Monday, February 27, 2012

A Certain Starvation

Photo credit: Bob Adelman, 1965



"You don't have a soul.  You are a Soul.  You have a body."  ~C.S. Lewis

 
We live in a world full of antidotes and answers
there is a soup for every meal of the week
and a cream for every wrinkle and bulge on your skin
a diet for every body type known to man
we have vaccines for many illnesses that once took lives
and a cure for sleepless nights and many mental disorders
a self help book for every subject you can think of
a clinic around every corner and a church down each block
yet there is still an epidemic running rampant across the country
our souls have been abandoned in the process
and are starving for the nourishment
that only God's truth can provide.

Friday, February 24, 2012

Scientists and Clergy





"String theory, often called the “theory of everything,” is a relatively young science that includes such unusual concepts as superstrings, branes, and extra dimensions. Scientists are hopeful that string theory will unlock one of the biggest mysteries of the universe, namely how gravity and quantum physics fit together."
~Andrew Zimmerman Jones (String Theory for Dummies)




I find this concept fascinating, but mind boggling and probably another hypothesis/theory that may or may not ever be proven.  Science was always a weak subject for me.  It went right over my head faster than a speeding bullet.  I barely passed Chemistry even with tutoring, so my opinion on any scientific theory does not carry much weight.  However, that will not stop me from using the whole notion to convey my own views of what matters in this life.  Please forgive me all you brilliant scientists out there for adding my own string theory to the equation.


I propose this:

We are all connected
old........and.........young
weak.........and.............strong
beautiful..........and.............awkward
brilliant............and...........challenged
spiritual......and.............atheist
friend.......and..........enemy
wealthy.........and............destitute
tender....and.......callous
the blessed.........and...........the suffering
the clothed.........and..............the naked
parent.........................and...............................child
male....................and....................female
scientist...................and.........................clergy
God........................and...........................man.


This is what I would like to call The Heart String Confirmation, because it has already been proven in the laboratory of the heart of man.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Holder of The Sails,

Linking with Poetry Jam

So much depends on
the strength of the sails
the force of the winds
the size of the waves
 the courage of the man in the boat
and the reliance he has on
The One truly holding the sails
 God.

Monday, February 20, 2012

An Extravagant Parade

image: epic mahoney


"All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem."
~Martin Luther King, Jr.



We march forward with ungraceful steps like cattle unto a trough.
It is an awkward parade that in drought and rain knows not when to stop. 
The further we go the faster the pace, and the more extravagant is the cost.
For in the parade of progress pieces of humanity can get lost.




This week I was not able to get on the internet this weekend, so I had a friend describe the picture to me on the phone.  She did a wonderful job describing it to me, but somehow I visioned the man riding his bike in the desert heading to a neon lit phonebooth, and progress and its affects came to mind.  So that is why I went with  the progress parade.  After actually seeing the picture this morning, I think I could have gone other directions with it, but like progress there is no turning back for me now.  Hope everyone has a wonderful Monday. :-)

Friday, February 17, 2012

A Slow Lightening


"Out of difficulties grow miracles."  ~Jean de la Bruyere


In the fast paced world that we live in, it can be hard to see beyond our own worries and responsibilities, or should I say "noses".  We forget that there is more to life than just what is on our personal agenda.  We may have problems,and maybe things could be better, or easier, but there is always someone out there that has a much greater burden to bear.  All you have to do is turn on the six o'clock news and that is made perfectly clear.  There is adversity all around us, yet there are miracles as well.  I am not just talking about the beauty of nature, a new babies sigh, or a crash of lightening that reveals the face of God.  I am speaking of the miracles that do not happen everyday, but some fortunate souls have the opportunity to see take place in someone elses life.  Some miracles are not fast like lightening bolts, they are slow like road repair, but they are still miracles just the same.  I have had the amazing fortune to witness one of these very miracles with my own two eyes.  This is my story:


There are many different ways that we lose things in this life, and many things that can slip right out of our hands without us even realizing what happened. We spend money that seems to fly away much faster than it came to rest in our pockets.  We can lose control of the steering wheel, or we can even lose our sanity.  Countless things get lost that our hands once held tight.  Life is one big harry monster of uncertainty.  One that I am certain resides under my bed when I cannot sleep at night.  I wish that I could know without a shadow of a doubt that everything would always be fine, and that my children would never be harmed or suffer in this life, but that is not the way life is.  Everyday is a new day, full of situations that I cannot predict, and lessons that I can either learn from or re-learn another day to come. 
Losing the ones we love is by far the hardest loss of all, but there are many ways that we can lose a person in our life.  Sometimes people desert us and leave town without a word.  Other times tragic accidents take them before their time.  But there are those other times when they are alive and breathing right in the same room, but we have lost them to the destructive abyss of addiction.  Denial can be a powerful force, one that covers our eyes like a heavy dark shroud blocking our view of the truth.  I think there can be no greater a denial than that of a parent, when it comes to the disfunctional behavior of addiction when it is happening to our own adult children.  At first you just cannot believe that something that wrong could be taking place.  Then you do not want to see it for what it tuly is, because that means you would have to actually believe it and that would be more painful than shards of glass to the soul.  My son's behavior had been only slightly out of the ordinary at first.  It was subtle things like borrowing a little extra money because they were behind on their bills, or not wanting me to tag along on errands.  Then it became more significant things with bigger problems attached.  These situations simply accumulated, creating a huge bolder that eventually crashed the walls down on all our lives.  It was a devestating experience full of misery and uncertainty.  A certain hell that I would not wish on anyone.  But when the walls came crashing down like lightening, and all was lost that could be lost, a miracle emerged.  It was a gradual process, much like road repair.  Where there had been lies and destruction, there was beginning to be truth and reconstruction.  The road recovery was arduous and slow like a crawl, but it was happening, and that was a true miracle in itself.  The recovery of a life is much like road repair.  It takes a lot of destruction and removal of bad asphalt before you can lay down the new pavement.  Seeing this process build and unfold like a flower in bloom is an amazing miracle to behold.  You see some miracles are not fast like lightening strikes.  They are gradual like snow and expand outward like the branches of a tree. A young man we had lost to a life turned upside down by addiction and alcohol, was regaining a whole life again.  This miracle is still a work in progress that I have the privilege to see, and it has an impact on all that are close to him.  Life is full of uncertainty in this world, but one thing is certain, miracles do happen whether we see a lightening strike or we do not.


Linking with Poetry Jam

Monday, February 13, 2012

A Thousand Voices One Solitary Cry


"Man is a knot into which relationships are tied. "
~Antoine de Saint


 
It begins at birth this ever yearning need
to declare our feelings through sigh and scream
we cry for connection we long for home
a place to share and someone to hold
it is a universal ache that all hearts have
the hunger for expression that other souls will grasp
only one answer yet so many questions why
a thousand voices one solitary cry.




The need to be heard, accepted, and  understood is a longing that transcends all cultures and creeds.  We have many stories to tell, but the yearning between those lines is the same.  So no matter what continent he resides there is no man that  is really that different when it comes to the matters of the heart.   In honor of the human heart, I  hope that everyone at The Mag and in Bloggerland has a wonderful Valentine's Day!






Monday, February 6, 2012

Touch of Heaven

a grave at the Novodevinchy Cemetary, Moscow


We reach out beyond ourselves
in a leap of faith
touching eternity.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Beyond Our Recognition

Red Spot II, Wallisy Kandinsky

"I think miracles exist in part as gifts and in part as clues that there is something beyond the flat world we see."
~ Peggy Noonnan



Sometimes we wander through this life distracted by all the mundane,
losing sight of what truly matters, like viewing abstract art we cannot explain.
Gods beautiful artwork is all around us, and miracles could lay at our feet,
yet, we stumble over the obvious not recognizing what could be seen.