life: acoustic & amplified

a bit of cheer

      

This morning we’ll be out in the rain cheering our niece Andrea, running the Boston Marathon. Thirty thousand runners, for almost that many reasons, sploshing through the wind and rain for 26.2 miles. Elite athletes will run it in a couple of hours. Some people will take 6 or 8 hours. It takes a lot of commitment, perseverance and spirit.

Second only to the commitment, perseverance and spirit of the runners is the commitment, perseverance and spirit of the spectators. They’ll stand out there for hours and hours even in the rain cheering all along, cheering every runner, cheering indiscriminately, selflessly, cheering with admiration, hope and encouragement.

I cheer today for everyone who is on a long, hard journey—physical, mental, legal, relational, medical, professional, marital, artistic, spiritual—whatever their marathon is. And I cheer for everyone who is out there cheering them on. This is what God means for life to be like: all of us cheering all of us, everyone wanting everyone to do their best, hoping for victory for each of us, encouraging, believing in each other, sharing hope and amazement. Maybe even a little inspired by each other.

Cheer somebody on today. Cheer indiscriminately. You don’t know what long, hard journey they may be on. And trust this: when you’re in the thick of it, struggling to keep going, slogging against wind and rain and exhaustion, you may not hear it, but God is there, cheering you on, believing in you—maybe even a little inspired. Keep your head up.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

www.unfoldinglight.net

Blessed are those who keep watch

through the day and night

Blessed are those who hold them up and those who stand in with them

Blessed be the good shepherds who watch over the watchers

Blessed are those who do not count the cost, yet know this spending is the greatest treasure life can afford

Blessed are those who remember how little it takes to encourage and lift another

Blessed are those who retain the ability to give and keep giving in feast or in famine

Blessed are those who pour generously for another from the rarest vintage

Blessed are those who never, ever, ever quit

Blessed are those who understand and respond with open invitations

Blessed are those who visit and bathe and wipe and watch and hold and kneel and pray and cook and shop and weep and love and clean and share and laugh and crawl into bed with and sing and dance and do all sorts of other wonderful and miraculous works

Blessed be them all – each and everyone

Blessed be the path of the caregivers, may they be given the greatest gifts of all – Love, grace respect and the most tender care in return

❤️

Amy Lloyd

The beginning is such a good place to be, my darling. There is much in store. But there is acknowledgment of what came before the beginning to mark this moment as a beginning. And in that place I was there, too. But let’s start where beginning is—the union of Me and you, the awakening of your heart, bit by bit, to Me.

I awaken you further, now.

These first starts are for you to appreciate the moments that came before them—to see where I was, what I was doing, before you recognized my presence. Let Me take you back to where I was when you couldn’t see Me there. Perhaps the definitions of beginning will need to be rewritten.

I always begin again in you, child.

I am the discovery of the beginning—all hope and life in you. I will give you a fresh start this day. I give you new breath, new eyes, new adventures to set out on with Me. But I want to start this beginning by going back to where I’ve always been with you.

I have always been with you, child, even when you couldn’t see it. I want to show you now.

– Loop

even a small love cannot be concealed

HOW I BECAME A WARRIOR

Once, I ran from fear

so fear controlled me.

Until I learned to hold fear like a newborn.

Listen to it, but not give in.

Honour it, but not worship it.

Fear could not stop me anymore.

I walked with courage into the storm.

I still have fear,

but it does not have me.

Once, I was ashamed of who I was.

I invited shame into my heart.

I let it burn.

It told me, “I am only trying

to protect your vulnerability”.

I thanked shame dearly,

and stepped into life anyway,

unashamed, with shame as a lover.

Once, I had great sadness

buried deep inside.

I invited it to come out and play.

I wept oceans. My tear ducts ran dry.

And I found joy right there.

Right at the core of my sorrow.

It was heartbreak that taught me how to love.

Once, I had anxiety.

A mind that wouldn’t stop.

Thoughts that wouldn’t be silent.

So I stopped trying to silence them.

And I dropped out of the mind,

and into the Earth.

Into the mud.

Where I was held strong

like a tree, unshakeable, safe.

Once, anger burned in the depths.

I called anger into the light of myself.

I felt its shocking power.

I let my heart pound and my blood boil.

Listened to it, finally.

And it screamed, “Respect yourself fiercely now!”.

“Speak your truth with passion!”.

“Say no when you mean no!”.

“Walk your path with courage!”.

“Let no one speak for you!”

Anger became an honest friend.

A truthful guide.

A beautiful wild child.

Once, loneliness cut deep.

I tried to distract and numb myself.

Ran to people and places and things.

Even pretended I was “happy”.

But soon I could not run anymore.

And I tumbled into the heart of loneliness.

And I died and was reborn

into an exquisite solitude and stillness.

That connected me to all things.

So I was not lonely, but alone with All Life.

My heart One with all other hearts.

Once, I ran from difficult feelings.

Now, they are my advisors, confidants, friends,

and they all have a home in me,

and they all belong and have dignity.

I am sensitive, soft, fragile,

my arms wrapped around all my inner children.

And in my sensitivity, power.

In my fragility, an unshakeable Presence.

In the depths of my wounds,

in what I had named “darkness”,

I found a blazing Light

that guides me now in battle.

I became a warrior

when I turned towards myself.

And started listening.

– Jeff Foster

love warriors walk through this world

love dripping from open hands

falling onto shattered pieces of the broken

staining bits of the kaleidoscope of hearts

stepping carefully

slowing down

as the ones who have forgotten to know

appear to do battle

not knowing what they have forgotten…

we are all the light

we are each the beloved..

please let me hold you

touch those wounded places

rub love on the sore spots

until you remember

what you already know

stay here with me

for a long long while

let’s walk together

connecting

hands

hearts

love

as we go

allowing the drip to become

a pour

a fountain

a river

an ocean

as we sail our sea green ship

into this mystic world beyond the stars

beyond the moon

and once again

find ourselves home in the sun

❤️

Amy Lloyd

What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.

– Jiddu Krishnamurti

wildfire

A rose is a rose

Beauty is beauty

this tabernacle houses the golden chalice

which continually runs over

into the ocean of dreams

creation evolves moment to moment

wells being dug in hard dry ground

can burst into geysers at any time

just like Old Faithful

predicable magic

inside of our own hearts

rivers of inked blood and sweat

traveling from soul to hand

free flowing love songs

spilled onto pure white pages

could never be ignored

for the rest of eternity

our legacy continues

within each other

eyes never the same

for having shared that look

and so it goes

ever onward

beings of light

spreading our light

until the whole of everything

of everywhere

catches wild with fire

and flames alive with holy glory

🔥

Amy Lloyd

As Plato wrote: “The power of the good has taken refuge in the Beautiful.”

I see your faces within the sacred mist

women of the seven mountains

emerging through your veiled masks

your lovely smiling photographs

White clouds descended into treed tops

forests of beauty hung with shadow

Ghostly opaque beauty

Black fury assembled

the voice of heaven demanding silence

our stories tumble into this place

Honest and life changing

I am listening

I am Letting go of all illusory beliefs

that you and I are not enough

This magic moment holds us fully

Light breaking through in patches of holy wonder

all these doors into unlimited possibility

the darkness holds all these shades and shapes of mystery

I drive a thousand miles feeling the magnitude of what these days are

where we will all go from here is a matter of personal choosing

all I know is the world will never be the same for me

because you invited me into your circle

because you held me with so much love and grace

as I worked through the startling reality

of my unexpected resurrection

🎄

Amy Lloyd

life & terms

every bridge invites someone to cross it.

– Deepak Chopra

on the shores of my soul

I invite you to come

cross the bridge of love

and sit with me a while

under the old banyon tree

and wonder the possibilities of where our love can lead

the river is wide

from shore to shore

yet, there’s always a bridge of love

we must cross once more

always once more

to reach our home on the distant shore

where we’ll both be safe

where fear and war and pain will be no more

and joy resides with us

side by side

❤️

Amy Lloyd

The moment when, after many years

of hard work and a long voyage

you stand in the centre of your room,

house, half-acre, square mile, island, country,

knowing at last how you got there,

and say, I own this,

is the same moment when the trees unloose

their soft arms from around you,

the birds take back their language,

the cliffs fissure and collapse,

the air moves back from you like a wave

and you can’t breathe.

No, they whisper. You own nothing.

You were a visitor, time after time

climbing the hill, planting the flag, proclaiming.

We never belonged to you.

You never found us.

It was always the other way round.

—

Margaret Atwood: “The Moment”

purpose

Why am I still here?

What am I adding to this world?

the questions are a bit wandering

I think through what I keep answering,

You’re here to spend as much time with your family as possible

You’re here to enjoy these moments

You’re here because you and I needed to meet and help each other

You’re here because the cats job isn’t done and she still needs to protect you

You’re here because there’s still meaning and purpose for you to be here

I know it’s difficult to be confused

I know it’s difficult to be dependent

I know it’s difficult to forget so many things

Life can definitely be difficult

You’re here because you’re loved

You’re here because you are adding love and joy to people’s lives

You’re here for more reasons than I can ever understand or name

Just as we all are

There are so many things we will never understand

as we let go into the breath that keeps us here

as we surrender into the soul of the soul of the universe

whose name is Love

💞

Amy Lloyd

    

Those mornings when you wake up burdened,

already thinking Oh why bother,

start here:

thank God for one thing.

One person whom you love will do,

though even a remarkable coincidence is acceptable.

You don’t even need to go into peaches,

the color blue, or migratory birds,

or a child’s laugh you heard the other day,

let alone the angelic speech of nerve synapses

or the inscrutable ballet of spiral galaxies,

or God’s outlandish love for you.

Just one thing to give thanks for.

Then resolve to live the day

in adequate gratitude for that one thing,

and begin.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

www.unfoldinglight.net

A thing is ordinary. But its Being is miraculous. Even though Being is no-thing and no-mind, nothing is more substantial. When your mind is empty of all concepts, you perceives the diamond radiance of your own pure Being, the Self who is free from subject or object. This is perfect contentment.

Possession of things without the fragrance of their Being, is poverty. But the Being of things is boundless wealth. Now the richness of Being overflows from every point in the vacuum of space.

If people tasted the Being in things, they would be forever satisfied without clinging to the things themselves, and no more wars would arise. How could anyone practice exploitation or greed when the mind is saturated with the fullness of Being?

Everything that you encounter is impermanent, like a wisp of dissolving mist. But when you encounter the Being of a thing, you touch eternity with all the cells of your flesh.

If your heart merges with the Being of a gnat or a pebble, you know the Being of God. For the Being of a gnat is the Being of God. And knowing the ecstasy of God’s Being will expand your body to the rim of the cosmos.

How much greater, then, is your bewilderment when you gaze into the Being of a human face? I am not talking about the sorrow or the joy, the youth or the age, the pain or the beauty of the form, but its Being.

Even the Being of a melting dewdrop radiates eternity. This is why Jesus communicated his infinite existence in a morsel of bread, and Buddha transmitted the whole Dharma by holding up a little wild flower.

🌻

Fred LaMotte

Brave night…

bold world;

you can find God around every corner,

blinking lights…

hugs from a tree…

the way color and a rising sun can make you weak in your knees;

Green, yellow, red

like a subtle survey of those on the ground…

angels doing more than we will ever understand…

mantras heard so high in the atmosphere,

prayer flags wave like hero’s in the breeze..

and mountain goats raise their heads, then bow so low…

God is close

so very close

one could be afraid to pray and be heard…

or one could whisper ” help” while changing their clothes…

calming their heart with a cup of hot tea…

walking so far and yet, there is always farther to go…

and God hears

so very clearly

what it means to live as heart with bones;

soul with a song…

Mary with a Jesus…

mom with a job ,

Ruth and Naomi…Rumi and the book of Job;

a couple dozen wisdom quotes and a pocketful of stones

to throw in the pond as you walk by…

praying for children, for parents and friends;

praying for the impossible, the vulnerable,

praying for the courage to say, ” Faith is like a charm.”

Beauty,

Rev. Donna Knutson

inside / outside

When you regain a sense of your life as a journey of discovery, you return to rhythm with yourself. When you take the time to travel with reverence, a richer life unfolds before you. Moments of beauty begin to braid your days. When your mind becomes more acquainted with reverence, the light, grace and elegance of beauty find you more frequently. When the destination becomes gracious, the journey becomes an adventure of beauty.

John O’Donohue

Nature, my teacher my school my temple my she-shed my friend my lover my wonder my wander my passion my peace my darkness my shining my opening my knowledge my quests my mystery my luminosity my path my return my budding my harvest my seasons my eternal my connection my uniqueness my blush my beauty my ravaging my savaging my circle my arrow my path my journey my longing my desire my tryst my trust my hope my haven my safety my risk my skip-itty-doo-dah the hair on my chinny-chin-chin my space my intimacy my solitude my family my found my faith my dancing my lame my music my words my rhythm my song my vision my sight my lost my found my sin my soul my tears my laughter my being my belonging my life my love my looking in my letting go my begging my abundance my start my stop my end my beginning my rising from the ashes my heart my skin my senses my fences my flash my fire my living my death my creator my Spirit my wound my healer my receiver my giver my adventure my wild my silence my sound my doo-be-doobie-do my fa-la-la-la my going my coming my heaven my home my place my resurrection my grounding my wings my births my deaths my everything

🌳

Amy Lloyd

By the stream I dream in calm delight, and watch as in a glass,

How the clouds like crowds of snowy-hued and white-robed maidens

pass,

And the water into ripples breaks and sparkles as it spreads,

Like a host of armored knights with silver helmets on their heads.

And I deem the stream an emblem fit of human life may go,

For I find a mind may sparkle much and yet but shallows show,

And a soul may glow with myriad lights and wondrous mysteries,

When it only lies a dormant thing and mirrors what it sees

❤️

By the Stream by Paul Laurence Dunbar

I may have truly found the secret

Hail Caesar!

Days so full of garlicky goodness!

church consists of two

speaking of things that matter eternally

laughter and silver patterns

Living beautifully matters much

I want a love with padding on it

Conversation concerning 71 years

of lusciously padded love stories

brings me loads of hope

talking about love and family,

about what matters most,

about how it’s good to be so lucky,

how everything has brought us right, right, here!

life here is special

Days are blessed

(Even tho the food is not always understandable,

we still enjoy every bite!

Maybe THAT’S the real, true, secret of life!!)

The water is a living personality with moods galore

we watch the colors change

tonights whitecaps are cold and complex

it’s been a beautiful, calm and restful day for the most part

She walks in beauty

even though it’s a strange

and sometimes confusing mix

of real and nonsensical

the cat sits on my head

the softest, most casual, of headgear I’ve ever worn

my feet are buried in white fur

the dogwood of the same color dances outside

life is full

we are full

sun sets bringing new colors to the blooming trees

night routines await right around the bend

luxurious yawns meets in the middle

Mixing with the warmth of the fireplace

all is calm

all is bright

shadows gathering in corners

the day falls soft at our patient feet

we slip gracefully into the fine night

💞

Amy Lloyd

(Photo by Charles Cooper)

I don’t know if I’ve learned anything yet! I did learn how to have a happy home, but I consider myself fortunate in that regard because I could’ve rolled right by it. Everybody has a superficial side and a deep side, but this culture doesn’t place much value on depth — we don’t have shamans or soothsayers, and depth isn’t encouraged or understood. Surrounded by this shallow, glossy society we develop a shallow side, too, and we become attracted to fluff. That’s reflected in the fact that this culture sets up an addiction to romance based on insecurity — the uncertainty of whether or not you’re truly united with the object of your obsession is the rush people get hooked on. I’ve seen this pattern so much in myself and my friends and some people never get off that line.

But along with developing my superficial side, I always nurtured a deeper longing, so even when I was falling into the trap of that other kind of love, I was hip to what I was doing. I recently read an article in Esquire magazine called ‘The End of Sex,’ that said something that struck me as very true. It said: “If you want endless repetition, see a lot of different people. If you want infinite variety, stay with one.” What happens when you date is you run all your best moves and tell all your best stories — and in a way, that routine is a method for falling in love with yourself over and over.

You can’t do that with a longtime mate because he knows all that old material. With a long relationship, things die then are rekindled, and that shared process of rebirth deepens the love. It’s hard work, though, and a lot of people run at the first sign of trouble. You’re with this person, and suddenly you look like an asshole to them or they look like an asshole to you — it’s unpleasant, but if you can get through it you get closer and you learn a way of loving that’s different from the neurotic love enshrined in movies. It’s warmer and has more padding to it.

– Joni Mitchell

play a new game

Winning all comes down to Final Jeopardy

How much do you know about love and life?

Place your wager…

write your answer in the form of a question

(Cue thinking music…do do do do do do do…)

what is happiness

?

gratitude can be tricky when you lose a lifestyle you adore

shame’s an ugly scab that infects everything

goodness never leaves us

yet can seem invisible to our blaming eyes

we must begin again

today is a new day

there is beauty in spades

we have all the right answers

take your time

the game is yours

life is for you

for sure

for always

there’s a spring wind

blowing in new days of grace

close your eyes

take a deep breath

open your heart

smile

😊

Amy Lloyd

Let Me Tell You About Beginnings

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband—Revelation 21:2

I love beginnings. I love surprises. I love hope. I love family. I love children. I love my children. I love the stories of my family, all my children, and how each moment is another day of beginning. It is another birth, another white page.

And in the beginning there was no color, and I added color. And in the beginning there was no texture, and I added texture. And in the color and in the texture I added layers upon layers of beginning. All new. Everything, my daughter, is all new, with Me.

There is an order unfolding in a beginning. There is a plan shaping, one decision at a time. And while I have a plan and I know what’s ahead, the discovery of watching you begin again never stops stirring my heart. For you are new, this day, with a story you’ve lived already, but yet still—still, my dear—brand new.

We’ve talked together now, about weddings. I’ve shared with you a glimpse of your wedding, the preparations I am making now for that celebration of beginnings to take place. I love celebrating my union with you. I love the celebration of the body fully formed, the bride united and whole.

Do not be dismayed by how things seem like they change so very slowly—how the difficult circumstances you face don’t seem to go away. This temporary life now is a thin mask for what is still to come. Your yearning for Me—for connection with Me—ushers in the next beginning, you seeing Me in the midst of this world’s worries.

I love the story of this world, and I love the story of you. I love the wedding for which you are being prepared. And I love how you get a glimpse, now, of the beauty of the wedding day and how it is the ultimate beginning.

Beginning happened the day the light was formed, the day my Son was born, the day the Word came down. Beginning happened the day all story began to be told.

Beginning happened before you took in your first breath, before your lips shaped into a smile. Beginning happened before the pain came in, before the regret shaped you, before sin was taken off your shoulders. Beginning happened when my Son chose to die so He could marry you.

Beginning happened the day He rose. Beginning happened the day you opened your eyes this day. Beginning happened the moment you sought Me, the moment of the wedding, the moment you trusted Me, and the moment you loved Me, and when you donned your wedding dress and you saw Me and you joined your sisters and brothers—like I ask you to now—to be with Me and call out to Me and be the wedding song I’ve made you to sing. This is the celebration. This is the beginning.

I am the beginning. Stay close, my daughter. I am where beginnings happen. Here, now, the moment you breathed your first and last breath.

– Loop devotional

the void is hiring…step up

Against all odds the winds are changing directions

bell choirs keep silent vigil at midnight

from the back a wheelchair

set in constant motion

subconscious patterns

run night and day

you, being the one and all,

free flowing floods flooding

body temperature liquid streaming

there she goes again

climbing over the rails

adrenaline pumps straight through the heart

stopping at flight and fright

no freeze allowed

night after sleepless night

finding me a hollow shell

still calm and beauty sensitive

aged trees newly borning leaves

Springs colors filling in daily

against the ever changing

skies and waters

greens, blues and silvers

this furious night wind

rides the water hard and wet

Friday can be somber

but hold on to your bonnet

puzzle pieces are settling into place

even in the void between questions and answers

bright resurrection arrives on Sunday mornings

patience is a rewarding experience

sorrow is the pathway into life

joy is still the stuff dreams are made of

all through the night hours

the silky cat keeps a hungry watch

until we wake to see what this day brings

a hearty breakfast, to be had by all

🌻

Amy Lloyd

In the beginning

you opened up

an emptiness

in yourself

for creation:

space

for darkness to sit in,

then time,

for light to travel.

This is such a day

of emptiness,

of sabbath rest,

a pregnant pause,

space in you,

and time between,

divine abyss,

for Creation

to happen.

__________________

Steve Garnaas-Holmes

Unfolding Light

www.unfoldinglight.net