not my will
Don’t pray to escape trouble.
Don’t pray to be more comfortable in your emotions.
Pray to do the will of God in every situation.
Nothing else is worth praying for.
-Samuel M. Shoemaker
help me, help me, help me…
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “success”
On Not Writing Poetry
Didn’t write a poem today.
October 23rd,
heavy with autumn’s first cold,
numbing despite British tea.
Words played movie-like
across my screen,
pictures just out of focus
in that maddening way:
the smell of marble swirling,
the feel of air, not quite ripe.
I didn’t write a poem today.
Did I?
by Anni Macht Gibson
Unfinished and other poems
a celtic prayer
Deep peace of the
Running waves to you.
Deep peace of the
flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the
Quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the
shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the
Son of peace to you.
Forgiveness is a perfectly selfish act. It sets you free from the past. – Brian Tracy
Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
– Ephesians 4:32
Forgiveness. It’s not an easy word for many of us. Ok, I don’t really know about others, but I know my own stubborn self and how hard it is for me to forgive, and then, rest in my forgiveness. I work through painful, difficult issues, I let go, and I think I have won the battle, but all the sudden I round a corner and, it seems, outta no-where, BAM – there it is again, and I realize I haven’t quite reached as far into that forgiveness force field as I had intended to go, and so I start again. I am so glad that I re
alize that life, and this forgiveness thing, is a process, and that I have made progress, and so that encourages me to work through it again…and again…and…!
One day I think I fine, and then the next, unexpectedly, I can plunge down hard – just by driving past a house, having a conversation, getting a glimpse of a something, hearing a song, or melling a familiar smell. I filled with pain, loss, anger, sadness, grief, regret and longing. I get overloaded with these feelings today, additionally I have can also experince anxiety, exhaustion, overwhelm and the battle with the demons inside my head which say things like, ‘I can’t sing, am ugly, fat and undesirable, and I’m just too stupid, vain and like attention too much to know it. That everything that has ever gone wrong in my life is because of me, and that I will never find anyone who can stand being with me because I am weird and unloveable.’
All of this is mixed up and complicated in my head and I have to sort it all out and begin to let go of one layer at a time, as I work to identify the lies and change the story. Then I work at forgiveness, first for myself, others, and the ‘house’ in question. It’s not easy, and I many times, and hours, I just pray, with Anne Lamont, “help me, help me, help me” until the pain eases and I can move forward in a measure of peace.
Like a baby learning to walk, each time I get up from being ‘stuck’, I gain ground, I get a little farther, a little stronger on my feet, and I pray that some day I will have arrived at the goal and will run freely in the yard of freedom! I want to live in the Land of the Free and Forgiven, and in order to do so I know I must let go of any resentment and anger I am still holding to and just breathe love. Just breathe. Just love. I know I am loved and forgiven and so I am called to forgive. I try very hard to be easy on myself, because I realize I will probably be in heaven when that finally occurs completely, and that’s ok! I will run through the golden streets with children and puppies at my heels yelling, ‘wooo hooo! Thank you!!!! I have learned the way of forgiveness!’ Until then I continue to hold myself accountable and keep doing the work!
New issue of the newsletter on this subject of Forgiveness at www.songsfromthevalley.com
true success!
To laugh often and much.
To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children.
To earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends.
To appreciate beauty.
To find the best in others.
To leave the world a bit better place whether through a healthy child or a garden patch.
To know that even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.
–Emerson
whatever it is
Whatever it is
it can change
Whatever has gotten buried so deep in you
it’s become your blood
the only way you have ever known
the only way you have ever been
it can change.
Whatever turns in your chest like a heavy stone
whatever keeps you
clutching your heart
to try and stop the bleeding
whatever feels so
much bigger than you
you can never see its edges
it can bend
it can re-form itself into something new
it can change.
So bow to whatever it is as it is now
even as that breaks you
kiss it with every cell in you
sit down next to its fire
and let your fingers stain with ash.
Curse it too
curse it to survive
to vent the heat.
See the costs, see what’s been lost
but don’t weep for it
for every bird looking down at you can see
everything has its perfect timeline
like the line across your palm
its perfect arc for pain.
Sweet one:
your journey here
is like no other journey
and the gift waiting
for each of us
at the end
is the same.
Tara Mohr
http://www.taramohr.com/2012/11/i-find-hope-here/#comment-4824
travelers
Wanderer, your footsteps are
The road, and nothing more;
Wanderer, there is no road,
The road is made by walking.
By walking one makes the road.
And upon glancing behind
One see the path
That will never be trod again.
Wanderer, there is no road,
Only wakes upon the sea.
– Antonio Machado
The Traveler
Quoted in Standing at Water’s Edge by Anne Paris
election and beyond
Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory.
No matter what choices we make today,
what wisdom or folly we give authority,
what greed or compassion we give voice,
what prophets or scoundrels we give power,
no matter who wins and loses,
God is at work in the world,
and the world belongs wholly to God.
Our work and our choices matter,
and God uses them as a master uses tools;
but God also has far greater, unseen powers,
at work in the world beyond our knowing,
before whom all our laws and leaders are puny.
Whatever dreams or fears we empower today
it will not be enough:
we have neither saved nor ended the world.
Grace will abide; and the work will go on:
the gentle man with holes in his hands
will continue to feed the hungry and heal the sick
and tear down the scaffolding of evil,
will continue to die with the outcast
and rise with healing in his wings
and his children in his arms,
and will continue to call his laborers
into the field to lay their hands
on the great harvest of life.
Make your choices today (and everyday),
and cry out with the voice of peace and mercy.
And trust that greater by
than all our human triumphs and suffering,
greater than our nations
and the walls be build around them
is the Realm of one whose power and glory
is infinite, the steady, healing hand of One
whose very name is Love.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
Today I will do what others won’t, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can’t. ~ Jerry Rice
For the past 5 years I have published a newsletter called Songs from the Valley. I really had no idea how to do it, or what the result would be, I just enjoyed creating the first issue so much I committed to creating it for one year.
The first year was a time of figuring out what this publication would become. In March, of 2008, I featured my first artist, in April, I decided to publish two issues a month. By May, it began to take shape around a subject, rather than putting in random hodge-podge inspiration and in December, I decided that I would continue to create and publish it – that it truly was one of the best things I had ever done in my life. In 2010 I started a website and on March 18, 2011, I started this daily, poetry and quotes blog, to go along with the 2 issues a month.
I have been asked many times how I do it, how I find time. As I look back over the past five years, I see the actions that are reflected in the quote above. I made it happen by living my life in a way that others haven’t. It’s not about me being right or wrong, it’s just about what you want. I want to be all I can be and not aim low. When I started the newsletter, I wanted to create something good that my children, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren, could find one day, and know who I am, what I loved, how I live my life, what I stood for and what I learned about life. As I look back over the body of work, I am so blessed by how I have spent my time, the hours were well worth the effort! I am extremely grateful for what I have accomplished.
As this year of 2012 comes quickly to a close, I feel the time for something new is happening. It is time for things to shift and I am not sure the newsletter will continue to be the same. There are new things being born, and I feel the end of this particular publication may be ending, to make way for something new and exciting. I am not sure exactly what it will be, as of yet, but I feel things stirring around in my heart, in my imagination. Inspiration is bubbling and brewing and my music is coming to the forefront of this next phase of life upcoming. It is exciting and feels important. I ask for your prayers as I figure these things out and begin to incorporate new areas of discipline into my going, and begin to accomplish my highest calling from a heart of love.
www.songsfromthevalley.com for current issue on Place featuring artist Beverly Erschell http://www.beverlyerschell.com/
life: acoustic & amplified 