unexpected Mondays are the best!
💞
Listen to Todd Rundgren sing Love is the Answer http://youtu.be/IjMKz0wCGmw
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Photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Joy”
Note to Self:
Inspiration from
my son, Brandon (he’s made my mamma-heart very happy this morning)…LISTEN to Paul Baribeau sing Ten Things! http://youtu.be/9X_o_BAUJ-c
songs of gold
Photo by Fisherman Dan @ Branford, CT
A yellow flower
(Light and spirit)
Sings by itself
For nobody.
A golden spirit
(Light and emptiness)
Sings without a word
By itself.
Let no one touch this gentle sun
In whose dark eye
Someone is awake.
(No light, no gold, no name, no color
And no thought:
O, wide awake!)
A golden heaven
Sings by itself
A song to nobody.
🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎶🎵
Song for Nobody by Thomas Merton
Listen to Sarah McLaughlin sing Ordinary Miracle http://youtu.be/m4j_wrmpMnU
🎵🙏🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵🎵
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
do it again….do it again
Our Lord has written resurrection not in books alone—but in every leaf in springtime. – Martin Luther
“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead.
For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony.
But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony.
It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.
It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them.
It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”
Hope and renewal and rebirth are at the heart of things.
The world in winter looks so much as if it’s dying—and yet, and yet …
The frozen streams heard him sigh…
“We’ll run again!” they seemed to cry.
The tall dead grasses all were rustling…
“But we’re not dead, we’re only sleeping!”
The lost flowers were singing on and on…
“But we’re only hidden, we’re not gone!”
That tiny green shoot preached to me that morning. About hope. About joy.
And about vulnerability—which isn’t weakness, but true strength.
Everywhere we look, God is speaking to us. His creation is singing to us. The Heavens are shouting it out. It’s not what it looks like! There is hope beyond the walls of the world!
That Joy is at the heart of things.
That a Light shines beneath it all.
That Love runs the universe.
The more childlike we become — the more like God we are.
And really, it shouldn’t surprise us that God is “younger” than we are.
After all, it wasn’t a general, or a warrior, or a politician God sent to rescue His broken world —
It was a baby.
👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻👶🏻
– Sally Lloyd-Jones on A Holy Experience
Photos by Fisherman Dan @ Branford CT
Listen to Keb’ Mo sing Closer http://youtu.be/Fdv-KafABk4
buzzing
If there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s that joy is not a constant state, but a low grade buzz that sometimes roars and other times purrs, but that it is always available to sink down into, if I’m feeling the ache that makes for tears or the ache that makes for celebration. – Jen Lemen
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
Jen Lemen says my poetry-prompt word of the day – buzz –
as she reads my blog and responds.
I love Jen Lemen over at ‘Hopeful World’
http://hopefulworld.org
I missed my word as I read it the first time,
I missed my word as I read it the first time,
not mindful of today’s word,
because I was still stuck in yesterday’s word ‘vine’.
Then there it is, with a Lemen-y flair…
My heart leaps to attention
I fly right there to find it
Copy the sentence…
Smile
yes, ‘joy is a low grade buzz’
along with
peace
love
harmony
they all live under the same everyday rooftop
once you understand them
allow them in
they are your friends
constant companions
making life balanced
glorious
stable
the foundation made of jewels
gold
strong rock
like granite
storms come and go
the buzz stays
and becomes the music we dance to
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
ACL 11/14/13
My heart leaps to attention
I fly right there to find it
Copy the sentence…
Smile
yes, ‘joy is a low grade buzz’
along with
peace
love
harmony
they all live under the same everyday rooftop
once you understand them
allow them in
they are your friends
constant companions
making life balanced
glorious
stable
the foundation made of jewels
gold
strong rock
like granite
storms come and go
the buzz stays
and becomes the music we dance to
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
ACL 11/14/13
Listen to The Muppets sing Ode to Joy
http://youtu.be/VnT7pT6zCcA
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
a few months ago I was Jen Lemen’s apple cake angel 😇 https://lifeacousticandamplified.wordpress.com/?s=apple+cake&submit=Search
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
humming
One old man keeps humming the same few notes
of some song he thought he had forgotten
back in the days when as he knows there was
no word for life in the language
and if they wanted to say eyes or heart
they would hold up a leaf and he remembers
the big tree where it rose from the dry ground
and the way the birds carried water in their voices
they were all the color of their fear of the dark
and as he sits there humming he remembers
some of the words they come back to him now
he smiles hearing them come and go
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
Parts of a Tune by W. S. Merwin
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
Just lying on the couch and being happy.
Only humming a little, the quiet sound in the head.
Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
so much to do in the world.
Trouble is busy elsewhere at the moment, it has
so much to do in the world.
People who might judge are mostly asleep; they can’t
monitor you all the time, and sometimes they forget.
When dawn flows over the hedge you can
get up and act busy.
When dawn flows over the hedge you can
get up and act busy.
Little corners like this, pieces of Heaven
left lying around, can be picked up and saved.
People wont even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.
People wont even see that you have them,
they are so light and easy to hide.
Later in the day you can act like the others.
You can shake your head. You can frown.
Any Morning by William Stafford
Listen to James Taylor sing You’ve Got A Friend http://youtu.be/xEkIou3WFnM
Quote/photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
every little things gonna be alright…
Spring Blessing
One day you wake up
able to name the weight
you’ve been carrying.
Realizing it’s not part of your body or your being,
not essential in any way to journeying or joy,
you set it down gently, without fanfare
in the long soft grass at the side of the road
and walk on
surprised to find yourself
smiling in the warm sun
for no particular reason.
~Oriah Mountain Dreamer © 2015
Listen to Dinah Washington What A Difference A Day Makes http://youtu.be/OmBxVfQTuvI
🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈❤️
photo sources found at www.pinterest.com/al513
upside down
What happens when things turn upside down?
It’s funny you should ask
I’ve spent my lifetime finding out
Some answers to just that-
An umbrella becomes a birdbath
A hat becomes a bowl
A plate can get quite messy
If it’s loaded up with food
like meatloaf and potatoes
and lots of gravy too
An opossums probably acting dead
A fish may really be
A gorilla stays a gorilla
‘butt’ It’s quite the sight to see
North is South
and South is North
polar opposites
the mirror now reflects my feet
where my teeth used to be
The cloud’s all silver lining
The rainbow’s now a smile
The floor becomes the ceiling
The ceiling’s now a floor
And when my life turned upside down
Then certain things came clear
How little some things mattered
How other things were dear
How difficult to show my heart
Important though it is
How much it costs to sing my songs
Though for them, do I live
There’s so much more to tell you
and I’ll try share it all
in hopes if you turn upside down
You’re ready for the fall
It’s really very simple
though very hard to see
That living upside down
Is the best that life can be
cause He said:
3 “Blessed are those who have nothing to bring,
for they will be owning the kingdom.
4 Blessed are those with the most broken of hearts,
comfort and love they are given.
5 Blessed are those who choose to be gentle,
they will inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who seek me with passion,
they will be feasting in fashion.
7 Blessed are the forgivers,
for they will be those forgiven.
8 Blessed are those who have gone through the fire,
for they will fly high from the pyre.
9 Blessed are the ones who march in peace,
for they will be called God’s children.
10 Blessed are those who do hard things, who speak the truth of God they have experienced in the face of losing family and friends,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are you when people insult you, treat you bad, lie about you and spread gossip about you because of what you speak.
12 Be happy, filled with joy and gladness, because great is your reward in heaven, you aren’t alone. It’s always been hard for those who color outside the lines, who walk around upside down and let their guts show….*
I don’t claim to understand it
It makes no sense at all
Yet I can’t deny the way I’m blessed
By following this call
ACL 2/4/15
* my interpretation of The Beatitudes found in Matthew 5: 1-12
perfect surrender
I am always amazed that poems are willing to lie down and sleep inside the flat, closed pages of books. If poems behaved according to their essence, they would be out dancing on the seashore or flying to the heavens or trying to rinse out secrets of the mountains.
– John O’Donohue
The present is the only point where time touches eternity. – C. S. Lewis
Jane Hirshfield has a line of poetry which has been tweeted all over the world which reminds us –
How fragile we are between the few good moments.
I think somehow we have been sold the idea that life should be all thrill. That, if every moment isn’t exciting, we are somehow failing at life. I have learned, over the past 18 years, that the real wonder of life is not in the passing thrilling moments, but in the recognition of the simple and divine in the every day ordinary.
Andy Rooney says it like this –
For most of life, nothing wonderful happens. If you don’t enjoy getting up and working and finishing your work and sitting down to a meal with family or friends, then the chances are you’re not going to be very happy. If someone bases his/her happiness on major events like a great job, huge amounts of money, a flawlessly happy marriage or a trip to Paris, that person isn’t going to be happy much of the time. If, on the other hand, happiness depends on a good breakfast, flowers in the yard, a drink or a nap, then we are more likely to live with quite a bit of happiness.
The world is full of wonder! Happiness and joy are available to all who open their senses to the beauty of the unexpected sources carried in every breath we take.
Asking, seeking and knocking are all that’s required to begin!
life: acoustic & amplified 