what you see is what you are
Our only blindness is our own lack of fascination, humility, curiosity, awe, and willingness to be allured forward.
– Richard Rohr
life: acoustic & amplified
poetry, quotes & thoughts about life
Archive for the category “thankfulness”
You know me
You are a creation of God unequaled anywhere in the universe…. Thank Him for yourself and then for all the rest of His glorious handiwork.
–Norman Vincent Peale
But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
– Matthew 10:30
“Every human has four endowments — self-awareness, conscience, independent will and creative imagination. These give us the ultimate human freedom… The power to choose, to respond, to change.”
— Stephen R. Covey
O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (Psalms 139:1-24 KJV)
there will be miracles
I don’t want another Raven!
(even tho I’m so grateful for all of them, don’t get me wrong)
I don’t want more manna,
or water out of rocks –
spoken to
or struck in desperation –
I don’t want another temp job
regardless of pay
or qualification.
I want my life’s work.
My soul sustaining work.
My love song to the world work.
I don’t want to look back with sad eyes to the
‘What if’s’,
trying not to turn into a pillar of salt,
or Rip Van Winkle,
dreaming of the ocean,
springtime in Connecticut,
apple trees
and dandelion wishes.
I’ve cleared the past,
scoured the memories,
returned the hooks,
and the books.
Burned the bridges,
learned the lessons well,
made room for the new,
the view,
the unlimited possibility
of today.
I don’t want a fan,
someone to control me,
abuse me,
or a man to take care of me.
I want a life partner.
A co-builder of eternal structures.
A co-architect of a life full of goodness,
truth,
kindness
and sharing.
I don’t want to sit still any longer.
I don’t want to let another important day go by.
my patience has been monumental,
my obedience marathon,
My testing long and brutal.
I’m ready,
I’m so very ready.
and so I ask –
for no more stop gaps,
no more ravens,
no more small or large miracles in this particular arena of wilderness.
God, take me forward
into new battles,
new playing grounds,
new levels of faith.
allow me to step forward
today,
this very moment if it pleases You,
into my work,
into Your will and work.
As in all things,
Your will be done
here in me on earth
as it is in heaven.
today
and everyday
may it be so
Amy Lloyd
7/22/14
there is enough loveliness, enough beauty, enough peace, enough love in this world — enough food in this world – if we would just share?
– Ann Voskamp
visitation
The Hummingbird comes when it seems that what needs to be done is impossible. It teaches how to find joy in any circumstance.”
– Hummingbird totem via Crystal-Cure.com
Last night I opened my door and received an amazing gift. A small grey hummingbird was drinking from my hanging flower basket. Completely surprised, my heart started beating fast. The little visitor stopped and came towards me, which startled me a little, and I moved a bit backward. He stopped and looked at me, like he knew my thrill and also my fear, and he flew away.
It was a truly wonderful gift and I posted it on facebook. My friend, Tina Michaels, commented and told me that a Hummingbird is a harbinger of joy.
Wow! I have been seeking God about my joy, asking for my joy to be full for the past few weeks!
I Googled it to find out more and found this quote from Steven Farmer’s book, Power Animals, to see what the appearance of this guide meant for me at this moment.
“Know that the only true prison you have is your belief in your limitations. Let them go, and experience the abundance of love and opportunity that’s all around. It only takes a willingness to see it, taste it, and feel it.”
“The Hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backwards. This is a reminder that the past can’t be changed but the past can teach lessons. The Hummingbird comes when it seems that what needs to be done is impossible. It teaches how to find joy in any circumstance.” – Hummingbird totem via Crystal-Cure.com
full
It was just a jug of water
I took with me to the well
the stranger asked me for a drink
I choked on my reply,
why would I give you water, sir
when I am thirsty, dry?
and then he said
if you give to me
I will fill your cup
with things you’ve never had before
yes, I will fill you up
then I cried
here’s my cup
fill it up
fill it up
Here’s my whole jug of water
fill it up
Lord
fill it up
take the heart of my devises
make it new I recognize it
needs to know your love
take this life of broken chances
use it now for your devices
and let me share your love
it was just a blue sky summer morning
as I started to the well
then this stranger spoke my life,
the whole world stopped –
I choked on my reply,
how do you know me so well, sir
oh tell me, who am I?
and then he said
if you give to me
I will fill your heart
with things you’ve never had before
yes, I will fill you up
then I cried
here’s my heart
fill it up
fill it up
Here’s my whole heart, my life
fill it up
Lord
fill it up
as the sun set that evening
everything had changed
and my heart it was singing
all my life was rearranged
everything is different now
this strangers my best friend
Jesus came to live with me
I am loved
I know it’s true
this end is the beginning
this beginning is the end
AL 7/7/14
how does your garden grow?
Pull up some radishes for dinner,
my mother said.
They grow next to the house under your bedroom window.
Afraid I’d pull up something other than a radish
I gathered a sister, a brother
and we knelt in the dirt
under the screened window
looking
at what we thought
to be a radish.
Its leaves so new so green
our hands so hesitant so unsure
we reached and pulled
earth clung
to our fingers
to the fleshy roots
quivering in the sun
we pulled up radish after radish
handing them
a bouquet
to our mother.
She no longer cares for radishes.
My sister, brother and I tend our own gardens.
But I wish everyday
to kneel again
under that window
to feel new and green
hesitant and unsure.
“Radishes” by Susan B. Auld
art by watercolor artist, Mary Lou Peters
http://www.maryloupeters.com
responding to good treatment
The need comes on me now
to speak across the years
to those who finally will live here
after the present ruin, in the absence
of most of my kind who by now
are dead, or have given their minds
to machines and become strange,
“over-qualified” for the hard
handwork that must be done
to remake, so far as humans
can remake, all that humans
have unmade. To you, whoever
you may be, I say: Come,
meaning to stay. Come,
willing to learn what this place,
like no other, will ask of you
and your children, if you mean
to stay. “This land responds
to good treatment,” I heard
my father say time and again
in his passion to renew, to make
whole, what ill use had broken.
And so to you, whose lives
taken from the life of this place
I cannot foretell, I say:
Come, and treat it well.
“XI” by Wendell Berry
Send them love.
Wish them peace.
See them happy.
Everyone, always, forever.
And prepare to be astounded,
The Universe
Abba (breathe in) I belong to you (breathe out) – Brennan Manning
Empowered to Receive Love
The Spirit reveals to us not only that God is “Abba, Father” but also that we belong to God as his beloved children. The Spirit thus restores in us the relationship from which all other relationships derive their meaning.
Abba is a very intimate word. The best translation for it is: “Daddy.” The word Abba expresses trust, safety, confidence, belonging, and most of all intimacy. It does not have the connotation of authority, power, and control, that the word Father often evokes. On the contrary, Abba implies an embracing and nurturing love. This love includes and infinitely transcends all the love that comes to us from our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, spouses, and lovers. It is the gift of the Spirit.
– Henri Nouwen
http://www.henrinouwen.org
Trinity meditation
Holy One,
Mysterious Love,
“I Am,”
I wonder; I surrender.
Gentle Christ,
Self-Pouring
Companion,
I thank you; I love you.
Holy Spirit,
Divine Breathing,
Emerging love,
I bear you; I follow you.
______________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
http://www.unfoldinglight.net
THE POSSIBLE CAUSE OF INVISIBILITY
A somebody walks into a somewhere and meets a someone.
‘Why haven’t I seen you before’ said the somebody, on recognizing a brilliant indefinable light set deep in the bones of the someone.
The someone then sets forth with the usual catalog of tall tales. Each a credible explanation that would more than likely stand up to the strongest of winds.
But, as ever, the true cause of this seeming invisibility was the absence of an answer to a single profound question.
AM – I – WILLING – TO – BE – SEEN – NO – MATTER – WHAT?
Nic Askew
soulbiographies.com
awareness is the bridge to gratitude
We know it is close
to something lofty.
Simply getting over being sick
or finding lost property
has in it the leap,
the purge, the quick humility
of witnessing a birth—
how love seeps up
and retakes the earth.
There is a dreamy
wading feeling to your walk
inside the current
of restored riches,
clocks set back,
disasters averted.
Relief by Kay Ryan
life: acoustic & amplified 