Shining Spirit

What do you see in that ominous sky?

A reminder that life can be cruel and dark?
A sign that delicious rain is about to appear?
A velvet backdrop to the mountain’s glow?
Quiet beauty before the storm?
Perhaps no words can describe
the gift, the power and
charm in the dark
evening
sky.

What do you see in the bright morning sky?

An invitation to sing to the glorious dawn?
A reminder that the colors of life are
not always somber and dark?
A statement that no two clouds are
alike, but all are still quite beautiful?
Perhaps words fail and the
eyes of the heart
are the only
ones that
can see.

Sing with me today.
The world needs a song
to penetrate the cold silence, a
melody that fills the memory
and insists on being sung at the
least expected time, in the moment
of necessity.

Hold my hand as a sign
of our unity.  Let us show
the world that voices can blend
and produce something beautiful,
a harmony of the heart and mind
that softens the sharp edges of rude
and hurtful words.

Take the hand of anyone
who wants to join our song.
All are welcome.  All are wanted.
There is a place for everyone as the
song rises above the clamor and confusion,
touches the heart of the universe
and then falls like a cleansing shower
on this thirsty world.

Sing with me today.
The world needs a song.

My bag is packed for the day’s journey.
All I need now is Light to show me the way.
Patience, the sun will rise and the path will
begin to appear.

Along the way I will embrace moments of
love, listen for hints of Spirit counsel, try to help
when need appears, learn something more
about myself, confirm my common humanity
with fellow travelers.  I will walk slowly,
deliberately and gratefully.

If the way is difficult, I will lie down
in a green pasture, splash my face
with cool, still water.  When the
afternoon rain comes, I will lay my
pack aside, raise my hands to the
sky and sing a song of thanksgiving.
Somewhere along the way, I will
walk through a meadow filled with
bluebonnets, sit down among them
and listen to their stories.

And, when evening gives way to
night, I will see the warm glow
in the window, watch the door
open wide and behold the face
of my Friend who always waits,
always welcomes.

Home, at last.
Home, at last.

Living Water, fall upon all things that
crave refreshment, upon people
who walk dusty roads in
search of drink, into
rivers that struggle
to move through
arid lands.

Touch the flower that wilts
in the scorching sun,
animals that pant
for moisture.
The Earth
that allows us to live,
temporary residents,
in this paradise of
possibility.

May I regard the water that washes
my clothes as valuable as the wine
that fills the crystal chalice.
May I wear life as beautifully
as the rose wears her
jeweled necklace.

On a gray, cloudy day
there is comfort in knowing
that the sun is just beyond sight,
casting light above the smooth gray cover,
sending beams through thin places to say
“I am here.”

So with the Sacred Spirit.

Seen only with eyes of
the heart, heard as a friend’s
word of comfort, touched through
the hand of the helpless.

Often unseen but always present,
filling, renewing,
life giving.

On this overcast, somber day
I know that beyond my sight
light shines and I
am content to wait for
the inevitable revealing.

I know it will come.

When I speak may the sound
of my words convey calming
grace and every word be true.

When I greet strangers or
friends may I do so without
hypocrisy, prejudice or arrogant
judgement.

May I consider that I breathe
because the miracle machine of
my body still functions.  I occupy
it for a short time.

May I feel the pain, share the
laughter, contribute something
worthwhile, honor gratitude
in my infinitesimal spot in
the world.

When I fall into my bed tonight,
may the stars twinkle a little
brighter, and sleep come as a
comforting friend because I have
lived this day with gratitude, not
grandeur.

And may my dreams carry me to
the Source of my thoughts and
wishes.  Today will have been
one beautiful step in the
journey.

The Informed
The Indifferent
The Politically Conservative
The Homeless
The Educated
The Politically Progressive
The Celebrity
The Poor
The Minimum Wage Earner
The Immigrant
The Atheist
The Religiously Committed
The Ecologically Concerned
The Exploiters of the Earth
The Generous
The Greedy
The Curious
The Know-It-Alls
The People Like You
The People Like Me
People
All of us
Just People

“I can see how it might be possible for a man
to look down upon the earth and be
an atheist, but I cannot conceive
how a man could look up into
the heavens and say there is
no God.”
Abraham Lincoln

Look up sometime today.
Look above the noise and confusion
of life, beyond suffering that
refuses human reason,
above anger and malice
that defy common sense.

For this one day, raise your
eyes, your mind, your awareness
above headlines and
talking heads outshouting
each other.

Do not look down today
lest you miss Hope
skywriting images
and signs of
the possible.

Look up.
Raise your hands to heaven.
Shout.

We met today in the dark hallways
of my soul, deep within the cavernous
void that used to be filled with ill-defined
certainty and inherited absolutes.

Why are you not out there, I wondered,
above the rough and tumble of life?
Celestial, where the faithful can call upon
you to solve and fix?  Where pain and
pestilence challenge eternal motives
in cosmic contests.
“I Am”

How, then, can you abide within the joys
and sorrows of a single human life?  Breath
and molecule and sinew, the grand essence
of who we are?  Are you not the still, small
voice rising from the chambers of the soul?
“I Am”

The sound of water over green stones
in the creek, chatter from the cactus
wren, so much reminds me of what I
think I know about you, and when I
ask the wind and the stars for the
sacred key to unlock the fullness of
our encounter, they laugh.
“You are the key.”

Deep with you is the essence of who
you are.  Neither seek nor summon God.
Listen to the song that sings you into
existence in the delicate light of
morning and to the melody that slowly
fades as heavy eyes surrender to sleep.
Stay in the void.  Do not be afraid of
the almost-familiar mystery moving
with graceful ease within the shadows
and contours of your hope.  Light will come.
Be still and listen for Love’s first words.
“I Am.”

“Our American heritage is threatened as much
by our own indifference as it is by the most
unscrupulous office or the most
powerful foreign threat.  The
future of this republic is
in the hands of the
American voter.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

They gathered in the Philadelphia
State House, July 4, 1776
and they said this:

All people are created equal.
All people.

All people have basic human rights
given to them because they are
human, given to them by
The Source and Author
of Life, not by any
human institution.

Government exists to protect those rights:
Life, Liberty, the Pursuit of Happiness,
to protect them, not to control them.

Government exists by the consent of
all the people, not by the dictates,
desires, or distorted dreams of
any one person or
institution.

They gathered in the Philadelphia
State House, July 4, 1776,
and they said this to the
colonies becoming
a nation:

We sign our names to this document
to give birth to a majestic idea,
Democracy, and we give it
to you to cherish,
defend and
honor.
We the people.

“It is not the hand that signs the laws that
holds the destiny of America.
It is the hand that casts
the ballot.”
Harry S. Truman