life: acoustic & amplified

poetry, quotes & thoughts about life

Archive for the category “Growth”

bring us peace  

 

 Oh time,
Oh love,

Oh life,

awaken us all

to hear,

to see,

to be aware

shake our comfort zones

let us scream

let us cry

let us shout

let us waste no more of our living

help us to choose wisely

help us to live passionately 

help us to love mercy, to establish justice, to inhabit grace

keep us humble

keep us growing 

keep us connected 

knowing our own valve, as well as the value of every other

Oh God of love

Oh God of life

Oh God of joy

shake us now with heavenly thunder, 

crack open our hearts and bring us peace

❤️

AL

  
 

  

photos found at http://www.pinterest.com 

let your guard down

 Take me past

the guarded place

in you

where confusion

covers itself

in unrelenting confidence

then marches on

In lively steps

Take off the façade

let it fall away

into nowhere

Turn around and face me

I search the infinite depth

where beyond all entrenchments

I find your thirst

to be met 

and understood

the sadness in your bones,

the want of your silent cries

to be heard

and be known—

abiding within those 

unseen landscapes

is a world of precious

dreams

Let me touch where

the battle wounds

lie quietly healing—

Buried beneath

an armored sheath

rests a lifetime of love

and loneliness,

blame and triumph, 

honor and defeat

Within this blended web

of scars and treasures,

glistening with honesty,

there you are—

I found you,

beneath the soldier’s plated heart

So loosen the knots around my own

see all its agony bared and mending

and in between each open space

we’ll breathe upon the frailty

All the wishful longings to be had

bring to me yours

as I meet you there with mine.

🎭

Quest by Susan Frybort

   
   
   
   

you gettin’ excited?

 
  If you want to know the past, to know what has caused you, look at yourself in the PRESENT, for that is the past’s effect. If you want to know your future, then look at yourself in the PRESENT, for that is the cause of the future.

🍾

      – Majjhima Nikaya   

Holy One,

as a new year approaches

I seek to become not a new person

but more myself,

more aware of what is infinitely good in me,

more attentive to you in me,

who you become in me to be.
I am grateful for your presence,

in awe of your glory,

open to your grace

in me.
Unfold your light in me

and I will become you. 

Unbind your compassion in me

and I will shine with you.

Be in me;

I will be in you.

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

  
Weather Report
Light

today and ‪tomorrow‬,

emanating from within.

Visibility will be mixed

as some hide the light and others glow.

An atmosphere of glory will prevail

as God moves through us all.

__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

  
  
http://www.pinterest.com

the beds we make: predicted 

 

how much of our lives do we predict through our words

which come from our thoughts 

our actions following that form 

belief systems so deep seeded are seated 

within us deeper than deep

most times we do things 

from an unconscious place

of familial familiarity 

patterns so old

we can trace them into generations past passing

the torturous torch

ever forward 

how do we stop this bitter flower flowering?

how do we dam the damning history if our history?

remember to remember 

thoughts become things

words are power

actions speak louder than shouting 

we can do hard things

we get to choose

that’s what free will is all about

all we need is love

love wins every time

put that truth in your peace pipe and smoke it!

I’ll take all that into all the upcoming 

brand spanking, 

sparkling 

new years 

year after year –

I choose a life of love

🍾

AL  

 So, you get to choose – are you going to suffer, or be happy for the next seven years? 
I’m going to suffer. 

  

  
HEALING: is moving forward even when nothing is working out, and understanding that one day, it will all work together to create an even better today than yesterday. 

   – Soul Pancake 

timing be everything…just wait and see  

 

 walking while waiting…not holding onto the breath…finding the shallow end of the pool, gliding full body under the water…raising expectations while others wonder , slightly wandering , forgetting to remember is not an option while the day is so bright…finding fashion foolishly delightful, while taking ones shoes off …holy hours become …earth and flesh blown open , .birthing beyond time and space, then settling into the sunroom for hot peach tea and a tiny croissant…such a simple remedy while walking and waiting…
Beauty,

Donna Knutson

   
    
    
  

  
 

to each his own  

 
18 years ago 

I stood at the edge 

of a great abyss 

in life 

a part of me, 

not known until that time, 

had awakened 

now I had a choice to make, 

to accept – 

or deny – 

this part of myself, 

which was revealed 

in such a wild, 

drastic, 

unexpected 

and overwhelming manner 

I knew this would be 

what, ultimately, 

saved, 

or 

destroyed, 

me. 

as I stood, 

still in innocence, 

not really knowing – 

yet, somehow, 

knowing in every way – 

the costs, 

the benefits, 

the responsibility, 

the awareness. 

the long dark road ahead, 

the excruciating valley years to come, 

the sharp, rugged climb up the mountain. 

18 years ago, 

I struggled 

with all of this 

as I stood on a balcony 

and made certain vows 

concerning the choices 

I would make through 

my time of learning: 
I would only follow love. 

No matter how I failed, 

I would remember it is not about how good I am.

 I would try, to the best of my ability, to live the words of Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount. 

I would never make a choice 

simply to benefit myself,

only to get money,

or to be comfortable. 

I would learn to be truthful and fair 

and be the person I wanted to be. 

I would be honest with myself – always – especially when I was wrong, or made a mistake –

yet, I would not live in fear or hate myself if I made mistakes,

I would stay aware and learn – 

so I would not make the same mistake twice. 

I would make the best choice I could at any given moment, 

and then move forward the best I could with no regret. 

I would do my best and give my best. 

I would look for good things every day. 
And with these parameters firmly in place, 

like Eve, 

I bit that apple 

and began… 

for good… 

for bad… 

to make my choices. 

from there I began to grow in wisdom, knowledge and self respect

from there I began the path to healing

from there I began to understand myself and realized each souls value, including my own

from there I have learned all I know about life and love

from there I began the long walk home

💞
AL

 

  
    

   
  I must lie down where all the ladders start,

In the foul rag-and-bone shop of the heart. 

      – Yeats

 

 

I am so much more than I ever thought I was – Sherri Yerkes (speaking from the heart) 

  

So several weeks ago now, Robin Ok called to connect on the upcoming Creative Collaborative Retreat 2015. 

http://www.creativecollaborativeretreats.com

I still remember her words, “I signed you up for some things that you can say ‘no’ to these if you want….

How exciting! My heart already was saying a great, big, fat ‘yes’ – before I even heard the list, which ended with a session on poetry! 

Oh joy!!! YES!!! Ideas poured in…

The retreat weekend came – 13-15 of this month and it was everything, and more, than expected! 

Beautiful, powerful, connecting, art-full, musical, spiritual, abundant, accepting, empowering – on-and-on I can, and will, go. I was overwhelmed with love and joy on many levels, but my greatest bit of on-going-bursting-out-all-over joy is from my poetry session. 

New words were framed, created, brought out of heart-hiding into beings of light, onto old inspiring paper and into the hearts reading and listening. We shared our poems at the end of the hour – no one left with dry hearts or eyes. 

Poems (words)  are living things. They touch us, heal us, bring us joy and create space inside us as we bring forward what was inside and allow new thoughts to be born, creativity always creates anew inside and outside of ourselves. We give to receive and in receiving we give back again. 

This magic has taken root in some great and powerful ways, I am so amazed at the beauty, the power, the courage, the immensity of these poets – new and seasoned veterans – all old souls. 

I am so grateful to have been able to share this session, which helped connect these amazing, gifted women with their inner, living, beautiful poetry. I believe poetry lives inside each of us. The need for beauty is essential for us to live, discovering, excavating that beauty is our life-long, ever-changing, most-challenging and surprising gift. 

Check out Barbara Endel’s new, amazing poetry blog –

https://poetintrainingblog.wordpress.com

🔥

This poem came to me yesterday…kinda summed it all up:

Our poems 

Are like the wart-hogs 

In the zoo 

It’s hard to say 

Why there should be such creatures 
But once our life gets into them 

As sometimes happens 

Our poems 

Turn into living things 

And there’s no arguing 

With living things 

They are 

The way they are 
Our poems 

May be rough 

Or delicate 

Little 

Or great 
But always 

They have inside them 

A confluence of cries 

And secret languages 
And always 

They are improvident 

And free 

They keep 

A kind of Sabbath 
They play 

On sooty fire escapes 

And window ledges 
They wander in and out 

Of jails and gardens 

They sparkle 

In the deep mines 

They sing 

In breaking waves 

And rock like wooden cradles. 

💞

Living Things by Anne Porter

   
  

 
Living in astonished and passionate gratitude for each of you. Thank you for allowing me to inspire you…thank you for inspiring me! 

  
 If you do nothing Nothing will be done. 

Sounds like we should know this, 

right? 

It’s just fascinating to me to see 

the result of a decision to create a newsletter dedicated to good news, 

then to commit to creating that publication for one full year. 

8 full years later, 

as I ended that project, 

to make way for new projects, 

there were over 135 issues 

on a website devoted to that good-news thing. 

4 years ago I decided to begin a daily poetry and quotes blog, 

I now have almost 2000 blog posts.

December 2012, I committed to a poem a day. 

11 months later, 

I had over 700 poems written. 

It’s crazy cool! 

And it has been a huge lesson to me, 

Dreams and Ideas are great, 

but only the commitment, focus 

and actually acting on the idea, 

will call it forth into the world. 

All those words, ideas and poems would still be inside me somewhere, 

if I had not said, yes, to DOING it. 

Nothing gets done without the work. 

Intention and action go together

in order to build the house, 

in order to change the world.

AL

a graceful feeling

   
    
    

 
  Anything that you learn becomes your wealth, a wealth that cannot be taken away from you; whether you learn it in a building called school or in the school of life. To learn something new is a timeless pleasure and a valuable treasure. And not all things that you learn are taught to you, but many things that you learn you realize you have taught yourself.

― C. JoyBell
  
I spent my weekend with my amazing friends, Kitt, Mike, Rebecca and Christian Haberman, in Louisville. 

I sum this powerful time of connection and sharing with this: 

I learned things. Lots of beautiful things. Things I will have with me always. (Happy Sigh) I am so grateful for all of the great people I have in my life. 

I stayed in the room below (Lesley Haberman being all grown up and off in college) and got ready with these messages before me, reminding me, filling my heart. Messages written by a beautiful, teenage girl to remind herself….remember…remember..

💞

Thank you, Lesley, thank you Haberman Family. Love is so very good to us! 

   
  What a beautiful world… 

some things are sad

  
      
Every now and then
we leave off our pious yearnings,

and even our righteous ire,

and sit down to the hard work 
of being sad for the world.

It takes guts, 

God knows—

not anger but sorrow;

it tires prophets and psalmists alike.

The wolf that cries in the long valley,

the sea that chants its lament

over and over with sighs and tears,

the hermit on sore knees,

 
the angels at their posts

taking turns offering up their 
aching hearts,

even Christ weeping,

they can’t do it alone.

In the end

 it is 
the broken hearted

in whom we find 
the deepest companionship.

We come away wet with grief

yet oddly strengthened

with the fibers of hope.

In grief for the world 

we touch its worth.

In sorrow we find each other,

and there, 

the substance of joy.

Weird, isn’t it, 

how that alone

is the healing balm we ask? 


__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

 

“Only he who cries… is permitted to sing…” is what Bonhoeffer said. 
Only those authentic enough to lament, are authentic enough to love. 
When everything is stripped away and you have nothing left and in all your bare vulnerability, there is communion with God. 

– Ann Voskamp 

💙

I am bare naked 

Down to my bones 

Even my comfortable skin is gone 

I shiver as the cold blows through me 

I have cried many tears 

My song has been watered to full growth 

Being alive does not come without cost 

We love

we lose 

we grieve 

We lament 

We love 

We commune 

We learn 

We choose 

to continue to make the choices

to love

to bring the song 

that fills spring with joy 

and the whole world 

With light and love 
AL

  

even on the hard days    

  Respectfully given,

exalted being

full of grace,

remember to forget:

surrender struggles to catch it’s breath,

then falls soft

as evening prayers at twilight,

gathering into the corners of our hearts

before falling full 

onto the center of our living circle,

 free and happy as a Friday night. 

next morning’s sun fills us, 

each day, each season. 

nurture moves with grace, 

evolving slowly thru 

our caring hands,

our grieving hearts,

our shared experience, 

our acts of courage,

the healing salt of our tears,

the energy generation of our joy. 

with pieces of our true love,

we fly flags, 

of prayer,

of peace,

of poems,

of our own making 

to heal the worlds – 

within us/

without us. 

we allow –

simply complex. 

we understand –

clearly unclear. 

we stand and fill our world with 

the beauty,

the mystery,

of sound,

of hum,

of laughter,

of voice,

of music,

protecting us 

from lesser gods,

the terror all around. 

love is the shield, 

love is the answer,

love is the choice,

love is our glory,

our salvation,

crowning us 

sons and daughters 

of the King. 

at times,

in spite of our broken pieces,

our refusal to believe,

even our darkened hearts. 

 –

astonishing, 

isn’t it?

AL

A sob in the night 

awakens us from dreams,
a crack opens in the wall

and in seeps the dark stream
with pieces of broken things in it,

and blood, and our own ragged edge,
and in seeps the light,

and the voice singing.
We want to pull the wall around us,

the sorrow pouring in,
but it is breached now,

it is only an illusion,
and we are out in the dangerous light,

the fragile street,
tender as everyone else,

ready to duck, ready to weep.
We are all refugees now,

foreigners, except to foreigners.
It’s the egg that is cracked,

the stone rolled away.
If there is a place for love,

for your own brave soul, this is it.
The cord in another’s heart

knotted in yours, 
the hand reaching for you

you can reach out to.
Terror and the stillness,

and the voice singing. 
__________________ 

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

http://www.unfoldinglight.net

   
   
and for each person in this world 🙏🏻

Post Navigation