life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Gratitude”

15 Aug 2013

“Proceed as the way opens…”

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 guidance5
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

AL 8/15/13

Posted in action, Adventure, Becoming Yourself, beloved, courage, find art at pinterest, Freedom, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, intimacy, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, People, power, Prayer | Leave a comment
13 Aug 2013

there’s a voice that doesn’t use words. listen. – Rumi

6Infinite Presence, The Beloved, speaks,
draws the universe near with a quiet word.
Out of the heart of all things, their mysterious beauty,
the Divine radiates.

This silence is not silent,
in which God comes to us,
arrayed in the consuming flame of suns,
clothed in stormy seas of galaxies.

God summons the whole created order
to witness us hearing her voice:
“If you are in love with me,
come near.”

Creation nods, and smiles.
This is the Truth, the Source, The One.

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

Posted in Alone, awareness, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gratitude, Life, music, mystery, nature, Patience, Peace, Poetry, quiet, Solitude, soul and spirit, Stars and Moonlight | Leave a comment
12 Aug 2013
2 Comments

life changing words

there are words strung together6
in such beauty
in such a way
they touch secret places
of pain so deep
they have had no words
they almost don’t exist
they are so deep
so shadowy scarred and twisted
so nameless I can’t acknowledge them
because they might possibly be ghosts, or demons
and why would I disturb alien creatures,
when there is quite enough pain
right here in plain sight
to try to heal and deal with?

until these thoughts appear,
shadows become real,
in these words of another
because the other
has felt
has written
has sung
has wrestled and wrangled with
this too
and the words they have mined
from these dark, broken quarries
touch that wispy, pain-filled place
inside of me
with delicate fingers
and declare they are so,
and make them alright,
binding and healing
my broken bones
my hidden stab wounds
my almost too pain-filled to be real
merely by sharing them
and my soul says, aha!
and the roses in my heart
turn from blush to deepest crimson
and birds come and rest in these trees,
which declare every moment that
Yahweh is always gracious,
and the morning wakes up
new and alive
and love burns seven times hotter
than I ever thought possible
and I count gift after gift
of never-before-seen riches at my fingertips
as I step into a life
that matters
because I am beloved
because I understand myself better
and the meaning of,
It is what it is,
and,
the truth shall set you free
become my praise songs
because I am
with every word
and I grin and say,
You aren’t much,
and I belly laugh
because it is true
and I laugh even harder because,
truth is also,
I am everything I need to be
hallelujah
glory be!

AL 8/12/13

a special thank you to my favorite writers today! So very grateful for words written and shared!
Steve Garnaas-Holmes, Mary Oliver, Oriah Mountain Dreamer, Kathy Galloway, Wendell Berry, Walt Whitman, Paulo Coelho, Ann Voskamp, Mark Buchanan, Kyle Idleman, Henri Nouwen, Brennan Manning, John O’Donohue, Audrey Assad, Janet Paschal, and so many, many others who have touched and inspired me over the years…these are exceptional amazing, inspiring people of words! Thank you for your gifts to me!

Posted in awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Blessing, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, healing, inspiration, laugh, Letting Go, Life, Love, Miracles, Poetry, Smile, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Writing
11 Aug 2013
1 Comment

but for now…

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Posted in courage, dark, Death, Faith, find art at pinterest, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, Grieving, healing, intimacy, Life, Love, music, Patience, Prayer, quiet, soul and spirit, strength, success
10 Aug 2013

bring more love…

5Here’s the truth: Your purpose is to bring more love to this earth. It is to heal where there is brokenness. It is to bring light where there is darkness. It is to restore sanity where insanity reigns, kindness where fear has taken over.

That’s your purpose.

That’s my purpose.

That is the purpose of every human being here on earth.

If, in the morning, you find at least one minute, sixty seconds, of silence to close your eyes and humbly say to life, the cosmos, God — whatever you call it:

Please allow me to be an instrument of love today
Please allow me to serve
Please allow me to heal
Please use me for the good

Or your own form of that… then life will take care of the rest. Life will place in your path the most remarkable, tender, perfect, interesting, set of opportunities to do just that.

Tara Mohr
www.taramohr.com
twitter: @tarasophia

Posted in Choice, courage, determination, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, healing, kindness, Life, Love, Purpose, soul and spirit, truth | Leave a comment
09 Aug 2013

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, but must be felt with the heart. – Helen Keller

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

2

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.

AL 8/8/13

Posted in attitude, awareness, beauty, Becoming Yourself, beloved, Choice, Faith, find art at pinterest, forgiveness, Freedom, Glory, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, Life, Love | Leave a comment
08 Aug 2013
1 Comment

faith in Jesus is not an argument to be won, it is an invitation into life changing grace, into life changing love

if grace is an ocean we’re all sinking
– John Mark Mc Millan (How He Loves)

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Good news becomes bad news when it is announced without peace and joy.  Anyone who proclaims the forgiving and healing love of Jesus with a bitter heart is a false witness.  Jesus is the savior of the world.  We are not.  We are called to witness, always with our lives and sometimes with our words, to the great things God has done for us.  But this witness must come from a heart that is willing to give without getting anything in return.

The more we trust in God’s unconditional love for us, the more able we will be to proclaim the love of Jesus without any inner or outer conditions.                                                        – Henri Nouwen

www.henrinouwen.org

I am currently reading Paul Zahl’s book Grace in Practice and it is rockin’ my world!!! Highly recommend it! Available on Amazon

2

Posted in awareness, Faith, find art at pinterest, Gospel, grace, Gratitude, Love, soul and spirit
06 Aug 2013

some days this is all you can do…

4

Posted in attitude, awareness, Choice, find art at pinterest, Gratitude, Smile | Leave a comment
05 Aug 2013

joy dare

She whispers it, “God does loves us, doesn’t He, Mama?”

And I nod and this is always the question and maybe this is all our faith really is — Faith is this unwavering trust in the heart of God in the hurt of here. Unwavering trust all the time though I don’t understand all the time.

God is always good and we are always loved.

Loved enough to be shaped into goodness of Christ Himself.
– Ann Voskamp
A Holy Experience
http://www.aholyexperience.com

Follow this link to find out more about Ann Voskamp and take the Joy Dare! Free monthly printables available. http://www.aholyexperience.com/joy-dares/

20130805-093052.jpg

Posted in action, Adventure, attitude, awareness, Change, commitment, Faith, Gratitude, Habits, Life, Love, Miracles, receiving, Reflection, soul and spirit, thankfulness, Thoughts | Leave a comment
26 Jul 2013

habits of gratitude

Breathe. It’s how life works. It’s the way beauty is always born —

Breathe in: Lord, I receive what you give.
Breathe out: Lord, I give thanks for what you give.

You don’t get to demand your life, like a given. You get to receive your life, like a gift.

You don’t get to make up your story; you get to make peace with it.

This is how you labor through a life, how you make it grace

– Ann Voskamp
A Holy Experience
http://www.aholyexperience.com

7

It seems,
as we age,
we become more of what we practice living.
when dementia or Alzheimer’s begin,
we lose our ability to remember.
important pieces fall out of our knowing,
and we become our habits
I have been told, the skills that last the longest
are those habits we have learned so well
we don’t think about doing them,
they are a part of us instinctively:
folding laundry,
washing dishes,
walking.
these are the last things that we forget.
our attitudes reflect who we have been.
I have been caregiving someone with advanced dementia.
it is difficult to watch. 7
it is painful to experience.
I seek to understand my own living better by witnessing this.
I am learning much.
Recently I have been reminded of something extremely important:

We become what we practice.
gratitude is a practice.
a practice I want to develop,
so that if I ever forget other things,
gratitude will be incorporated,
so fully into my living,
that it is part of my dna.
that it is my most ingrained habit.
I want to wrap my living so deeply in gratitude right now,
that if I lose everything else,
if I forget my own name,
I will still not forget my riches.
I will still be aware of my great blessings,
I will still remember to say,
‘thank you’.
if I forget words,
I will still breathe
gratitude.
if I forget how to walk,
my eyes will still
carry the light
of grace.

Nothing is worth more than this day, because
it is the day I have been given to practice,
to acknowledge all the blessings,
this is the gift I have been given,
this one precious life.

AL 7/26/13

Posted in beloved, Blessing, Choice, find art at pinterest, grace, Gratitude, Habits | Leave a comment

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