life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “People”
the space between is very full
Somewhere in the in-between
I’ll meet you there.
Somewhere between the friends benches
from one to infinity –
and the Constable’s at the BAM
Between unexpected Mondays
and snow storms of epic proportion.
Somewhere in the in-between
of stained-glass Tiffany windows
and those in the old, cold, beautiful church –
that’s where you’ll see me waiting.
Somewhere in the in-between,
on a street corner with our names intersecting,
on a spring day, before the flowers bloom,
or falling on my behind in a pile of snow, in the middle of winter,
laughing, and loving, weather of all sorts,
that’s where I’ll be hangin’ out, gettin’ rained on.
Somewhere in the in-between
of Louis’ Wonderful World,
Sam and Ruby singing the truth,
Cause Ain’t Love Somethin?
and Suzane Vega not allowing the wish for Caramel,
there’s where I’ll be.
That’s where I’ll always be,
waiting for an adventure with you.
Somewhere in the in-between
of stars, dust, lovers, Anam Cara – soul friend, kindness, beauty and truth,
Right there blazing glory, in the middle of the gray.
Yes, somewhere in between the in-between,
I’ll meet you right there,
my dearest, darling friend,
I’ll see you there,
Cause that’s where we always meet,
where we’ve always known each other.
Somewhere in the in-between
of heaven and earth.
AL 10/02/13
Sent from my iPhone
i can see forever
Great friends may tell you what to do, because that’s what great friends do.
Best friends, however, wouldn’t dream of it, because they know there are plans we’ve made… that they can’t see.
– TUT – A note from the universe www.tut.com
it takes great courage to believe in goodness…be courageous
And I peel squash and there is God and yada, yada, yada.
And yadah, it’s Hebrew, and it literally means to hold out the hand in four ways:
1. to bemoan with this wringing of hands.
2. or to revere with an extending of hands.
And this too on the page of the Strong’s Concordance:
3. Yadah means to confess.
4. Yadah means to give thanks.
Yadah – the whisper of Psalms 92:1: It is a good thing to [yada] — give thanks – and sing praises to unto thy name, O most High.
And in the midst of genocides and suicides, the divorce and disease, the death and dark, we understand the yada all around us, the holding up of fists at God instead of extending the hand in thanks and we empathize with the unbeliever’s confusion, because it’s our own confusion, and in this struggle to be grateful to God for always and for everything, we pray with humble earnestness for the unbeliever: because before a Good God haven’t we all been been momentary unbelievers?
And yet there it is, and you hear it now, at the cusp of the feasting, the yada, yada, yada, that sings relentless and bold:
We won’t stop confessing He is good and we won’t stop thanking Him for grace and we won’t stop holding out our hands — and taking His hand. We won’t stop believing that “God is good” is not some trite quip for the good days but a radical defiant cry for the terrible days.
That “God is good” is not a stale one-liner when all’s happy but a saving lifeline when all’s hard.
And we will keep giving thanks, yada, yada, yada, because giving thanks is only this: making the canyon of pain into a megaphone to proclaim the ultimate goodness of God.
And every time I give thanks, I confess to the universe the goodness of God.
Thanksgiving in all things accepts the deep mystery of God through everything.
– Ann Voskamp
Read full blog and sign up for these beautiful, life changing, reflections. www.aholyexperience.com
everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions
All Hallowed Eve:
before All Saints Day comes,
before we recognize the holy among us,
in the dark before I myself am taken up in glory,
I have permission to dress up in my deepest fear,
my greatest hope, my truest self.
I am a dragon, a dead man, a princess.
But of course beneath the costume I am actually
a king, a zombie, a magician,
an alien, a prostitute,
a child.
This one night, this Hallowed Evening,
we all are evened out:
everybody’s a true soul wrapped up in illusions,
disguised in fears and fantasies—
we’re all beauty queens and monsters—
and for once everybody knows it
and we’re OK with that,
because we know within we’re humans all alike.
This is so we know that on all other days
all who come to us and we as well
can be ourselves
and be accepted at stranger’s doors
and be given delights.
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
the unlikely pilgrimage
23 years ago I began, what I have recently begun to understand, is a pilgrimage. I didn’t know it was a pilgrimage – in fact words like pilgrimage and manifesto make me a bit uncomfortable. Radical people with more than a little crazy mixed in seem to be the ones who go around using those words. That’s certainly not me…right? 🙂
I feel like I am the most unlikely ‘pilgrim’ you will happen across (you’ll know me because I will have on cute shoes…no matter what). Yet here I am all these years later recognizing that when I stepped off the edge of all I had ever been taught and then decided (with more than a few ways ‘out’ for myself – it was a very doubtful and conditional experiment) that I would try to live like Jesus taught in Matthew chapters 5-7. Not knowing the consequences of my decision, I decided I would stay as close to those chapters as possible (btw, I knew it would be impossible – the only way to choose any of those counter cultural and unnatural ways to live was with the help of a very Holy Spirit that was ‘other’ than my own natural ego – I was very materialistic and wanted desperately to be popular and beautiful – Truthfully, I had little clue about who God really was, and really believed it would be all about me getting what I wanted.) and so I began to live a secret life – internally. I began to think about my decisions. I began to be purposeful in my choices. I began to build a new house for myself.
I certainly had no idea it would take me through years of devastating loss and pain, poverty and hardship, broken relationships and darkness. Years of paying attention and making choices towards healing. Years of learning to be honest about where I veered off the path and to learn the warning signs that would lead me there. Years of discovering the truth and difference between the shadow of what the world calls love, beauty and intimacy and what God offers so freely to us. I had no idea my house would become a traveling one, and I would dwell in tents and followed the cloud and the fire for 16 years. No idea that there wouldn’t be an instant miracle lightening strike and everything would ‘be fine’ for me. No, I didn’t have a clue that it would take me 21 years to realize that I was on a pilgrimage and to realize that 99.99999% commitment is no commitment at all and, when I did realize it, that I would make that choice to step ALL in and commit 100% to such a path. I had no idea that God wouldn’t just fix everything as I WANTED IT, but if He had, I would never have learned these lessons which are so very valuable.
Maybe I’m a slow learner, but it has taken me all of this time to learn, little by little, to trust and to walk in faith and I am so blessed to know this path and here I am, still following this glorious path where every bush is blazing holy. I realize maybe I am going so slow because every other step I have to take off my very cute shoes and bow in thanks for all that has been done, but then I have come to enjoy this path very much and have no wish to run ahead…
Check out the new issue of the Songs from the Valley Newsletter on faith:
http://songsfromthevalley.com
today’s spending
Has it ever hit you, like a ton of bricks, that each minute you are spending your life force, giving your energy to the world and people around you? Sometimes, in the middle of something ridiculous, it hits me…this is what I am spending my life on. WAKE UP!!!
Time is measured. It is also mysterious. The only real thing we know is – we have a limited amount of time, of life. There is a time for everything under the sun, we just have to make sure we do not forget about the fact each moment is a gift.
What we say matters, and what we do matters. How we spend our time, and who we spend our time with, is an extremely important piece of our living here. I am not saying there is a right or wrong way to spend it. Each person has their own path, their own reason for being in the world at this moment. I do not believe there are accidental people. I believe each of us were created on purpose.
The important thing is to stay aware of how we are spending our precious moments and make sure they are the way we feel called to spend them. Don’t give them to someone else. Don’t allow someone else to tell you how to live your moments. Don’t give away your freedom, your passion.
Seize the day and live your soul’s calling! Let go of what others want for you! Love, laugh, dance, live, enjoy!!! There is nothing more important than THIS day! This moment is the most important of our lives! Live it your way, intentionally!
I postponed death by living, by suffering, by error, by risking, by giving, by losing. – Anais Nin
Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves
There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.
– C.G. Jung
my friends
Trees
by Joyce Kilmer
I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is press’d
Against the sweet earths flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.
Check our this 98 year old MS Pixel painter! Really wonderful –
http://www.wired.com/underwire/2013/10/pixel-painter-ms-paint/
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life: acoustic & amplified 