Love, or Not, your choice

" For evil give good,

hold no revenge ....

in the heart…

Your body will be

free of sickness,

Your life be blessed. "

                     - Baba Sheikh Farid

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We are making ourselves sick

With all this anger

With all this greed

With all this fear and hate

With all this resentment

And regret

It seems we can only hold so much garbage

All of these evils we carry

Seem to leak into our souls

Making us ill

we see it in people all around us

how they are dragged down

minimized by their pasts

and their fear of the future

how they are eroded by the need to dominate

and control

and use

and abuse

we see it

for they carry their sickness in their eyes

their words

their actions

we see it as they carry it in their bodies

as they walk bent

stiffly

painfully

burdened by the weight of it all

and we feel it, in ourselves

we too are part of all of this

we get caught up in it all

the anger

the pain

the hopelessness

the fear

we pick it up

we assimilate it

and regurgitate it (vomit anyone?)

we become participants

willing and unwilling

we pass it

replicate it

perpetuate it

but we don’t have to

we have a choice

to participate in evil

to respond to hate and anger in kind

or

to overcome evil with good

to tap into that deep will of love

that is God

to connect as vine to the branch

to the one who in whom we live and breathe and have our being

we have a choice

Martin Luther King Jr. said it well

“Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate. . . . Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

The only way we truly win is through love

The only way we can love is if we are loved

If we accept the love of the Sacred, freely given, but not so freely received

So be loved

Let that love clean you

Let it see you free

Let it take out the garbage

And then

Love

Or not

Your choice

stay connected

All we can do

"Presence is the naked language of union, of being lost and found in the face of the other, or in Jesus,

the very breath of the Other... All you can do is stay connected.  We don't know how to be perfect, but we can stay in union"    . Richard Rohr

"If you remain in me and I remain in in you, you can ask for whatever you want and you're going to get it."   (John 15:7).  Jesus

It is all so simple

in its magnificent complexity

It is all so easy

as the hardest thing 

we ever try do

ah yes

it is confusing God

we want to be good people

better people 

your people

and we try so hard

we learn the rules

we seek to fool others, ourselves, even you

we deny ourselves

we immerse ourselves in goodness

we try

and work

and fail

it doesn't seem to work

we struggle

we feel alone

so very alone

we do what we would not do

and do not do what we would do

worse

we are not who, we are not what we would be

you must look at us lord

and chuckle a little

knowing that we have it so wrong

but finding it amusing that we try so hard

perhaps it is only after we have exhausted ourselves

that you gently say

"stop it all

stop it all you Martha's

and Stephen's

and (insert your name here)

Stop it

and come and just sit with me for a while

and let us find each other

let us be

just be

together

and then, maybe then

you will find that 

for which you have looked

and worked

so hard

Values are important

Your fidelity to love, that is all you need.

No day will then match your strength.

What was once a fear or problem will see

Your coming, and step aside… or run.

                                         Hafiz (Landinsky, A Year with Hafiz, p. 184)

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What do we value?

What fires up our jets?!

What gets us up in the morning

And keeps us moving through the day?

Who is important to us?

What is important to us?

We have so many choices

We can value power, and its use

A the thrill of winning

That surge when we know we are in control

We dominate

We can make it happen

For ourselves

We can value money

And all that it can buy

We can value titles

And positions

But what we value shapes

How we live

And there are risks

Huge risks

If we lust for domination and power

We risk being abusive, perhaps cruel

If we adore wealth

We risk losing sight of people

If we crave position or possessions

We risk relationships, or health, perhaps even peace

But worse, we get wrapped up in fear

And we see others a threats

Or worse enemies

We hug resources to ourselves

And while pretending to be strong

We become weak

For there is nothing weaker

Than a fearful, abusive, hoarder

It is only when everything is driven by love

That we find true strength

The strength of Jesus

The strength of forgiveness

And compassion

And generosity

And service

And sacrifice

The strength that allows us to let go of all

to gain all

to let go of ourselves to find ourselves

love casts out fear

it transforms all it touches

What do we value?

What drives us?

What gets us up in the morning,

And propels us through our day?

What gives us the strength to endure?

love

Love

(the One Who Is Love).