WHEN IT COMES TO PEACE

 When it comes to peace:

May we be blessed with the humanity 

the compassion

the acceptance 

and the generosity…to deserve it

as well as the character 

the courage…

the wisdom 

and integrity to preserve it.

FILLED WITH PEACE

 They come to our door dressed as witches…as princesses…

as wizards, as ghosts and goblins too…

As pirates, as cowgirls, as ladybugs…

as warriors who know karate or kung-fu.

 

“Trick-or-treat!” They say…

as through the night their numbers increase.

They look into our bowl of candy and ask,

“Please, may I have a piece?”

We gladly hand a piece to every baby

every child…every teen…

and when they say, “Thank you!” 

we all smile and say, “Happy Halloween!”

For one night the troubles we face in this world are forgotten…

because with every girl and boy…

under the costume…behind the masks

we see the innocent faces of peace and love and joy.

At the end of the evening we gaze into our bowl

that through the night by the children has been picked clean….

And I always wish handing out peace in the world

was as easy as handing out a piece of candy on Halloween.

I also make a second wish

once and all the monsters, ghosts and goblins have been fed:

I wish that while filling their bags with another piece of candy

we could assure them of a life filled with peace ahead.

BE SOMEBODY'S MIRACLE

 

If you haven’t yet been someone’s miracle…

today’s a good day to start…

because miracles can often come

from one person…

who has kindness in their heart.

INTERTWINED

I think a lot about miracles…

How our our life and miracles intertwine.

How those things we can’t explain….and those we can

have a link to the Divine.

It begins for all of us the day we’re born…with the miracle of our birth.

The miracle of how we find ourselves upon this planet Earth.

From there the rest is easy…all we have to do is look around

for everywhere we look…miracles abound.

On my walk this morning…I hand’t traveled very far

when I looked up through the darkness to see a shooting star!

The crickets’ song was floating on an early morning breeze.

accompanying the crickets were two owls…singing from the trees.

I touched the water in the bay…tasted the salt upon my tongue…

with every breath I took I felt the air fill up my lungs.

 

I passed the bookstore where I work…and where I’ve often found

not only in the pages of the books but in the store itself…do miracles abound.

I passed the hospital where miracles are performed and wished for every day.

I passed the church with a Peace Pole at its entrance…

where inside….for miracles we pray.

I began and ended my walk at my home…

where Deborah was sleeping and where our family grew….

and I had to stop and smile thinking…this house has seen a miracle or two.

Yes, each day I am alive…I am blessed to find…

I live in a world where my daily life and miracles intertwine.

 

LOVE AS A NOUN AND A VERB

 

Isn’t it amazing how the word love when used as a noun

has such a wonderful meaning…is a word of great renown?

But, for me, the word love is most magical

most breathtaking

and its meaning most wonderfully superb…

every time we choose

to use it as a verb

THE STRETCH

 

One thing I love about the heart…as each day we grow a little more

is it’s amazing ability to stretch…a little more than it’s ever stretched before.

As a child…how easily it stretches to cover our mom, dad, sisters and brothers….

and when we think that’s where the stretching ends…

it stretches even farther to cover our relatives and friends.

As we grow up…we are happy in this comfortable circle where we are…

surrounded by friends and family our heart doesn’t have to stretch out very far.

But time moving on is inevitable…and there will come a day

we realize how far our heart can stretch…when it’s time to move away.

We are thankful for how far it stretches…those times we feel alone

and how it stretches on to new friends, perhaps a partner…and a family of our own.

 

And for a while our heart is relaxes…until there comes a day

when it must stretch again…when our children move away.

Until one day, in our old age, when we smile

thinking about all the ways our life’s unfurled….

and give thanks for a heart that has the ability 

SERENADE

 

When we lose someone we love…

when their voice has been silenced…

when we are unable to serenade each other any more….

I like to think there will come a day

when our voices will reunite…

and we will serenade each other…once more.

HEART PUZZLE

 

I think of the heart as a never-ending puzzle…

a kind of puzzle in reverse.

where pieces of other people’s hearts can be added to ours…

and where pieces of our heart to others can be dispersed.

Every heart comes with a little mystery…

because as each day we grow 

exactly who we’ll share our pieces with…

is something we don’t know.

Love has the final decision on the pieces we choose to share…

deciding who I give a piece of my heart to…

and who gives me a piece of theirs.

When love works her magic, however, both sharers will admit….

somehow…the pieces shared between them…are a perfect fit.

And whether the wait to share a piece of our heart is short…

or if it takes a little longer….

when pieces are shared with love…

each heart grows a little stronger.

I wonder if that’s why when we lose someone we love…

oftentimes what happiness we find. 

is knowing they took a piece of our heart with them…

and left a piece of theirs behind.

Perhaps the most comfort we can take…

when someone we love departs….

is knowing a person never truly dies 

as long as we have a piece of their heart.

GIVING AND RECEIVING

 

There is an age-old simple truth about giving and receiving…

which works in any setting:

Always give without remembering….

And always receive without forgetting.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN AMERICA

 

From far and wide they showed up…streaming to our door.

Some faces we immediately recognized…many we’d never seen before.

Men and women, young and old…we did not know nor ask their names. 

They were dressed in a variety of colorful costumes…

although some costumes were the same.

They came to us with their hands out…

we did not ask their religion, their politics…their race.

We gladly filled their hands just to see the smiles on each face.

Everybody thanked us…which was all they really had to say.

We smiled and said ‘Your Welcome’ as they happily walked away.

When the night was over…somewhere inside our hearts…we felt a pull.

because, although our bags were empty, we found our hearts were full.

And I’m still smiling as I sit outside my door…

smiling at the America I saw…and see…

despite how some people are trying to change us

into the America they want us to be.

It’s sad, when I stop to think about it…simply because….

The America they are looking for…is an America that never was. 

So Happy Halloween from the America I’m still proud and happy to see…

The kind of country, I believe, we were always meant to be.

INITIAL JOY

 

Like every child I did not choose my name…

I was at my parent’s whim….

They chose ton name me James (from the Bible)

although I’ve always preferred Jim.

For my middle name they chose Otto…

after my Grandpa who died when I was a little boy.

Add Jim and Otto to my last name Yerman

and my initials spell out JOY.

When I was young some friends would call me Joy

and around me mixed feelings would swirl….

At first I was not happy…I thought it made me sound too much like a girl. 

Until I learned to smile when I heard them call me Joy

to see it as a compliment just the same…

To find the joy within that moment that is inherent in my name.

And from that lesson taught to me on a playground…

all those years ago…

I’ve learned to look for joy wherever I may go.

Which makes me wonder…

Did my initials guide me on this joyous path

from the time I was a boy

or without them would I have been the person

who so easily discovers joy?

Of course I’ll never know the answer…

If it was me…or the initials of my name…

But on days like today…when I stop to think about it…

I thank Grandpa Otto…just the same.