Shining Spirit

One hundred sheep and one runs away.
Will he live to see another day?
Will the shepherd find traces of flesh and bone?
Death awaits the lamb, lost and alone
in this wild and vicious land.

It’s only one sheep, so let it go.
It should not have wandered and been so slow.
Your job is to mind and faithfully keep
the rest of these nervous and valuable sheep.
Write it off as a business loss.

Wait!  Stop! Don’t leave the flock alone!
The owner will say that you’ve clearly shown
a lack of trust and no common sense.
You’ll be marked as a man of incompetence.
What if the wolves attack!

But he left the nervous, huddled sheep,
searched valleys and caves and rugged peaks
until he heard a muffled cry
of a little lamb about to die.
The lost is found and saved.

So the story is told again and again
of this remarkable, courageous, loving man
who brought the sheep home, everyone,
gave a party to celebrate what had been done,
the Good Shepherd who finds the lost.

Drink deeply of this fine day
Taste the nectar
Listen to all the air songs
circling through the trees
Inhale the fragrance of a new morning
Watch the beetle cross the sidewalk
with delicate intention
Lay on damp grass and
feel the moisture meet your skin
Look up
Breathe

Today is my birthday.
At 4:32 a.m., I  emerged
from a dark place, warm
and comfortable, opened
my eyes and encountered
life’s realities.  So different
from the pleasant darkness,
yet so compelling.

Today will be my first today.
I will live this amazing day
with everything-is-new eyes
and I’ve-never-heard-that-before
ears.  I will learn something
brand new, fill a very small
place with love.  I will grow.

Today I am born yet again
into possibility.  My life is
a gift and I will treat it that
way.  And when I return to
the mystery from which I
came, the fertile ground of
love, I will be embraced
by the question:

Did you live?

And I will answer–

Yes

But, who is my neighbor?

Next door?
Around the corner?
Schoolmates?
Co-workers?
Next town?
Another state?
A different country?
(Choose one of the following)

“Neighbor” is about geographic location: the guy next door
“Neighbor” is a relationship: with somebody I know
“Neighbor” is holding something in common: like life
“Neighbor” is not limited to humanity: how about
a tree or an antelope or the earth under all
that concrete pavement?
“Neighbor” is a cosmic idea: the cells in my
body and the planets in the universe,
and the person walking toward
you in the grocery store.

Oh, go ahead and choose more than one.  In fact,
choose them all.

You have a good day, neighbor!

May I feel the Breath of Life blowing
across the universe, spinning my
prayers into the farthest
corners of the sacred creation.
Like the wheel adorned with
words of blessing, may I turn
in the strong wind of the Spirit,
releasing showers of gifts upon
all who thirst for truth and
hunger for hope.

May the sky be filled with
offerings of healing and
wholeness and may they
rain down on this parched
planet.  Come, rise up Holy
Wind, fill the universes with
the whirring sounds of prayer
wheels singing to the stars.