those laugh lines
at the corners of my soul –
they belong to you
[photo ‘heart shaped bacon‘ by The Art of Doing Stuff per cc 2.0]
Belated Valentine
1
Category Archives: snippets
Again
Ok.
Help.
Again.
Again, I am at a loss.
Again, I am scattered and distracted.
Again, all seems crazy around me.
Again, I turn to you …
Again, you wrap your arms around me.
Again, you envelop me in your peace.
Again, you provide the mystery, the grace.
Again, you give me courage to continue and hope to sustain.
Again, I remember that you are with me …
Still.
2 11 15
[photo ‘Drunk Again” – Dumpster Graffiti‘ by McLevn per cc 2.0]
Enough Already!
Image
[photo “Ragged Coneflower 01” by Al per cc 2.0.]
Sleepy grace
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The first breath of this new day eases out before I wake – grace dusts my pillow.
[photo ‘ana’ by Paulo Magalhães per cc 2.0]
Dangerous play
Why do I play by the edge of this cliff?
It’s surely a dangerous thing to do …
But, there is really no other place to play.
The question is not danger or no.
It’s play or no.
And sometimes, you just have to play.
Besides, the cliff is beautiful.
You are my cliff, aren’t you?
And you call my heart to play,
knowing the risk – inviting it –
For that is where I fall into love.
And you catch me, whatever else occurs.
It’s not about finding safety.
It’s about finding you . . . and me.
5 13 09
Reading me
You read me, don’t you, Holy One?
You see my hopes
You feel my fear
You know the quick intake of breath that opens up my heart.
The thing is …
When you read aloud, as you sometimes do,
I hear the story, new.
It is as if I meet myself
Within those spoken words.
And – this is the mystery –
I like what I hear.
My story held in the timber of your voice,
Turns beautiful.
Amazing.
1 7 15
Wisdom
Stuck
“I am the vine and you are the branches. If you remain in me, and I in you, you will be fruitful.” – John 15:5
If …
It seems a simple thing. Just stay with me. Just let me stay with you. And life will blossom.
It’s what I want. It’s what you want. And then my day begins and all clarity disappears.
What do you want of me today? What does fruitful look like?
I am a sweet potato, stuck with a few tooth picks, hanging on the top of a pint jar. My 
toes are in the water and my face is toward the sun and here I sit. I can feel the slight itching of the stem that reaches out from my side and unfurls its leafy fingers. My toes have grown into roots, slipping into the water and curling at its base. The sun is deliciously warm. And so I grow. I don’t plan the strategies for leaves or count the roots or calculate the candle power needed for a stem. I do enjoy the breeze and the alternating light and shadow. My woody heart is content and grateful. I’m stuck here, for a bit, but my leaves continue to unfold more and more across the window sill. Perhaps that is enough for now.
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[photo cropped from P1030348 by Jessica Reeder is licensed under cc 2.0]
Morning Prayer
You sing in my heart this morning. It starts as a low hum but swells and fills me, reaching to the very space between my cells, flooding my whole being with your presence, lifting my heart and releasing me to praise.
You look at your creation with love and see the bright hope that is seeded in its fibers. You call and watch the stirrings of the dawn; you see the pull of love and know it is stronger than the push of anger. The world will not end in fire or ice but in an embrace. You hold that faith in sight.
Give me your hope, your love, your strength, your vision to do what you set before me with energy and power, with openness and joy. Let the dance begin.
Amen.
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Quiet Hope 