Tuesday, May 31, 2016

The Sway of it All~

THE SWAY OF IT ALL
by Mark Nepo

And so I lift my face from the mud,
the mud of my past, the mud of history,
the thick and ragged bark of how we
think everyone but our own darkness
is the enemy, I lift my face like a worn
planet spinning on itself to get back
into the light, to say to no one, to
everyone—it is an honor to be alive.

And some days I feel like I've got my face in the mud, regretful of an action of my own or anothers...some days that mud feels like home~ otherwise,  I feel it's a great honor to be alive. clj

Thursday, May 5, 2016

To be alive is power enough!

To be alive is power,
Existing in itself,
Without a further function,
Omnipotence enough.
--Emily Dickinson

Being a person in this world is an amazing gift. A spiritual awakening promised by this program is open to us. But today, not all of us feel powerful and alive. We may feel weak, inadequate to our task, perplexed, or stymied. Is this a day in which we are filled with exuberance for the gift of life? Or is this a day when we're feeling subdued by life's burdens?

Perhaps we need to evaluate our perspective. Are we trying to control something or someone? Are we acting as if the world should be as we want rather than as it is? Have our individual wills exceeded their natural bounds and spoiled the simple joy of being "without a further function"?

May I find the pleasure and exuberance today that come with being alive. The simple power to be a person is "omnipotence enough."



Sunday, April 10, 2016

When BABIES don't come home : ( (Katie's friends)

In Christ Alone
In Christ alone my hope is found;
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My comforter, my all in all—
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone, Who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe!
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save.
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death—
This is the pow'r of Christ in me;
From life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand;
Till He returns or calls me home—
Here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Sounds to the Season!!

Today's thought from the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

There are sounds to seasons. There are sounds to places, and there are sounds to every time in one's life.
--Alison Wyrley Birch

Live is rich and full. Your life. My life. Even when the day feels flat or hollow, there's a richness to it that escapes our attention. We see only what we choose to see. We hear selectively, too. Our prejudgment precludes our getting the full effects of any experience. Some days we hear only the drum of the humdrum.

But the greater our faith in the program and a loving God, the clearer our perceptions become. We miss less of the day's events; we grow in our understanding of our unfolding, and we perceive with clarity the role others are playing in our lives.

We can see life as a concert in progress when we transcend our own narrow scope and appreciate the variety of people and situations all directed toward the same finale. The more we're in tune with the spiritual activity surrounding us, the more harmoniously we will be able to perform our parts.

I will listen to the music of today. I will get in tune, in rhythm. I am needed for the concert's beauty.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

The Train by Jean Turbeville Sanders

I adore this~

THE TRAIN: At birth we boarded the train and met our parents, and we believe they will always travel by our side. As time goes by, other people will board the train; and they will be significant i.e. our siblings, friends, children, and even the love of your life. However, at some station our parents will step down from the train, leaving us on this journey alone. Others will step down over time and leave a permanent vacuum. Some, however, will go so unnoticed that we don't realize they vacated their seats. This train ride will be full of joy, sorrow, fantasy, expectations, hellos, goodbyes, and farewells. Success consists of having a good relationship with all passengers requiring that we give the best of ourselves.

The mystery to everyone is: We do not know at which station we ourselves will step down. So, we must live in the best way, love, forgive, and offer the best of who we are. It is important to do this because when the time comes for us to step down and leave our seat empty we should leave behind beautiful memories for those who will continue to travel on the train of life.

I wish you a joyful journey.

Jean Turbeville Sanders

Monday, February 15, 2016

Finger prints~

"Our finger prints don't fade from the lives we touch."
 
Judy Blume
Happy birthday, Judy Blume! The beloved author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing must have an enormous trophy shelf at home. She has won more than 90 literary awards including—not one, not two—three lifetime achievement awards.

Sunday, February 7, 2016

"I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all."


 Laura Ingalls Wilder
Laura Ingalls Wilder (born February 7, 1867) first gained popularity as a writer with "As a Farm Woman Thinks," her column in a local paper. About two decades later, she used her childhood memories to write her beloved, autobiographical novel, Little House in the Big Woods.

Monday, January 11, 2016

Tweny Years Strong

Oh my dear~
Twenty years of not one sip of that pleasant tasting sweetness
that warmed my soul,
softened my heart,
let me breathe,
or not.
That stole my soul,
my heart,
stopped alll breath.
Until
I  nearly died
lost myself,
my loves,
my world~
Oh my dear~ thank you God, thank you God, thank you.....God.

Oh How they LOVED me!

I can still remember my mother clutching her heart, threatening to have a heart attack and die, and blaming it on me.
--Anonymous


For some of us, the idea that we were responsible for other people's feelings had its roots in childhood and was established by members of our nuclear family. We may have been told that we made our mother or father miserable, leading directly to the idea that we were also responsible for making them happy. The idea that we are responsible for our parents' happiness or misery can instill exaggerated feelings of power and guilt in us.

We do not have this kind of power over our parents - over their feelings, or over the course of their lives. We do not have to allow them to have this kind of power over us.

Our parents did the best they could. But we still do not have to accept one belief from them that is not a healthy belief. They may be our parents, but they are not always right. We do not have to allow their destructive beliefs to control our feelings, our behaviors, our life, or us.

Today, I will begin the process of setting myself free from any self-defeating beliefs my parents passed on to me. I will strive for appropriate ideas and boundaries concerning how much power and how much responsibility I can actually have in my relationship with my parents.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Do nothing and Rest afterward~

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then rest afterward.
--Spanish proverb


The beauty of the Third Step is that there's no real work for us to do. Making a decision to turn our will and our life over to the care of God requires no energy, no movement. We don't have to grit our teeth. It's only a decision and can be made in the blink of an eye. The action comes from God.

We don't need to do anything to earn the grace of God. In fact, there isn't any way we could earn it. This grace is ours when we let it come to us. Trusting God's love for us is all it takes.

I will rest knowing that my life is in God's hands.

Friday, January 1, 2016

My 2016 Quest~


Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.
--Rainer Maria Rilke


We carry problems and discrepancies within us, quandaries that are not easily answered - and we have bigger questions about life and the world. Why did I act as I did in my younger years? Can my life partnership be happy again? How should I handle a secret that I carry? What is this thing we call Higher Power and God?

We are on a journey and, in some ways, this journey is a quest for answers. The questions give energy and direction to our seeking. We cannot expect to get quick or easy answers. And some questions will always remain just that: questions. But we can learn to be patient with ourselves, tolerant of our incompleteness, and always curious about how it will all turn out.

Today I will practice patience with myself and embrace my unsolved questions as crucial elements in my quest.
You are reading from the book: