If you want it – it’s all there for us!
We just have to choose who we want to be and then keep making choices toward those amazing things!!!! I love that!
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “Smile”
Be Sure to Take A Beautiful Path
The Road Not Taken
Robert Frost
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
More options for inspiration at http://pinterest.com/al513/the-path-we-take-makes-all-the-difference/
We are the light!
Transfiguration
The disciples were having no strange vision,
nor the evangelist concocting a tableau
for the delight of Renaissance painters.
It was simply this: for a moment
Jesus’ friends were seeing truly,
seeing him as he was,
seeing a human being as we all truly are,
shining with the whole glory of Creation,
stardust that we are.
They saw through the scruff and dirt
that this rough world leaves on us,
saw past the judgments and appearances,
the masks and costumes and shrouds
that we throw on each other:
they saw the heaven within a person,
the image of God.
If only they hadn’t been so shocked
they would have noticed it in themselves.
Jesus had to tell them later:
“You are light for the world.”
God shines in you,
gleams with the splendid light of heaven.
Beyond any smudge this world can put on you,
or any human word or deed can remove,
you are dazzling, radiant with newborn light.
Right now, sitting there reading this,
you breathe God’s light in and out.
Your nerves spark with life.
Your eyes light up the world.
Let this light fill you, the fire of God.
Be mindful of this radiance.
Look for the light in all whom you meet.
Trust the light. Give thanks for the light
Even in your sleep, the light closes its eye,
but breathes deeply, calmly, faithfully.
Light,
refracted from the rising Son,
increasing throughout the day
as it condenses within each living being,
until, even after nightfall,
all glimmers with wonder.
__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Used with Permission
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net
love sets free
Free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having. – C.S. LewisToday is a ‘Freedom Anniversary’ for me! It is a big deal! My life has been a progression of stepping towards freedom.
The battles have been long, dangerous and hard to win in order to free myself. Both physically and spiritually. I am not completely there yet – it is a life-long exploration and journey to free myself. The chains and bars in my prisons, because I find they are legion, are very strong. My Alcatraz type barren -rock islands were such a long way from shore, with many snipers, predators and sharp rocks in the water and on all sides of the shores. My guards were very alert and ready to shoot me, or keep me locked down and in solitary for my whole life. They were gleeful when I fell and happy over my pain and destruction.
And yet, the love, the words, and truth, of God were so much more powerful than any of these things, that no prison in this world could not hold me and, for 22 years now, I keep walking out of my prisons into the brilliant light and sunshine of the free!!!!
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Maya Angelou
A free bird leaps on the back
Of the wind and floats downstream
Till the current ends and dips his wing
In the orange suns rays
And dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks down his narrow cage|
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
The free bird thinks of another breeze
And the trade winds soft through
The sighing trees
And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright
Lawn and he names the sky his own.
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with
A fearful trill of things unknown
But longed for still and his
Tune is heard on the distant hill
For the caged bird sings of freedom.
Words That Feed Us
When we talk to one a
nother, we often talk about what happened, what we are doing, or what we plan to do. Often we say, “What’s up?” and we encourage one another to share the details of our daily lives. But often we want to hear something else. We want to hear, “I’ve been thinking of you today,” or “I missed you,” or “I wish you were here,” or “I really love you.” It is not always easy to say these words, but such words can deepen our bonds with one another.
nother, we often talk about what happened, what we are doing, or what we plan to do. Often we say, “What’s up?” and we encourage one another to share the details of our daily lives. But often we want to hear something else. We want to hear, “I’ve been thinking of you today,” or “I missed you,” or “I wish you were here,” or “I really love you.” It is not always easy to say these words, but such words can deepen our bonds with one another.Telling someone “I love you” in whatever way is always delivering good news. Nobody will respond by saying, “Well, I knew that already, you don’t have to say it again”! Words of love and affirmation are like bread. We need them each day, over and over. They keep us alive inside.
Dr. Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org/
http://www.henrinouwen.org/
Oh the Places You’ll Go…laughing all the way…
I have been in many places, but I’ve never been in Cahoots. Apparently, you 
can’t go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.
I’ve also never been in Cognito. I hear no one recognizes you there.
I have, however, been in Sane. No airport; you are driven there. I have made several trips there, thanks to my family, friends, and work.
I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I’m not that much on physical activity anymore.
I have also been in Doubt. That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.
I’ve been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.
Sometimes I’m in Capable, and I go there more often as I’m getting older.
One of my favorite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart! At my age, I need all the stimuli I can get!
I may have been in Continent, but I don’t remember what country I was in. It’s an age thing…
true success is finding the joy and miracle of each moment
“What day is it?”
It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.
Things that matter most!
Last week I opened my lunch box and Chris had slipped a little stone in it. When I asked him why, he responded he wanted me to ‘be reminded that he loves me and wants me in his life. I have a home with him.’ Home has a huge meaning for me at this time in my life after years of wandering it is such a blessing to have a home. The stone is beside my keyboard and I find myself picking it up and being reminded several times a day of where I am in this journey, praying for this man, for this gift of our relationship, for the home we will build, breathing thanks. It is a very good feeling and makes me smile a lot. It gives me hope and strengthens me! 🙂 I am very blessed!
The people of God have always built monuments of stones as reminders of God’s grace and deliverance. In the Bible you find the people of God stacking stones in various places as they go.
We forget things so easily – let’s start living, and remembering, with intention, something as small as a pebble can have a great impact in our lives! These are the things that matter most!
Intention Set in Stone Prayer Stone Stacks
Add a stone blessed with a prayer to a mound and your intentions merge with those who have left stones before you.
Stone has played a role in spirituality from the very moment humanity externalized its sacred vision. Humans gave form to their devotion by scratching images of their deities into rock faces, carving holy statuary, and building stone shrines. The earliest of these were nothing more than simple piles of rocks that honored sacred places, revelations, people, and events. Following in the footsteps of this ancient tradition provides us with a simple and beautiful way to externalize our own spirituality. In your travels, you may have encountered on the sides of roads, trails, or pathways stacks of stones that look like random sculpture. Add a stone blessed with a prayer to such a mound, and your intentions merge with those who have left stones before you, empowering you all.
Associating a prayer with a particular stone alters the substance of both, and the formation of a prayer mound can balance and intensify the energy of a site. The mere act of choosing a stone can inspire mindfulness, as we lose ourselves in the moment seeking a pebble that speaks to our souls. And placing a prayer stone on a towering cairn is a meditation in patience—slowness and stillness allow us to find our stone’s center of gravity so the delicate ceremonial structure before us remains intact. Be cautious, however, when you feel guided to place a prayer rock upon stone mounds you see intermittently alongside well-worn but unmarked hiking paths. Hikers often use small cairns as guide markers to ensure that those who follow in their footsteps will not lose the trail. When in doubt, begin a new prayer pile slightly further away from the path itself and consider adding a relic of some kind to help others understand its purpose.
When you mindfully place a prayer by beginning a stone heap or adding to an existing mound, your thoughts and intentions are left in the care of fate itself. The cairn of which your prayer was one part may be unintentionally knocked down or destroyed by Mother Nature’s own hand. Try not to let this weigh heavily upon your spirit. The potent energy of your prayer was released by this destruction, ensuring that the purpose underlying that prayer will spread outward in the direction of the furthest reaches of the universe.
www.dailyom.com
life: acoustic & amplified 