Shining Spirit

Dear Yellow Flowers,

I’m writing this note to thank you for the beauty you bring to this world.  I don’t know if it is your intention to do this, but I want you to know how grateful we are for the gift you give us.  It is so encouraging to know that, with the bursts of human kindness during this fearful time, you line the roadways and paint the meadows so that we might dare to smile and breathe in the fragrance of courage.

Sitting with you feels so much better than sitting with videos and computers and the endless sounds of opinions and theories and accusations.  You are a gift from the Source of Life, an embrace and a reminder that loveliness lives all around us.  When I saw you today, I remembered.  And when I sat with you in the warm sun, I became, just for a moment, a part of the great announcement.

Thank you, dear Yellow Flowers.  You make the journey hopeful.  You cause the world to smile.

With deep appreciation,

RP

I know!  I know!  Some people don’t like bugs at all.  So the best advice I can
offer is hold you left hand over the screen to block the image, then read this text.

The photo is a highly magnified image of some strange bug that will not
go away.  I don’t know his or her name, gender, classification, or
reason for camping out in my house.  I do know, though, that he is
very persistent.  I have invited him to leave the house several
times, but he shows up a few hours later and we have the
conversation again.  Now he lives in the garage where he has
plenty of room to roam.

I know what you’re thinking.  Why doesn’t he just step on it
and end the problem and the bug’s life at the same time? And
my answer will sound strange, perhaps, but I don’t like to take
away the life of any sentient being that lives on the
earth with me.  And I know there are occasions when that
might be necessary, but not for my convenience or pleasure.

So the point is this…think about how we share life on the planet
with so many other living creatures, and consider that they
have some sort of life as an individual or in community.
Maybe if we thought and acted more kindly toward the creatures
with whom we share the earth, we might decide to act more
kindly toward each other.
And wouldn’t that be an improvement.

God of all living things, creatures and plants alike,
help us to be kind toward each other, to value life,
as an act of thankful recognition for your love
in all your creation.
May it be so.  Amen.

Some kind folks have asked “Are you ever going to put some of your
poems into a book?”  So, I took them at their word…or question.
Desert Mornings is a collection of poems and nature photography
and is available to anyone who wants to part with $13.59.

I told my wife the other day that I am not a photographer, I am a
metographer…a combination of metaphor and picture taking.
As I was sorting through photos for this little book, I
recognized that I take photos of metaphors.  Strange mind,
I know.
So, if you would like to investigate the 63-page book, use your
computer and go to http://www.blurb.com.  Blurb is the printing side
of Word Press.  Next, enter the name of the book in the search
area.  And…if all works like it should…it should pop up in a list
of several books.  You’re on your own from there.

Forgive the blatant advertising, but that’s what you get for reading
the blog.   (I am grateful!)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid?

Your word is a lamp to my feet
and a light to my path.

Thanks be to God!

Don’t give up

Don’t give in

Be brave through the shadows

I see  light ahead

Take my hand

Let’s walk together

Easter Happens Everyday

Every morning at first light
When roses break the bud and open their petals
At the songbird’s announcement of joy

Easter Happens Everyday

When you call just to say “Hello”
When I am sick and you comfort me
When I am afraid and you hold my hand

Easter Happens Everyday

When justice is extended to everybody
When we know the answer to “Who is my neighbor?”
When we value compassion more than commodity

Easter Happens Everyday

When the tomb of my fear is empty
When the joy of freedom fills us everyone
When I feel the hand on my shoulder and turn to say
You are risen!  You are risen, indeed!

Easter Happens To Be Today!
Rejoice! Celebrate! Sing!

It’s the simple things that mean so much,
a smile, a wink, a loving touch,
a phone call just to say “hello”
a note, a card, “I miss you so”

In times like these when the news is bad
when all the world is truly sad
when fear and anger rule the day
what is the best thing one can say?

Out of the turmoil, life will rise.
There will be brighter, clearer skies.
I won’t surrender to my fears.
In faith, I hope through all my tears.

The source of my strength is not my own
for, time after time, I’ve been clearly shown
that compassion and courage, reason and hope
are not simply values to help someone cope
but gifts we develop all through life
in the darkest times and the deepest strife.
Stay strong, be wise, do not despair.
There’s reason, yet, to firmly declare:

This stone will roll away, too.

What  comes to mind when you read the sign?

The billboard on Central Expressway in Dallas
in 1951.  Big letters.
Ringling Bros
Barnum & Bailey

Previews in the movie theater
Coming Soon –
Rocky #36
Can’t wait!

The birthday party!
8 or 80?
Big difference, but
still fun!

“Sorry, Mrs. Jones, false pains,
but it won’t be long”
Soon.

Well, the list could go on endlessly, I suppose.
What would you add?
Think about it.

It’s dark outside right now, but I know what’s Coming Soon.
Beautiful light will roll over the mountain and
down into the city.  Everything will glisten.
Morning light is a miracle,
like birth and death and
stones rolled away.

Can you think of anything else for our list?
I hope so.

It seems like only yesterday
I got this bowl and towel.
The bowl is cracked, the towel worn thin.
I would have wagered there and then
I’d never use these things.

We sat at table with our Lord
and talked of happy times.
The meal was done, the hour late,
we all began to speculate
about what he would say.

But when he stood and turned to move
toward one end of the room,
with no word said, he turned his back,
picked up a bowl and from a rack
removed a common towel.

The room was now completely still.
He walked to Peter’s chair,
there knelt and from a pitcher near
poured water  cool and crystal clear,
then reached for Peter’s foot.

“My Lord, what are you doing? Please!
It’s I who should be there.
I cannot let you wash my feet!
It is not right for you to treat
your servant in this way.”

“If you refuse to take my gift
you’ll not be one with me.”
“Oh, Master, please! I cannot live
without the love and hope you give.
Wash feet and head and hands.”

From Peter, Jesus moved  to all
and washed our dirty feet,
then called each one of us by name,
and one by one to him we came
to get a bowl and towel.

My earthen bowl is smooth with age,
my towel is frayed and torn.
But these I cherish more than gold
for they remind me how he told
that we must do the same.

The years have gone, and so has he.
No longer can we share
an evening meal, a pleasant song,
a desert breeze, his handshake strong.
Just these of him remain.

It’s nice to gasp once in awhile, to just stand awe-struck at sudden and unexpected beauty.
Do you think he knows that he’s above average?  What does he think when he lands on a tree limb next to a common sparrow?
I’d like to believe that he is not a feathered show-off,
but that he’s comfortable in his own skin, so to speak.  We have
enough show-offs in the world these days.  Sometimes they
wear Wall St. attire, sometimes political faces (usually two),
or helmets and shoulder pads, even clerical finery.

But there are folks around who have grown their humility
taller than their pride.  Even with the finest looks or the biggest
bank accounts, they’d rather watch a parade than be in one.
It seems to me that on any given day, humility is in short supply
and yet it is one of the principal ingredients of the Christian faith.

Lots of wild flowers along the roadways now, but I’ve not seen one
of them hold up a sign and say “Look at ME!”  They are content to be beautiful without making a big deal of it.  Lillies of the field…birds of the air…what did Jesus say about those lillies?
“…even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.”
Now, that’s a high compliment. 

So for all of us who are beautiful…on the inside if not on the outside…don’t flaunt it.  You might bump into my friend above
and that’s pretty stiff competition. Opt for humility.