I closed my eyes
and returned
to people,
and places,
I love.
I closed my eyes
and opened
my heart
to magic,
and mystery,
I fell in love.
I closed my eyes
and committed
my life
to God, my father,
and Christ,
my soul’s beloved.
I closed my eyes
and saw
a new heaven,
and earth,
a world of love.
I closed my eyes
and found
myself,
within myself
deep calling to deep
I closed my eyes
and sang
my words,
songs you gave me,
my love song to You.
AL 10/09/13
After one month, 4718 miles, 12 states, 11 beds, and visits with 19 family members, we are home. And what did the bear see on the other side of the mountain?
The world goes on. And on and on. Beyond every road, every ten-lane turnpike and two-strand wagon trail, runs another road. Every place you go, and beyond, there is another place, another town, or space between towns, a teeming metropolis or an isolated farmhouse, and people live there. Or something else lives there. For someone, that is home. From where I live to the desert and the tundra, from mountain top to dark sea bottom, there is life living its life, in all its uncatalogable variety. And there are people being beautiful in a million different ways. And there is God’s grace, in all its even greater variety, doing its thing. Whatever is, is in God. And as I look up into a night sky far from cities where I can actually see the stars, they, too, in their silent, mysterious distances, are still in God.
Whatever your day brings, whatever new or familiar experiences come your way, whether you find yourself in a great throng or all alone (or both), know that the One is with you, that Blessing upholds you, that the Presence includes you. No matter where you are, in space or in mind, you are not far away. You are at home in God. Welcome.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
Brennan Manning
writing of grace
in his human broken frame
a ragamuffin
full if love and scars
he is now home with our Abba
God brought him to me
through Wyatt
in Florida
a weird and wonderful guy
who also brought me to
Henri Nouwen
and
John Eldridge
Wow!
that was a very strange and beneficial encounter
The words and calling
of Ruthless Trust
The Ragamuffin Gospel
the truth resounding
The Furious Love of God
Abba’s Child
The Wisdom of Tenderness
Above All
I read every word of his
I can get hold of
each echo in my heart
We are here to help each other
from one ragamuffin to another
Yes, he lived his calling
in a brave and wonderful way
finding intimacy and true relationship
through imperfection
just as I have
there is great joy in heaven
as he goes home
I am sure he is enjoying
the band greatly
4/13/13
The soul’s yearning and quest for meaning, forgiveness, hope, and healthy relationships measure the quality of every stage of life, and are not just concerns that surface during life’s final stage.
– Richard Groves
I’m back in Massachusetts after a week of travels in California and Montana. I led a retreat, visited my dearly beloved Pacific Ocean, saw a friend I haven’t seen for 15 years, and spent some time with my sister and brother. I waved to our sons in the Twin Cities as I flew by.
All those places were familiar; they were my home at some time in my life. Now I’m home in Massachusetts, which, after eighteen months, still feels the least like “home” to me. Twenty different houses in seven states (and also England) have at some time been the place I called home. When people ask me where I’m from, what should I say?
This is not uncommon; we are mobile. And our jobs, social surroundings, families and life situations change. In some way all of us, even those of us who live in the house that’s been in the family for generations, are migrants, exiles and refugees. We’ve come from, or are heading, somewhere else. So with all this bumping around, where do we really belong?
Well, hokey as it sounds, we belong in God. Our surroundings may or may not be where we are “from,” but regardless of the landscape, we come from God, we are rooted in God, and we are known and desired in a place that is our own, in God. We are not little specks far below that God looks down on from heaven as from a plane. We live in God’s heart, within God’s compassionate presence, inside God’s love. No matter where we are, we are held in God’s gentle arms. We may be ill suited to our surroundings, or find them foreign, or long for the familiar land or people we call home; we may feel uprooted, alien or lost, and we are probably not now where we will some day be; but we are never outside God’s loving presence. Each of us, wherever we are in our life’s journey, belongs just where we are in God.
When someone asks you where you’re from, pause a moment before you answer and listen for that heavenly voice that silently says, “Right here.”
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
Don’t you quit. You keep walking, you keep trying, there is help and happiness ahead. Some blessings come soon. Some come late. Some don’t come until heaven. But for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come. It will be alright in the end. Trust God and believe in Good Things to Come. – Jeffrey R. Holland
Writing Small Stones is just downright good!
A tiny song within a thoughtful poem of well-placed words
strung together like a ribbon of twinkle lights
calling us to the party –
there will be dancing
http://www.writingourwayhome.com/
http://www.ahandfulofstones.com/
life: acoustic & amplified 