Be fearless. Have the courage to take risks. Go where there
are no guarantees. Get out of your comfort zone even if it
means being uncomfortable. The road less traveled is sometimes
fraught with barricades bumps and uncharted terrain. But it is
on that road where your character is truly tested. And have the
courage to accept that you’re not perfect, nothing is and no
one is — and that’s OK.
– Katie Couric
This is my living faith, an 
active faith, a faith of verbs:
To questions, explore, experiment, experience, walk, run,
dance, play, eat, love, learn, dare, taste, touch, smell,
listen, speak, write, read, draw, provoke, emote, scream, sin,
repent, cry, kneel, pray, bow, rise, stand, look, laugh,
cajole, create, confront, confound, walk back, walk forward, circle, hide and seek.
– Terry Tempest Williams
Thank you to
A Small Group Community
Peter Block, Ward Mailliard & every participant!
A Small Group Intensive Learning Opportunity
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead
It’s not just that you found me
at the foot of the cross
But that you reached out and
joined me there
with Christ
All one
It’s not just that you met my real physical need
You left me with so much more than dollars
You bound my wounds with your prayers
and You became my neighbor
All One
It’s not just that you took the time to ask why I cried
You made my heart glad and dried my tears
with the balm of your truth
You bound us together
with your understanding and your vulnerabilities
All one
It’s not that we spoke
but that you spoke to me first
You took the initiative
to reach out
to dare
to ask
to enter into community
to live dangerously
to get messy and personal
with me
All one
It’s so much more than
just a few moments of time that you have given me
You have given me a most precious gift
Yourselves
Our spirits
poured out
connected
together
All one
at the foot of the cross
Holy One, Beloved,
by your grace in me,
I shuck off the little desires I wear,
to clothe myself in your deep desires for me.
I release the self I have tried to create
so that you may create me in your image.
May I shed all falsehood
and speak truth to my neighbors.
May all my words be building blocks, not weapons,
gifts of grace for those who long to hear.
May even my anger be loving truth, not bitterness.
May my delight be not in getting, but in sharing.
With you living in me may I be kind,
tenderhearted and forgiving,
as you have forgiven me.
Life-Giver, Heavenly Lover, Flame of my Heart,
I am your beloved child.
May I be your perfect imitation.
May I live in love, as fully as you love me.
I offer myself, as Christ,
a fragrant gift to you.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?
Got any mountains you can’t tunnel through?
God specializes in things thought impossible.
And He can do what no other can do.
– Unknown
Looking at them, Jesus said,
“With people it is impossible, but not with God;
for all things are possible with God.”
Mark 10:27
Maritta Terrell
Thoughts are also posted at:
http://thoughtsaday.blogspot.com/
If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you
can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep
moving forward.
– Martin Luther King Jr.
Some people say, ‘the glass is half full’. Others say, ‘the glass is half empty’. Still others say ‘the glass is always full’.
Abundance or scarcity – which do you live in? What do you choose to see?
Yesterday I had a moment when I didn’t think I had enough for myself and as tears came streaming down my face, I realized a woman next to me try to pay for a paper was counting her pennies. I debated on giving about a second – I didn’t have very much to give. Then as I put the dollar down on the counter for her paper, she turned to me and said, ‘Thank you so much, I am down to my last bit of change.’ I was so caught in my own personal distress of that moment and I was already on my way to the bathroom to compose myself. As I stood in the bathroom, I realized what she had said and the fact that she had nothing and I had 26 dollars! I could share. I was abundant!!! Why did I doubt? I have seen it over and over – there is always plenty enough to share.
I quickly went to find her, but she was nowhere to be found.
I have been thinking of it ever since.
Down To Earth
Took a leap of faith
Thought I’d learn how to fly
Lookin’ for rainbows
And dreams passing by
Searching for answers
To a whole bunch of lies
Tryin’ to be anybody but me
As I crashed to the ground
Here’s truth that I found:
Learned I must bend
So I won’t break
How to get real
Not be a fake
Chose to smile through the pain
And never to hate
Now I’m flying so high
While I’m walking around
Cause the sky doesn’t end
Till it touches the ground
Living each day now
One step a day
It’s so good to be
Where I want to stay
Just you and me
Found a few answers
Stopped asking why
Now it’s time to be free
And I’m flying so high
Right here on the ground
Cause I’m walkin’ on sunshine
Hooked on the feeling
On top of the world
I’m one happy girl
Learned to find rainbows
Right in the rain
Found out I had more
The more that I gave
Chose to be happy
Not to complain
Living with passion
I know what it’s worth
Cause life doesn’t start
Till you get down to earth
al 8/08
life: acoustic & amplified 