INVITE HOPE

 

A message of hope from Maya Angelou…

I bring to you this day…

She said:

Hope and fear cannot occupy the same space…

So why not invite hope to stay.

CATERPILLARS AND BABY LIZARDS

 

If I’m ever filled with dread…feelings of gloom and doom….

I look for new leaves on the trees…and flowers about to bloom.

 

I greet the stars up in the sky…watch the sun rise on a new day…

I stop and watch baby rabbits in the field as they play.

I listen to the baby birds in their nests…not quite ready to fly free…

I look out on the water and find baby dolphins in the sea.

This time of year in Florida…I like to walk real slow…

and greet the caterpillars and baby lizards everywhere I go.

Why is this important…because in the way it helps me cope.

It reminds me how Mother Nature has not lost her hope.

 

If she wasn’t filled with hope…if she was filled with gloom and doom

she wouldn’t encourage her trees to grow new leaves…

or invite her flowers to bloom.

She wouldn’t excite the birds to sing…

or inspire the stars to shine up in the sky…

and if Mother Nature places her hope in caterpillars and baby lizards

then, Gook Heavens, so will I.

AAS LONG AS THEY'RE REMEMBERED

One thing that always makes me smile 

living life from a host of Januarys to Decembers

is knowing how

no moment that has past…

and no person who is gone 

will ever be lost to us…

as long as they’re remembered.

 

IT'S MY PLEASURE

I’m not sure how or why it happened but this morning

as I walked out the door from the house in which I dwell…

in my mind the door to some happy memories opened up as well.

I made no attempt to close it because I had no doubt

some of those memories have been waiting a long time to get out.

And I had to smile as I allowed these random memories

that only my mind’s eye can see

to escape into the morning and take a walk with me.

I love when this happens…because wherever I am I find

as I visit these wonderful old memories…the pleasure is all mine.

But I shouldn’t be having all the fun…why…that would just be mean

I imagine all you you have happy memories waiting to be seen.

So I suggest everyone who is reading this…open your happy memory doors.

No need to thank me for I am happy knowing the pleasure is all yours.

 

HAND IN HAND

 May we all be blessed to understand 

how love and happiness go hand in hand

And hands connected by love and happiness

contain a strength that is so great…

as long as we walk hand in hand

there is no room for hate.

THE MAGNET

 

It’s palpable wherever I go…I can feel it as I view it…

how love and happiness form a magnet…attracting more love and happiness to it.

And the wonder of this magnet is how the two forces interplay…

how, while it attracts more love and happiness, it pushes hate away.

I find the more I choose love and happiness…the more I begin to see 

how more love and happiness finds their way to me.

And I find the more love and happiness I’m trying to create

keeps me pretty busy and I don’t have time to hate.

That’s not to say choosing love and happiness is always easy.

It can be difficult finding time to love and dance and sing….

but I do my best to keep them in my life…

and let the magnet do it’s thing.

ANCESTRAL CHAIN

 

May we be thankful for the gifts we inherited from our ancestors

that never ending chain of people who came before us

their gifts of love and joy and laughter….

they left us before passing on…

And may we be blessed that our love and joy and laugher 

can be found upon the chain…

long after we are gone.

CHAIN OF LOVE

 

On my early morning walks…I always walk alone

It’s a quiet, peaceful…walk I take all on my own.

I was lost in sad thoughts this morning about guns and war 

about a world filled with hate and animosity

when I heard what I thought were footsteps coming up behind me.

I turned to greet whoever it was and immediately stopped to stare

because not only had the footsteps stopped…but…there was no one there!

Thinking it was my imagination…I continued walking…but then

the sound of all those footsteps started up again

I wasn’t frightened, however, I felt a comfort…a peace and harmony

I was either going crazy…or some of my ancestors were walking with me.

I have a wonderful family and friends in my life that help to see me through

but I imagine my ancestors just wanted to remind me…they are with me too.

Reminding me that when I walk…even when I think I’m on own…

I’m not…for if the footsteps were any indication…I never walk alone.

And though my ancestors did not speak to me…my spirits began to soar 

and when they did I could not hear their footsteps anymore.

I walked the rest of the way home in silence…

thankful for their not-so-subtle reminder….

to remember the world is also filled with people 

who are loving…generous..and kinder.

And for reminding me that although there is hatred in the world…

what I should be thinking of

Is how I am an invaluable link in a long ancestral chain of love.

A chain of love that stretches as far back as I can postulate…

A chain of love that is stronger and will last longer…than any chain of hate.

ST. AUGISTINE

 

Today a blessing from St Augustine regarding life

and one suggestion of a way to we see it through…

Pray as though everything depended on God…

and 

Work as though everything depended upon you.

OH MY GOD AGAIN

 

I return today to a subject you may think makes me seem a little odd…

when I repeat I am not religious…but I do believe in God.

My God, is not found in a book or a church

(which is something I have often said)

no, she (and sometimes he) is a voice inside my head.

And the God who speaks to me tells me I am not at all absurd

for he, like me, thinks the line between some Gods and some religions

over time has become blurred. 

Blurred by people who distort their God’s words to help create

a religion that is not only restrictive…but also discriminates.

And when people create other restrictive religions

(here is where it get’s a little odd)

we soon have a world filled with rigid religions…

all believing in different Gods.

Until we reach a point…which to my seems very odd…

where people hate each other in the name of their religion and their God. 

A point where people fight religious wars…leaving many on both sides bereaved…

as they kill each other in the name of their religion…

and the different Gods in whom they all believe.

Yes, you may call me crazy…you may think me a little odd

but I have found my spirituality in my non-religious God.

She asks us to be kind, generous and accepting…to treat everyone the same.

and she’s proud from wherever she sits…to watch us do this in her name.

For nothing in this world brings a broader smile to my God’s face

than knowing someone he’s created tries to leave the world a kinder, gentler place.

Perhaps it’s not so crazy…not so different…not so odd

to put less faith in vindictive and hateful religions…

and more faith in a kinder and gentler God.

WHAT NEW ADVENTURE

 

May we be blessed to wake up every morning

Smile look out the window and say

I wonder what new and exciting adventure 

is waiting for me today

FIELD TRIPS

 

As teachers we loved taking our students on field trips

knowing once we set foot outside our classroom door

we might be able to show them something they’d never seen before.

 

I suppose that’s why today even though we’re retired when out the front door we slip…

we can’t wait to see what’s going to happen on our next field trip.

On today’s field trip we set out early…to the beach where we thought it would be fun

to see the full moon as she set and handed the day off to the sun.

When we arrived the moon had the sky all to herself…and for us it was a treat

watching her send a moonbeam across the water that landed at our feet.

Then, gradually, she headed toward the water…slowly saying her goodbyes

to the stars…the clouds…and us…as the sun began to rise.

Then came the moment we rose early to see…

the synergy between the moon and sun…

when…only for a moment…night and day are one.

It is a moment that…no matter how many times we see it…still takes our breath away….

when half the sky is night…and half the sky is day.

None of this takes place in silence…as the waves drummed their rhythm on the shore 

a multitude of birds were singing on the beach and in the air

a chorus we’ve heard a thousand times before.

It is a moment that always feels magical, mysterious and heaven-sent

watching the night become the day…with musical accompaniment.

As we walked to our car…now bathed in sunlight…

We couldn’t help but wonder what adventure is around the next bend…

in a life that’s filled with field trips…we hope will never end.