Category Archives: Spiritual
A Tidbit of Truth
At twenty we are very concerned about what people think of us.
By forty we care very little about what anyone thinks of us.
And at sixty we discover that no one is thinking about us anyway.
By eighty we realize that God’s opinion is the only one that matters.
The I Am I.
1. A question.
2. A becoming.
3. A beloved.
4. A lover.
5. A unique expression of Spirit.
6. A partner in Creation.
7. An inseparable part of the whole.
8. A woman.
9. A friend.
10. A nurturer.
Follow Your Own Weirdness
The title quote is from Ray Waddle, a writer.
Poets are prophets. They can speak things they don’t know yet. From a talk by Shelley Warren.
Altered states are easy, altered traits are difficult. From Rabbi Rami Shapiro.
And to keep a perspective…. two passed on by my son Steve:
Shhhh! is the sound of no one caring what you think.
and
No matter how great your sorrow or how great your pain, one billion, three hundred million Chinese don’t give a _______.
And a memory of a moment of truth from my youngest son, Tommy. When he wasn’t quite three yet, I tried to get him to speak for a tape recording to send to my mother, who lived in another state. He stared silently at the recorder, so I encouraged him to say who he was. He not only remained mute, he became obviously upset. Finally he burst out in an anguished voice, “I’m somebody! I’m somebody!”
A universal cry, I believe.
The Walls of Self
More than walls of brick or thorn
our walls of silent words unborn
still keep us from becoming one.
Our walls of pride leave us remote
as if we wore a buttoned coat
of our own selfishness.
Until, ashamed of loss of heart
we seek, in faith, the grace to start
to risk ourselves once more.
To heal the hurt with words of love
and find a way to rise above
the lonely walls of self.
American Nightmare
Bulldozer ravaged land
violated
into sun scorched nakedness.
Mangled tree corpses
buried live
and bullied into corners.
Nature, God’s glory,
trash heaped
for cheap expediency.
Close Encounters with Innocence
When I first moved to our small rural town forty-one years ago, it was in ways both positive and negative, a culture shock.
A friend from church, originally from near New York, decided to start a community theater. One of our first endeavors was taking a humorous version of Cinderella to the elementary schools. These children had never seen live theater. I played the elderly, somewhat flaky and forgetful, fairy-Godmother.
At the first school, which had fifth and sixth grade classes, when I asked everyone to close their eyes, I was supposed to find someone with their eyes open. I couldn’t find anyone, even the teachers, with their eyes open. It threw me for a minute, until I caught the principal opening his and could scold him.
At one of the schools out in the country with second and third graders, after talking about what Cinderella would need to go to the ball, I asked everyone to close their eyes and wish. Then I asked, “What are we wishing for?” A tiny girl with her eyes squinched tight, shouted with all her heart in her voice, “A bicycle, a bicycle!”
But the most disconcerting experience came with kindergartners and first graders. At the conclusion of the play, they spontaneously stormed en mass onto the gym floor to try to capture my magic wand. At five foot-two, I was in danger of literally being knocked down and trampled and had to be rescued by the prince and the king. It was actually scary.
Such is the vulnerability and power of belief without the balance of understanding.
Letter to Teachers Struggling with Disillusionment
People do make a difference and things do change. Racial integration is a prime example in my life time.
But the path to change is never fast or easy and often involves people losing their livelihoods or even their lives for the cause. And when the perceived goal is actually achieved, it’s never anywhere near perfect. It’s an imperfect world filled with imperfect people, including us. So there’s always a gap between the vision and the reality. This is hard for those of us, who are idealists and visionaries.
A change in law or even a change in government can seem to happen overnight, but the change in people happens in tiny increments and takes a long time to become perceivable.
I have realized that I, personally, expect too much. But, I have grown in my ability to persevere and to keep the faith that God is alive and well and involved in our becoming whom He created us to be, both as individuals and humanity.
I still feel frustrated when no one shares my vision. And it’s a hard reality, that being by nature an agent for change does not make anyone popular, no matter how kind or pure of heart they may be. The prophets were God’s agents of change and they usually got killed for their trouble.
Another pitfall, for those of us wanting to make a difference, is that it can become an idol. The heart of the challenge is finding the grace to persevere, when we not only can’t see results, but experience both rejection and feelings of failure.
Pace yourself, and as best you can, accept the reality of bureaucratic insanity as the thorn in your side. And most of all, find ways to renew your spirit or you will burn out.
When we get to whatever heaven is, we will probably be surprised that the things we did that actually touched lives and rippled out from them, aren’t even the things we remember doing. But that’s okay. We aren’t God. And He can actually use even our screw ups, if we keep giving ourselves to Him.
What is the scripture?…..All God asks of us is to…… love justice and walk humbly with our God.
The older I get, the more I realize that the most important virtue is humility and the most important strength is perseverance.
Small Town Kindness
Joys of a small town. I needed to get emergency oil to get my car to Nashville Volvo, which is about fifty miles from here. Went to an auto repair/gas station that I never use. It took 4 quarts of oil. I had only a credit card and $7. After getting the oil, I discovered they weren’t set up to take credit cards and the bill was $10. The owner said, “No problem, just drop it off when you get a chance.” I pulled out my $7 and he said, “No, I don’t want to leave you without any cash.” I said that I would probably stop by the bank on my way to Nashville. He said, “Ok, but just call it even with the $7.”
I was dressed up, so I don’t think it was charity, just kindness! I’m headed to the bank and then back there with $3 today.”
Laughter: Carbonated Grace 