talk of love

Admit something.

Everyone you see, you say to them "Love me."

Of course you do not do this out loud:

Otherwise,

Someone would call the cops.

Still, though, think about this,

This great pull in us to connect.

Why not become the one

Who lives with a full moon in each eye

That is always saying,

With that sweet moon

Language

What every other eye in this world

Is dying to

Hear?

                                           Hafez

________________________________

We all have a need be loved

To feel loved

To experience touch

To know that someone cares that we are there

And cares that we are gone

We seek to “hear” of love in so many way

And so we smile and talk

We accomplish

And strive

And yet perhaps the way to

Stumble upon that which we seek

Is not to say (silently of course)

In the depth of our soul, “Love me”

But

To each person we meet….

“I love you”

No escape

Resist your temptation to lie

By speaking of separation from God,

Otherwise,

We might have to medicate

You.

In the ocean

A lot goes on beneath your eyes.

Listen,

They have clinics there too

For the insane

Who persist in saying things like:

"I am independent from the

Sea,

God is not always around

Gently

Pressing against

My body."

From: 'The Gift'

Translated by Daniel Ladinsky

________________________________

There are times we think

That we are all alone

We stumbling through a day, a week

A month, a year

A life

Thinking that we are connected to no one

We do not have a love

Perhaps not even friends

And we walk alone

But we are never alone

All around us

In the sky the earth

In the sun the moon

In the breeze

Is Sacred

All through us

In our mind, with its incessant crazy chatter

In our heart, sometimes aching and wounded

In our soul, in that deep place

Where we are

Who we really are

Is Sacred

God is touching

No

God is embracing us

Every moment

We cannot

escape

If love is shattered

I cannot think that the Beloved Friend,

Who made the world so fair, should choose

to rent ....

this lovely curtain of .... the night and day, ...

Nor break ....unless some day

He means .... to mend. "

- Omar Khayyam ( from: Rubaiyyat )

____________________________________

how can we not believe

when we see the sunrise sunset

the colors

bright and muted

orange and green

shadow and brilliance

how can we not believe

as we listen to the birds sing

and the music of the water

that the Sacred is anything but Love

or that the sacred rends

if the fabric of creation

is torn

if love is shattered

that is on us

with our fear and greed

our ego needs for power

and how can we not believe

that as we do our worst

the Sacred seeks what is best

and works within each heart

and soul

to repair and heal

that we might then

as well

repair and heal

that which we have broken and wounded

thoughts about contempt

" Do not view ... anyone with contempt,

for the friends of God .... are often hidden. "

               Makhdoon Ashraf Jahangir Semnani

_____________________________________

I often say

That as Sacred Children,

We must emulate our Sacred heritage

We must love

As the Beloved loves

Unconditionally, completely, forever

I truly believe

That we are all Sacred Children

And that the Sacred seed is hidden in each of us

Sometimes well hidden, but still there

And so I believe

It is not best to view another with hatred, contempt, disrespect

But I cannot live it out

I truly cannot

I cannot help but view with disrespect a President who uses division as tool of manipulation

I cannot help but have contempt for those who would cut services to the needy

To hand a tax cut to the rich

I cannot find much room in my heart and soul and mind

For compassion and forgiveness for a man who sits in a room

36 stories up, and kills 58 people

I know I should try to understand

To feel his pain

The abyss into which he had fallen

But I can’t

So I will pray for him, his family

I will pray for those who were killed, and those who loved them

I will pray for Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell

And pray for Trump

And pray for America, that it will wake up to its culture of violence

And its need for gun control

And I will pray that

We can all seek understanding and respect

And I will pray most earnestly

For myself

a little rain

It rained last night

A rare gift in a very dry summer

Everything is fresh

And new

The air is clean, the leaves gleam

The dust is settled

The grass is showing signs of life

In moments like this

Awash with freshness

That powerful images of renewal

Make total sense

So often Sacred Presence is symbolized by

Springs of living water

Streams in the desert

Foot washing

Rain

The Sacred drenching us with presence and love

Cooling, enlivening

Cleaning, refreshing

Greening

Think of it how you will

This morning I walked

I started knee deep in dust and destruction

A small human being with a lot of power

Had just trashed a lot of valuable human beings with no power

(Think Puerto Rico)

Proving how destructive spiritual, emotional, and relational smallness can be

I was burning

(OK I still am, but its better)

But as I walked I was reminded

That after the drought, the rains usually come

After the heat, the coolness

Brown turns to green

And even that destroyed by fire or wind,

Or even human careless, can become restored.

I believe in the Sacred

I believe in the power of love

But I now know, more than ever before

That unless people of faith, people with big souls

Let the Sacred move within them, and then from them

Unless we start getting involved in countering what is coming

Out of greed, and hate and smallness

Our world will become more of a living hell than it is right now

O Sacred one

Pour out your power in these days

For the small have gained the seats of power

And all those things you hate, greed, selfishness, cruelty, brutality, racism

Are being promoted

We need a little rain

We need a lot of rain

To wash away that which would smother and destroy

Deep Things

There are no words for the deepest things. Words become feeble when mystery visits and prayer moves into silence. In post-modern culture the ceaseless din of chatter has killed our acquaintance with silence. Consequently, we are stressed and anxious. Silence is a fascinating presence. Silence is shy; it is patient and never draws attention to itself. Without the presence of silence, no word could ever be said or heard. Our thoughts constantly call up new words. We become so taken with words that we barely notice the silence, but the silence is always there. The best words are born in the fecund silence that minds the mystery.

                                                                                      John O'Donohue

_____________________________________________________

in that moment

between darkness and dawn

when the sun merely hints at its presence

there is a profundity

one is assailed by the silence

and finds relief in the owls

who suddenly decide

to sing a love song

in that moment you can hear yourself breathe

hear the crunch of your feet on the earth

feel your heart beat

feel your feelings

and experience the roar of your brain

as it fills the silence with people

ideas,

and hear the roar subside,as you

take a deep breath

and feel the coolness of the fall

flow through you

and let everything go

except that one sliver of light

that one clarion call

that one feeling

of love

and let the face of your beloved

arise

Love is bigger

“Hope is not about proving anything. It's about choosing to believe this one thing, that love is bigger than any grim, bleak shit anyone can throw at us.”

                                            Anne Lamott, Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith

_____________________________________________________

Many of us believe some simple truths ( at least we see them as truths)

That there is something bigger than us

From whom we all come

And that something is love

Unconditional, unending, unreserved love

And that as Sacred Children

Who carry a part of this powerful reality,

Whom some call God

Within us

We all have a piece of the Sacred

A sacred seed

That from within that deepest part of ourselves

Moves, breathes, shapes, empowers

And shapes who we are

We can deny this presence

We can shut it down, silence it, entrap it

But it is there

And when we give it room to move

It wins

It is bigger and strong than anything the world can throw at us

Bigger than hate, greed, a lust for power, racism,

Even bigger than Donald Trump’s ego

I believe that as we seriously try to live out this love

This unconditional, unending, unreserved love

We change the space around us

We make it softer

More forgiving

We move from greed to generosity

From exclusion to acceptance

From cursing to blessing

Of course this is not an easy way

A few people have managed it

A few

People

Ghanhi perhaps

Nelson Mandela

Martin Luther King Jr

Dag Hammarskjold

Frankly we find this life of love puzzling

We deem it foolish and weak

But we know its power

Which is why we so often seek to silence and destroy those lives that live

For this imperative to love calls everything we prize in our competitive

Winner take all world

Into question.

And sometimes as we face the lies of Trump

And the ugly theocracy of Moore

And the judgmental shaming mentality of the rich

We question our sanity

This belief that love is indeed

Stronger than all else

And it is usually more hope

Than certainty

That moves us forward

Uncertainly

Down that path trod by

Martin, and Dag, and Mahatma

And yes

Some guy named Jesus

But if we lose this hope

We lose everything

And

All those forces and values that are not love

Win

Love wins, only if we accept it

Grab it

And most of all live it

In spite of

everything

Blessed are the poor

" The poor man

is not disgraced by poverty

For mankind attains ... glory from penury.

Gold and silver are the glory of the rich,

But the poor have inward repose. "

                                           Shaykh Sa'adi Shirazi

_____________________________________

It is interesting how the well off in America

Love to shame the poor

Moochers, Lazy, Stupid, Unmotivated,

There seems to be no end of labels that can be applied

No end to the strategies that can be used

To minimize, diminish, even oppress the vulnerable

Why do we feel the need to do it?

It is simply a matter of creating a “pecking order”,

pushing others down so we can feel bigger and stronger?

It is a way to assuage our guilt, for our own affluence,

Or for our role in creating the dynamics that make others poor?

How else does a CEO who makes multiple millions a year

Justify failing to pay a living wage to the worker he/she relies upon?

We have always had a complex relationship with wealth

I like having money, and the things money can buy

I am certainly not poor, although I have had moments when I was close

But even then I had a safety net, and never believed I would be without a home, without food

But for so many that is not the reality

They work, they struggle

The scrounge for food and clothing

They do everything they can

But the wages are too lower

The opportunities, even though they look for them, are too few

Many of them have been at a disadvantage since they will children

Poor diets, families that did not prize education, no resources to pay for and education

Surrounded by violence, legal issues, and so many other adversities

We cleverly call them Adverse Childhood Events

But they are real, and basic

And if you experience them you are at risk

For cancer, obesity, failure in school, encounters with the law,

The children of poverty grow into poverty

Not because they are lazy

Not because they or their parents are stupid, or have grown up in a culture of dependence

But because they started from a place from which

In America

Yes, in America

There was little chance of recovery

This is the great American failure

The great American sin!

We not only do not have justice

We do not have the kind of equity that allows people to succeed

We had it once

But the rich have taken control

And so that they might stay rich, and get richer

They have made chosen to use and oppress the poor

And neglect the vulnerable

All for a few dollars more

That they don’t need

But here is the joke!

Jesus understood it!

“Blessed are the poor”

Even the poor can have, and often do have,

Rich souls

And the rich?

“It is harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom (a place where they valued and celebrate justice and equity) than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle

Perhaps

We need to rethink things?

awful thoughts

“I thought such awful thoughts that I cannot even say them out loud because they would make Jesus want to drink gin straight out of the cat dish.”

                                                                                       Anne Lamott

______________________________________

There are days

When I just can’t handle the news

Can’t abide the hate

Can’t respect those seekers of wealth, who make money more important that people

There are days when everyone is an idiot and an asshole

Really!

And there are days when, in my bully brain,

The biggest idiot and asshole is me.

Ah, my sweet God of love

How you must shake your head

And wish

That I could seem look for what is good

And real

And positive

In others

And in myself

This is the grand paradox that can drive us to drink

That the one who accepts us and loves us as we are

(although this one does not necessarily like where we are, and may be determined to change us)

Is the same one who asks us to accept and love those around us

Even those we hate.

So Mr Trump

So too, signers of the Nashville Statement

So too, those who would throw the vulnerable under the bus

So too, the old guy looking at me out of the mirror

You are loved

As much as possible by me

A whole lot

By

God

foolish losers

“You can either practice being right or practice being kind.”

                                                           Anne Lamott

______________________________________

It takes a lot of work to be right!

To work out all the formulas

In just the right way

So that you have all the answers

To put yourself in that position of power

Where you can look down at others

Those fools

Those losers

Those sinners

And pronounce them less

Pronounce them sinful

Pronounce the excluded

It takes more work to realize your own faults

Your own blind spots

To realize that you too

Are a foolish loser

A sinner

Who has no more claim on God than anyone one else

(which means no claim at all)

But are merely one on whom God has staked a claim

Of love and acceptance

IT takes more work to be kind to that flawed, miserable beautiful you

Than to pretend righteousness

It takes more work, to accept, and love and care for,

That one who fundamentally

In so many ways,

Is just like you

It takes so much work

To be

kind

One step

“One step is better than no steps.”

― Rebecca Brockway quoting 14-year-old son Carlino

____________________________________________

We say it so many times

One step at a time

Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe

The reality is

For all our plans

And all our fears

For all our hopes

There is only this

The next step, the next choice

So many things try to pull our attention away from

That one step

Our feelings, which we judge

Our thoughts, which are often unhelpful, and even devastating

But if we think about that next step

Just that one!

If we step away from our unhelpful brain

And pay attention

That next step can take us

Closer

To where

To whom

We want to be

This morning was difficult

This day was difficult

My mind hated me

And my body was worse

So I just kept taking steps

One step at a time

Left foot, right foot, left foot, breathe

And I did what I cared about

I walked my dog

And taught a class

And saw people doing amazing things

Learning, growing

Caring for one another

Left foot right foot

And my heart soared

Left foot breathe

Sometimes one step is all you can manage

But one step tends to lead

To another

dust

“But most days,

I wander around feeling invisible.

Like I'm a speck of dust

floating in the air

that can only be seen

when a shaft of light hits it.”

                                            Sonya Sones,

_____________________________________

Sometimes I feel as substantial

As a speck of dust

Something separated from the earth

Not so much set free

As cast adrift

Disconnected

Where does this place of isolation come from?

Why is it that I struggle to find a place to land,

Where I belong

Where I feel “in place”?

Is that I am propelled by the wind?

It is that people always brush off the dust?

Or is it that I am simply unable to

Let go of those things that cause me to strive, and protect

And close off

Those things that keep me detached

And isolated

A speck of dust

Floating on air

Belief

“If your body is screaming in pain, whether the pain is muscular contractions, anxiety, depression, asthma or arthritis, a first step in releasing the pain may be making the connection between your body pain and the cause. “Beliefs are physical. A thought held long enough and repeated enough becomes a belief. The belief then becomes biology.”

               Marilyn Van Derbur, Miss America By Day: Lessons Learned From Ultimate Betrayals And

                                                     Unconditional Love

_________________________________________

There are days like today

When everything hurts

And what doesn’t hurt doesn’t work

There are days when my whole body hurts

And my mind hurts

And my heart hurts

And my soul hurts

Oh!

Yes, I know how to manage and control it all

And manage it and control it I do

But it can still be a lonely place

Where you breathe and meditate

Where you walk, and take pictures

And just do what you care about

But long

For someone who seems to care

Someone to touch

And be touched by……

I know my pain is physical

And mental

And emotional

And spiritual

And it goes with me

Daily

Into the places I go

It goes with me as I do what I care about

And how my day goes,

Depends on how I think about things

And I chose

To think

I can

__________________________

My time is spent working with people who struggle with pain at

The Center for Optimal Living

Persistent Pain Program

Blessed are the healers

“This is the kind of Friend

You are -

Without making me realize

My soul's anguished history,

You slip into my house at night,

And while I am sleeping,

You silently carry off

All my suffering and sordid past

In Your beautiful

Hands.”

                             Hafiz

______________________

Blessed are the healers

Blessed are those who find a way

To take away the pain of others

Those who accept, rather than merely tolerate

Those who forgive

And care

Who sneak up on others

Unawares

And gently

Touch their lives for the better

Blessed is the Lord

For above all others

This god who is love

Finds us

And when we least expect it

Carries away that which

Which is limiting and harmful

In beautiful

Sacred

hands

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

__________________________________________

In a time like this

When those with the most power

Refuse to stand up for justice

Refuse to act with true compassion

Neglect the vulnerable

And Support and even enable racism, hate and greed

It is difficult to believe

That we can bend history

Difficult to believe, that I, an aging, tired

Small church pastor in a remote corner of Oregon

Can do anything about the pervasive injustice that

 Permeates our land

But that does not mean that I don’t try

There are words to be spoken

Words to be written

There are actions to be taken

No, I probably will never influence a congress person

But I can listen

I can care

I can encourage, and forgive

I can be generous

The ripples I make are so small

So very small

But if you make your own ripples

Perhaps together…..

perhaps

Stupid Things

“When we struggle to change ourselves we, in fact, only continue the patterns of self-judgement and aggression. We keep the war against ourselves alive.”

               Jack Kornfield, A Path with Heart: A Guide Through the Perils and Promises of Spiritual Life

________________________________

I do enough stupid things in a day

To last a life time

Some of my errors are massive

I get tired

Depleted

Empty

And then I act, talk, behave stupidly

Sometimes hurting myself

Sometimes hurting others

And when I screw up

I am the master of self condemnation

I make an art of it

Truly

But here is the thing

Most of my stupidity emerges out of a sense of deficit

Of “not being enough”

And with this as a back drop I act in ways I hope

Will make me look bigger, or bring me relief

But which make me small, and make things worse

And I only become smaller

And more in need

I lose

And sadly I usually don’t become better

I just get entrench in further attempts to compensate

For my deficit

Sometimes you just have to let go

Sometimes we just need to step away from the brain.

And end the war against ourselves

Lets get loose

Let's get loose

with

compassion.

Let's drown in the delicious

ambiance of

love.”

                                            Hafiz

_________________________

What can I say?

There are too many people rattling around the universe

Minimized

Excluded

Judged

Hated

Oppressed

Suppressed

To many people who are hungry, homeless

Ill

Struggling with demons we can only imagine

There are some who think this is just fine

And who in fact would make it worse

Classifying real people as

Garbage,

Refused

Junk to be thrown away

Used and discarded

There are some who think that all that is important is power and wealth

But if we gain power and wealth

And leave anyone behind

Anyone

Simply because they are not rich and powerful

We fail

We create inequity and injustice

A radical disparity

That eventually

Will rend and destroy

Hearts, and mind

And souls

And our country

So Let's get loose with compassion.

Let's drown in the delicious

ambiance of

love

what do we have to lose?

it comes naturally

“I am selfish by habit, but sacrificial by nature. Therefore, I’d be wise to develop the habit of following my nature.”

― Craig D. Lounsbrough

________________________________

It is in our nature to be selfish

Or so I hear

Natural to be protective,

Natural to grasp

And hug all things to ourselves

Natural to look at others with suspicion

And to hate what we believe threatens

But we are created in the image of God

And God is, in spite of our horribly distorted views of God

Sacrificial

Creative

Life Giving

Compassionate

Caring

Nurturing

Sustaining

And willing to do anything

For those who are loved

Which for God

Is everyone

So perhaps it is natural to be sacrificial

And

Creative

Life giving

Compassionate

Care

Nurturing

Sustaining

And anything else

Habitual distortion

Taught by our culture

Just, perhaps 

The Owls Sing

in the early morning

as the sun struggles to awake

and the sky lightens slowly

into red haze

two owls sing

haunting notes floating through the trees

in red gray dawn

insistently

they call

sending chills perhaps

through the inhabitants of the forest

singing perhaps about the hunt

or even love

until silently they leave their perches

and swoop silently

through the trees

into

deep silence

Teach your children well

“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”

                                                                        Nelson Mandela

_______________________________________________

How do we teach people to hate?

Seriously

How do we do it

I watch the little kids in the play ground

All colors, all shapes all sizes

Playing

Together

Picking each other up  Getting from here to there

Together

How we do manage to go from that

To shields

And slogans

And baseball bats

And cars

And guns

How do we go from that to turning children away at our border

Because,

Just because they might be an inconvenience to us

Or because of the slight possibility they may someday do harm?

Would they do harm if welcomed with acceptance, and lover,

Rather than distrust and hate?

Somewhere along the way

Something is added

Something is taken away

And we are left with hate filled faces

And angry eyes

And mouths that curse

And people dying on the street

So we must teach love

And it must come from the President

And the Congress

And the police

And all those in power an authority

But it doesn’t

And it must come from the pulpit and pew

But it often doesn’t

And it must come from teachers

And parents, and grandparents

Even brothers and sister

If it won’t come from the top

It must come from the bottom

Perhaps that is the only place from whence it can come

And perhaps

It is not adults teaching children well

It is children teaching adults

What the divine image looks like

Before it is blurred, eroded, destroyed

It looks like love