea of creation,
you who make spring come forth,
who make life out of nothing,
breathe yourself into me.
Create me.
you are the flame,
I am your light.
You are the nerve,
I am your muscle.
You are the Word,
I am the story.
You are the song,
I am the singing.
I am one with you
and one with all Creation.
One Spirit,
one flesh, many forms.
In your Spirit
I am we.
Holy One, live in me;
I am your body.
I remember,
and I live.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
🌌🌄🌅🗻🌈🗾🌋🌠🌍
my words my world my earth my sky
you are them all
my notes my music my score my song
you are them all
my heart my soul my mind my life
you are them all
my blood my breath my skin my bones
you are them all
everything I am everything I hope to be
you are them all
AL
Listen to Amos Lee sing Learned A Lot http://youtu.be/wgzFPP-Fa8o
🗾🌠🗻🌄🌍🌈🌌🌋🌅
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
[God] seems to delight in using the unexpected, the least likely, or the weakest link to turn our lives upside down and inside out . . . and fulfill the plan he has had in mind since the beginning of time.
~ Thelma Well
💞
With love so sudden and so sweet,
Her face it bloomed like a sweet flower
And stole my heart away complete.
My face turned pale as deadly pale.
My legs refused to walk away,
And when she looked, what could I ail?
My life and all seemed turned to clay.
And then my blood rushed to my face
And took my eyesight quite away,
The trees and bushes round the place
Seemed midnight at noonday.
I could not see a single thing,
Words from my eyes did start –
They spoke as chords do from the string,
And blood burnt round my heart.
Are flowers the winter’s choice?
Is love’s bed always snow?
She seemed to hear my silent voice,
Not love’s appeals to know.
I never saw so sweet a face
As that I stood before.
My heart has left its dwelling-place
And can return no more
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
Listen to Englad Dan and John Ford Coley sing http://youtu.be/_QZjJU-mtFU
💞💞💞😍💞💞💞💞💞
quote photos found at www.pinterest.com/al513
life: acoustic & amplified 
