poetry...thoughts for today...

just live!

Moral certainties make my hair

stand on end, especially when expounded

by those who seem to thrive on drawing

battle lines and boundaries…

whose goal seems separation and one-upmanship

instead of reconciliation and compromise.

Absolutes invite hypocrisy, as we have

often seen among the “famous” of our day,

as revelation of another’s feet of clay is

met by judgment, anger, and buoyed by

a sense of superiority by those whose own

humanity has yet to be revealed.

Life, my friend, is messy and confusion-

and far too short to make it about

“either-or”, “for-against”, “us or them”…

no “one size fits all” garment covers

every situation…no simple set of rules

applies- unless it is the “rule” of love.

For life’s complexity demands our openness…

our acceptance of people different from

ourselves…our unwillingness to change

our minds and hearts when living proves

us wrong…

           Improvise! Life cries. Create! Imagine! Celebrate!

                    LIVE!!! Just LIVE!!!

prayer…

Let’s talk about prayer.

What if- instead of God intervening

in our lives in response to our prayers, our pleadings,

our requests- God/the Divine/the Ineffable Holy

provides the medium through which

our prayers move?

What if we believed, accepted, lived into the 

truths of which quantum physicists speak? that 

all of life is connected, entangled, linked, and 

when I send my love, my care, my blessings, my concern 

to you via my “prayers”, my thoughts and energies 

are traveling the link, using the connections, reaching 

you in truth because of these mysterious, mystical, Divine

entanglements?

Does that make it any less prayer?

Or any less the work of the Divine?    

                I wonder…

religion?

Re-ligare, that early Latin word

from which “religion” and “religious”

come, meant- in those early Latin days-

      to re-connect, to re-member

          what has been dis-membered…

      to return to our deepest, truest selves,

          remembering what we already know.

How, then, has religion become

something which divides,

      which dis-members

         the family of humanity,

           pitting sister against sister,

           brother against brother, 

         tribe against tribe, until even

           heaven has its teeth set on edge by the

           cacophony of warring certainties,

                each striving for the hearts and souls

                of humankind…

                each certain that its answers

             are THE answers…

      while angels weep and

        all creation bears the battle scars

        of humans run amok,

        as the loving, reconciling voice

        of the Divine One

        goes unheard.

holy, holy, holy

Have we “made” Jesus divine in order

to explain his full holiness and dedication

to a life with God?

And is this a way to let ourselves off the

hook from developing such a deep, true

relationship with God ourselves?

When will we recognize and acknowledge,

I wonder, that we are all holy, created

as we are in God’s own image? So much

easier to see some as holier-than-us…

so much less demanding to see holiness

as something far beyond our grasp,

beyond our ability to ever achieve- as if

the God of Creation is not continuously,

perpetually, eternally reaching out to

us in love and compassion.

Denying our own holiness denies the
mystery of the mundane…the sacred
in the secular…the incandescent wonder
of incarnation- God dwelling within each
one of us, calling each one of us into
relationship, unique and wholly holy.
Yet we seek and search, wail and
wonder, “Where is God in all this mess
of life?” missing the truth- that God is
everywhere! And our holiness comes
from immersing ourselves in the God
Who is Everywhere.

For what does God expect of us-

if indeed we can put it that way- 

but to “do justice, love kindness, and

walk humbly with God”…to be fully who

we are meant to be, created to be-

each and every one of us. For if we

do not see God everywhere, in

everyone, are we not denying the

all-pervasive reality of God’s holy

presence in, through, and under

all creation? I wonder…

decision-making power

Who decides how things are

“supposed” to be? Who has made the

determination that having white skin

is better than having black? That

being male and having testicles is

preferable to being female and

having a uterus which can bear life?

That bringing a child into the world

to be neglected and abused is morally

superior to choosing to not have it at all?

That by denying something you do not

want to believe is true over and over and

over again, you can make your opinion

reality?

Who decides what is truly “true”? For

once some believed (some still do)

that slavery was right- denied that people

with a darker skin were even really

“human”, seeing them as unthinking,

unfeeling creatures. Once some

believed (some still do) that women

were the property of men, fit only to

do the bidding, bend to the will of

father or husband, denying their 

intellects, denigrating their minds.

Once some believed (some still do)

that homosexuality was a sinful choice-

seeing those whose sexuality was

different from their own as threats

to home and hearth and family.

Who make the rules and sets the limits,

doles out punishment or reward? Who

determines which religious path leads

ultimately to unity with God? And who

decides that my path, my thoughts,

my beliefs, my ideas have less validity

than yours? or his? or hers? or theirs?

Who decides???