Welcome

Primitive religion is not believed, it is danced!

Arthur Darby Nock

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
And only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries.

Elizabeth Browning



Wednesday, January 31, 2018

True Power

When one party (read person) has all the power, which is, for many, the very definition of God – the only natural response is fear, denial (practical atheism), hiding, or seeking to manipulate the situation.  The flow of giving and receiving is not possible with such an imbalance of power.  Love requires some capacity for equality and mutually.  The only way for this pattern to change is for God, from God’s side, to shift the power equation and come to us in a vulnerable position.  Jesus is this living icon of this power-shift:
                                           Richard Rohr, Daily Meditation, 1/22/18
_______________________

I want to change the world
I really do
If you haven’t noticed, it’s a bit of a mess

I want to change the world
I want the power to make that happen!!!!

Sigh!

Already I have lost my way
For power is the problem
I fear we humans, even those of us who insist
That we want a way of love,

Think power is the way to get what we want
But power rarely leads to love
It leads to control, and abuse

There is the power OF love
And the power TO love
But love is expressed not through power
But through vulnerability

Love happens when we come along side
When there is equity
And equality

Yes, I am being simplistic
I often am

But it occurs to me that when I kneel
And talk to a child at their eye level
I am a different person than when I loom over them

It occurs to me that when I take the time to listen and affirm another
Before I go off on my ideological rants
That the tone of the conversation has a chance to be transformed
For aggressive an combative
To compassion and productive

I fail so often to love effectively
Because I seek to scramble to a position of power
Rather than emptying myself of all that ego
And putting myself
Where I can connect with them,
but also where they can equally connect with me

To that place of self-exposure
Honesty and authenticity
And real
Love

Where good things can begin to happen
For both people
Both side

For all



Tuesday, January 30, 2018

somethings have to be believed

“Some things have to be believed to be seen.”
― Madeleine L'Engle

________________________________________

I have to admit
If I am very honest with myself

That sometimes I am a little short on hope

I wandered through some evaluations tonight on line
of classes taught
most were good
but one person said I was horrible
boring, ineffective the worst

I feel that way sometimes
It is my greatest fear

And the older I get the worse it gets
You would think it would be different
That after all these years I would feel secure in confident
In years of success

But no

And then there is the news
There is always the news
Government shut downs
Lies and more lies from those who would lead us
Wild weather
Cruel people

And then there is just life
Aging body
And mind that no longer really works the way it did
Tiredness
Pain

I see no reason for hope
I can see no way
We will pull into being the Kingdom of God
No way to heal the earth
No way to pull together a radically divided people
No way
No way
No way

But I believe
And so I see the goodness in the hearts of people
I see the beauty and resilience of the earth
I see that I might still be of some good to someone
I see that perhaps I will learn to be a good dad
And a doting grandfather

I see God’s love
I see the Kingdom coming


Some things have to be believed to be seen

Monday, January 29, 2018

Who do you trust?

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
                                                          Abraham Lincoln
________________________________________

Perhaps we are who we listen to
We are whom we trust
We are whose words we echo
Whose values we live
Whose attitudes we mirror
Whose heart we reflect

We have a choice,
We really do,
About whom we choose to trust

It is a profound choice that changes
Fundamentally
Who we are

When Jesus was baptized God said
“This is my beloved child, listen to him”

And Jesus words echo through the ages
Blessed are
Blessed are you
Blessed are you when

You are poor in spirit,
When you mourn
are meek,
hunger and thirst for righteousness,
show mercy
are pure in heart,
are peacemakers

it is all too clear
in this time when greed, and hate, and a lust for power rule
that this is difficult to do,
and if one seeks to live this way one might even be “persecuted for righteousness' sake”

for sure one will be ridiculed, call a libertard, or a snowflake

but still we are called to carry on
to seek to bind up the wounds
to care for ALL
to create Justice
and seek peace

But our capacity for living this way
The depth of our mercy
Will be profoundly determined
By who we listen to
And whom we trust

Do we listen to, and trust people who would stir our fear,
Or people who would stir our love?

Do we listen to and trust people who live in the light of truth,
Or people who peddle lies and fear?

Whom do we listen to?
Whom do we trust?

For we are who we listen to
We are whom we trust
We are whose words we echo
Whose values we live
Whose attitudes we mirror
Whose heart we reflect



Sunday, January 28, 2018

What if

“When the culture of any organization mandates that it is more important to protect the reputation of a system and those in power than it is to protect the basic human dignity of the individuals who serve that system or who are served by that system, you can be certain that the shame is systemic, the money is driving ethics, and the accountability is all but dead.”
                             BrenĂ© Brown, Braving the Wilderness
_________________________________________________

Sitting in the dark I wonder
How did we get it so wrong?

How did our government get to the place
where heartless men (and a few women) make decisions
that so clearly neglect not just the vulnerable
but the entire community of people that is our country,
that larger reality we call “human kind” (wherever they might live)
and, in fact, the planet itself?

How did our churches get to the place
where money and power and tribal loyalty are more important
than love and grace

how did we get to the place where
our government, our religions, our economics
practice functional violence and participate in casual cruelty
against the vulnerable,
the least of these

and how did we all become complicit?

How did we manage to transform love of God into shaming? 
Grace into judgement? 
How did we move from compassion to neglect?

We often hear, these days
The phrase

We are better than this!
Are we?

Sometimes I wonder
Sometimes I am sure the answer is “no”

And yet, I believe Jesus when he insists that we can be
When he announces that the “kingdom of God is near”
When he proclaims that it is “within”
When Jesus says we can be people who love,
and thus comfort, and include, and protect.

Jesus promises us this alternate reality.

And in the end, we are told, it will be THE reality

But what do we do now?
We cannot merely sit in the dark and lament
We cannot continued to stumble around aimlessly in the wilderness

We can resist
Oh, I know, it feels as if there is nothing we can do

But think about it
What is one thing you could do today,
that would be an act of love?
What is one thing you could do today, that reflects generosity?
Who is that one person toward whom, today, you could live compassion?

Is it really impossible to be kind?
To speak gently,
To reach out a hand,
To provide practical help to those around us?

Oh, I know
Cruelty and arrogance sit in high places
The entire universe seems to bend toward greed and hate
We would rather buy more instruments of death
Than provide healthcare

But what if…?
What if enough people,
What if every person who believed
In Sacred,

Lived love
Even in small ways
Each day?

What if



Saturday, January 27, 2018

anxiety

Be like the bird that, passing on her flight awhile on boughs too slight,
feels them give way beneath her, and yet sings, knowing that she hath wings.
                                           - Victor Hugo –
_________________________________

there is that morning
when we wake

already startled and vigilant
our heart pounding
our mind racing

we think of that task undone
of that mistake
remembered in the dark

we think of a behavior regretted
of debt
dangers lurking in our path

and in panic
our whole system is afire

as we scramble to our computer
rush to our office
seeking to confirm to worst,
or perhaps,
start damage control.

Sometimes we just need to stop
so much more can be accomplished if,
in our moment of anxiety or panic,
we slow down,
breathe deep,
step away from our brain
and connect with that which is greater than ourselves

with the ground beneath our feet
with the rhythm of our breath,
the beat of our heart,
with the Sacred Presence that lives
deep down, at the center of who we are


and realize that we have it within us

Wonder

“I don’t trust a theologian who dismisses the beauty of science or a scientist who doesn’t believe in the power of mystery.”
                              BrenĂ© Brown, Rising Strong
______________________________________________

The Bible says this world was a divine creation
not a matter of accident

that creative genius spoke
and the world came to be

Mystery

Science suggests that the world
Was the culmination of many things
That can explained
Coming together
In just the right way

That all the currently observed matter and energy in the universe
were initially condensed in a very small and infinitely hot mass.

The BANG
And matter and energy expanding in all directions.
And in that expanding
earth, and eventually us

honestly?
I believe them both
I don’t care how that mystery that is the Sacred did it
I just believe that behind it all is something, some power
I call it “God” for lack of a better way of saying it
We could call it love

I know when I look at the mountain soaring
See the clouds drifting in a startling blue sky
Watch the snow fall
See the deer sneak
And the birds soar

That there are explanations
That sciences can take it all apart
At least to a certain degree, and explain how it works

But that doesn’t destroy for me
The mystery
It doesn’t take the Holy out of the equation

All of intricacies science helps us understand
does not destroy my sense of wonder and awe
and all the medical science in the world
which can take my body apart down to the cells

does not destroy my belief
that I am fearfully and wonderfully made

Go outside this morning
Look at the sun rising
Watch the bird fly
Experience the movement of your own body
Look into the eyes of a child

And the truth will rattle around not only inside your skull
But inside your heart

there is no war between science and theology
they both simply remind us how much
we do not know or understand

and leave us
in
wonder





Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Justice and Outrage

“Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected
  are as outraged as those who are.”
                                            Benjamin Franklin
________________________________________

It is not all about me
It is not all about you
It is not all about America

Some of the most devastating words ever uttered might well be

“me first”
“America first”

Essential selfishness is a lovely short term fix
Where I get what I want
And that is all that matters

But in the sacred design
We are connected, one to the other
We are like a body, with parts so intertwined and connected
That if something is wrong with one part, all parts are affected

The definitive word in the divine thesaurus
Is not “me”, it is “we”

When we seek benefit
We all must benefit
As we struggle to move to a place of safety or affluence
We must all get there

No one can be left behind

So what does it mean when we are willing to shame and abandon the poor?
What does it mean when we are willing to minimize women?
What does it mean when we are willing to silence the voices of people who just happened to be black?
What does it means when we are willing to clutch our power and wealth to ourselves
And leave so many others behind?

It means we have been willing to abandon many important things
Such as justice
Not to mention compassion, and generosity
Kindness an acceptance

Some guy named Jesus once wondered,
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

What happens when we leave goodness and justice behind?
What happens to our hearts, our souls?
They wither

And we become incapable of speaking out!
We become incapable of making the decisions that lead to justice

Instead of helping to usher in the way, the Kingdom of God
We create a hell of our own making

Responding in love to those around us
Responding with love to the challenges that face us
Sometimes demands the outrage of love

A fire in the belly
That simply says “This cannot be!
This harm that is being done to that person
That one there,
Who may be of a different faith
Who may be a different color
Who may be of a different social class than I

This harm cannot be allowed
This injustice
Cannot stand”



Tuesday, January 23, 2018

But, I can pray

“Don't try to win over the haters; you are not a jackass whisperer.”
                             Scott Stratten
______________________________

It is hard to stand there
When people say outrageous tings

It is hard to keep quiet when people repeat things
That simply are not true
About people different from them

It it painful to see hate, and greed
And yes, racism

Unfold

Touching lives, scarring lives
Sometimes destroying lives

As for myself, I want to brilliantly present the case
For love
So powerfully that the anger is calm
The hate extinguished

But I am not a jackass whisper
I cannot change people from the inside out

Only the one who let hate and greed kill him
And yet conquered can do that.

It is not my place to argue or cajole

But I can pray
Persistently
And I can love
The person in front of me

I cannot win over the haters
And enlighten those who will not see

Otherwise I merely become what I resist

I can only live a life of love
And seek to overcome evil with good

And believe, that will be enough


Monday, January 22, 2018

Open Hearts

“Until we can receive with an open heart, we're never really giving with an open heart.
When we attach judgment to receiving help,
we knowingly or unknowingly attach judgment to giving help.”
                             BrenĂ© Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection
_______________________________________

Where does it come from,
This need to shame the poor?
This need to attach conditions to compassion
To acceptance,
Even to food, and housing, and healthcare?

Why would I not want my neighbor to have what he or she needs to survive?
Why would I not want their children to be healthy and happy?

Even my cat and my dog
Can be generous during “chicken time”
Sitting together, taking turns getting scraps
During the sandwich making hour

I think in part it is because they know they have enough
And there will always be enough
Enough chicken
Enough love
Enough pets

They both wallow in affection
The both get it, and therefor
They can both allow the other to receive it as well

So what is behind our unique human tendency
to be so grudging when it comes to giving?
Why do we put so many requirements on help?
Why do we create pre-requisites for compassion?

Is it because at some place deep down in our souls
We are afraid?
Afraid that we don’t have enough?  Won’t have enough?

Or is it because we ourselves have been taught that only the weak and flawed need help?
That people need who help are ‘less’, ‘unworthy’, “lazy moochers’?
Functionally no longer “people” but objects of scorn
And that we somehow deserve what we have, and “they” do not?

And how is it that some of those least capable of giving
are those with the most power, the most wealth, the most privilege?
And are those entrust with the care of a nation, or care of souls?

We are a curious lot
We humans

I suspect that this is an inconvenient truth
If we don’t know how to receive, we don’t know how to give
And the one who has never felt the need to receive
Perhaps, because of privilege and affluence has never felt need,
May simply be damaged, paradoxically by privilege
When it comes to generosity

And the one who has been told they have to earn love
By parents who gave merit based affection
Or by a church that put conditions on God’s love
Simply cannot get their heads and hearts around grace.

No wonder we are such a mess
Since it may true
That we have entrusted the functional delivery of compassion and justice
To those very people least qualified to offer it?

--------

Lord, help us learn of our need to receive
Help us to learn how to receive
Help us to open our hearts to gifts offered

That we might eventually
Also give

With an open heart

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Praise

“Praise, my dear one.
Let us disappear into praising.
Nothing belongs to us.”
              Rainer Maria Rilke
________________________

I can spend my day
seeking affirmation

reaching out desperately
and trying to pull into the core of my being
something
that makes me feel good about myself

striving
boasting
“hey look at me”

And at the end of the day
I will count my “winnings”
and find that they are
not enough

or I can spend my day praising
the mountain
the trees
the person in front me my
my child
my spouse
my friend

I can lose myself in praise of others
And in that praising
Need will disappear
And love will grow

Self will be lessened
But communion will grown
And I will be lost
In
Love



Saturday, January 20, 2018

Vulnerable

“Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.”
                              BrenĂ© Brown, Daring Greatly
_____________________________________

Vulnerability is hard
for it requires us to be permeable

no hard shells allowed

we have to let stuff in!
we have to let other people in!

Ouch!
That is risky, scary
And sometimes we get hurt
Sometimes we get used and abused
It happens!

We  also have to let stuff out
We empty out those dark corners
We reveal our flaws our weaknesses
When we are vulnerable we are seen for who we really are

Hallelujah for vulnerablity

For we let stuff in
Sure there’s the difficult stuff,
But there is also stuff like love, and hope, compassion
When people respond to the stuff we let out,
we are touched at the level of the heart
The soul

Vulnerable people are never stale!

And we let stuff out
Touched by the Sacred
Stirred by the Sacred
Touched by other people too

We respond with gifts we never knew we had
Love , compassion, generosity, understanding
And vulnerability is path down which they pass
To the people around us

Someone said to me recently
“you are hard to get to know”

Indeed

Because I was taught that vulnerability was bad
I was taught, by the American culture, that vulnerability was weakness

I believed it

I was wrong

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

free love

“I define connection as the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they can give and receive without judgment; and when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship.”
                                                                                      BrenĂ© Brown
______________________________

Finn loves connection
He lives for connection
For a pet, a pat
For that eye to eye contact that only dogs can offer
For a nuzzle
A paw placed in a lap

All he knows in those moments is love
All he gives is love

And his day is made and his heart is calm
After a “ball” walk with dad
Or a romp in the snow

He will rarely leave the porch alone
The world is only truly fun when it is share

Ah that we humans might learn a lesson or two hear

About touch
About eye to eye contact
And unreserved value and respect

Ah that we might figure out in the giving and receiving of love
A life is to be found

Who in your life opens you up to the Sacred
Who reminds you that the sun rises and sets
Who helps you see the world with eyes of wonder?

It might be a lover
A parent
A child
Or even friend

It might be your dog
(or horse, or cat, or….)

Take a moment
Look them in the eye

And say “thanks”

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

Sacred DNA

“We are what we love. If we love God, in whose image we were created, we discover ourselves in him and we cannot help being happy: we have already achieved something of the fullness of being for which we were destined in our creation. If we love everything else but God, we contradict the image born in our very essence, and we cannot help being unhappy, because we are living a caricature of what we are meant to be.”
                             Thomas Merton, A Book of Hours
________________________________________

Leaping through the snow and mud
Finn (the dog) does not wonder who he is
Or why he exists

He is fully in himself
Fully in the moment
And total ecstatic

Happy dog!

We on the other hand
Are not so sure

Happy human?

Not so much
We are always searching
For meaning, for purpose
But mostly we are searching for ourselves

But it seems the more we search for ourselves
The more confused we get

Perhaps the problem is that we look outside ourselves
For our definition, our value
We look to power, or perhaps wealth
Titles, and possessions

But what we look for is not out there, somewhere
It is within
It is to be found in our Sacred DNA
In the fact that we are Sacred Children

If we want to find ourselves
All we have to do is look at God
Love God
With the singleness of purpose
That happy dog has

Ball, ball
Stick stick

Only in our case?
God, God

Loving God we love ourselves
Loving God we love our neighbor
Loving God we can be content


Happy Human

Monday, January 15, 2018

Bending History

“Few will have the greatness to bend history itself, but each of us can work to change a small portion of events. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
                                            Robert F. Kennedy
____________________________________

Some mornings
When Finn the dog has nudged me to awareness
I suddenly wonder why I should bother to get up

The world seems like such a hopeless place
Evil rules
The wicked prosper
Injustice grows
Inequity is the mark of our society

In short, things are shit!

And I am just an aging
Wanna be retired wanna be
With no power, no voice

A reed blown in the wind
Buffeted, tossed to and fro

And I want to respond by shutting down
Or if not by shutting down
With anger

I want to attack and diminish those who I believe attack and diminish the poor
The vulnerable
The different

And so I rant and ridicule
And in doing so, allow them to win

Whatever happened to random acts of kindness?
To generosity?

What if I resisted
Not a person, or a party
But resisted evil

With a kind word
With a helping hand
With patience
Truthfulness
Fairness
Compassion

It is not that any of us can stop combatting evil
We must fight against injustice
Oppression
Prejudice
Hate

But HOW we do it is important
Only by refusing to be pulled into the vortex of evil
Do we have a chance

Only if we stand up for what is right
And do so the right way….
Can we send forth ripples of hope
Across the still, dark waters of hopelessness



Sunday, January 14, 2018

overcome evil with good

'And so may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak,
To mind your life.'
              (John O'Donohue)
______________________

There is a storm around us
A veritable bomb cyclone
Of deceit, lies
Hate and fear

People charged with protecting our country are looting it
People charge with protecting people are harming them

And so we stand
Vulnerable, afraid

Angry
Helpless

Ah may that Sacred Presence which is in each of us
Awaken within us in
May it be a soft wind of love
That wraps itself around our hearts and minds

And allow us to remain
People of compassion and love
Forgiveness and generosity

The storm will likely past
Destroyed human beings will not be able to rebuild

We cannot lose ourselves
We cannot be blown away by the hot harsh air
Of narcissism and greed
Deceit and brutality

We must stand
Stand
Stand

And resist
And in the end overcome this evil with good
And then in love not retribution

Begin again

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Carry God

No one can keep us from carrying God
Wherever we go.

No one can rob His Name
From our heart as we try to relinquish our fears
And at last stand — Victorious.

We do not have to leave him in the mosque
Or church alone at night;
We do not have to be jealous of tales of saints
Or glorious masts, those intoxicated souls
Who can make outrageous love with the Friend.

We do not have to be envious of our spirits’ ability
Which can sometimes touch God in a dream.

Our yearning eyes, our warm-needing bodies,
Can all be drenched in contentment
And Light.

No one anywhere can keep us
From carrying the Beloved wherever we go.

No one can rob His precious Name
From the rhythm of my heart,
Steps and breath.
                                           Hafiz
_____________________________________

As Happy Dog is a carrier
of all things joyful

so too we are drenched with Sacred
dripping wet
with the very stuff of creation

we are carriers of all things beautiful
and loving
all creative
contentment and hope

it is part of our being
and bubbles up from within us flowing other

how dare we stand
with Sacred puddling at our feet
and deny the Presence?

And look with longing at the person next to us
Who awake to that presence
Is intoxicated with love
And lives his dream, her dream

All light

No one can keep us from carrying God

Wherever we go

Thursday, January 11, 2018

The importance of values

The value of a human being can be measured by what he or she most deeply wants
Be free of possessing things
Sit at an empty table
Be pleased with water, the taste of being at home
                                           Rumi
__________________________________________

What do we live for?
What do we live towards?

For Finn, the dog
Life is easy
Food, walk, ball, stick

He lives to run, to chew sticks, to eat
And to love and be loved

Not bad if you think about it?!

What do I live towards?
What do I most deeply want?
Money
Power
Love
Acclaim
Respect

It makes a difference
What it really value determines everything

How I spend my time
How I see people
How I treat people
What produce comes from the tree of this life

Our values set our path
They are our compass point

Heading into this New Year, my question for myself is simple
What do I value?  What drives my best actions

My second question is also simple
What am I going to do today to live toward my values?
What am I going to do that will take me further along
My values path?

I’ll work on that

Right after I take happy dog for his walk

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Beginners

“Be willing to be a beginner every single morning.”
               Meister Eckhart
__________________________________________

Really!?
Do I have to start over each day?
Isn’t once a year enough?
And I did that yesterday!  Really!

Alas,
We must always be dying and being born
We must always be letting go, and starting fresh

It is amazing how much stuff sticks to us
Like hay and branches and dog hair
On my beloved fleece coats and pants

We drag stuff along with with
Unnoticed
And unwanted

We need constantly
To de-fuse
With things unseemly
Unhelpful

Thoughts
Beliefs
Habits
Actions

Impermanence is not a bad thing
It is a gift
Our shifting world
Our psyche which reinvents itself moment by moment

Give us opportunities
To be reborn
To grab hold of what is new
And start again

2017 is gone
Yes there is residue
And gooey gross stuff we must still deal with
But it is gone
As is January 1, 2018

Today is today
And this day I will notice my thoughts
And accept the way I feel
And choose to do what I care about

Happy Dog is a lucky boy, he will get a walk
Bill the cat will watch as I go through a book on therapy
My cooking cupboard has already been cleaned

The next moment calls
And I will choose to do one thing that moves me toward what I value
Love, caring, compassion, generosity

And then that done, I will choose the next right thing

And so Sacred and I will stumble forward
Toward what is next

(and there is always a next)

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Value

The value of a human being can be measured by what he or she most deeply wants
Be free of possessing things
Sit at an empty table
Be pleased with water, the taste of being at home
                                           Rumi
__________________________________________

What do we live for?
What do we live towards?

For Finn, the dog
Life is easy
Food, walk, ball, stick

He lives to run, to chew sticks, to eat
And to love and be loved

Not bad if you think about it?!

What do I live towards?
What do I most deeply want?
Money
Power
Love
Acclaim
Respect

It makes a difference
What it really value determines everything

How I spend my time
How I see people
How I treat people
What produce comes from the tree of this life

Our values set our path
They are our compass point

Heading into this New Year, my question for myself is simple
What do I value?  What drives my best actions

My second question is also simple
What am I going to do today to live toward my values?
What am I going to do that will take me further along
My values path?

I’ll work on that

Right after I take happy dog for his walk

Saturday, January 6, 2018

Rushing and waiting

“It might seem to you that living in the woods on a riverbank would remove you from the modern world. But not if the river is navigable, as ours is. On pretty weekends in the summer, this riverbank is the very verge of the modern world. It is a seat in the front row, you might say. On those weekends, the river is disquieted from morning to night by people resting from their work.

This resting involves traveling at great speed, first on the road and then on the river. The people are in an emergency to relax. They long for the peace and quiet of the great outdoors. Their eyes are hungry for the scenes of nature. They go very fast in their boats. They stir the river like a spoon in a cup of coffee. They play their radios loud enough to hear above the noise of their motors. They look neither left nor right. They don't slow down for - or maybe even see - an old man in a rowboat raising his lines...

I watch and I wonder and I think. I think of the old slavery, and of the way The Economy has now improved upon it. The new slavery has improved upon the old by giving the new slaves the illusion that they are free. The Economy does not take people's freedom by force, which would be against its principles, for it is very humane. It buys their freedom, pays for it, and then persuades its money back again with shoddy goods and the promise of freedom.”
                                                                                      Wendell Berry, Jayber Crow
________________________

happy dog roars through the house
prancing, rushing, whining
so much urgency
to be on his way

slipping along the road
roaring through the snow
nose down
in an orgy of smells and textures

rushing from one stick to another
ecstasy
one twisted piece of juniper barely tasted
before he is on to the next morsel

“I watch and I wonder and I think”
as I sit here on the 2nd day of Christmas
about the way we roar through life

we plunge into fall, scattering summer before us
as a the trees scatter their leaves
and barely breathing we roll through fall
from Halloween, to Thanksgiving
and into Advent

as season of waiting and reflection
which is sadly lost in the urgency
until some of us finally stagger exhausted into
Christmas Eve Services, where we take as desperate gasp of spirituality
And then return to the chaos of Christmas Day…

But now here we are
The day after the day
And the days of Christmas stretch before us
Pleading with us
Stop
Breathe
Think

Take a moment to find yourself again
And place your feet firmly on the earth
Mountain pose

Stop Breathe Think
Of things mundane and things deep
Stretch wide your hands, your arms your heart
And let the faint rays of winter light
Creep into the crevices
And dark spots

Stop, Breathe Think
Then journey on gently
Like the Magi
An epiphany awaits