a candle and a prayer

 It is sad when we see people lose their lives, their homes in a fire…a tornado…or a hurricane…We feel helpless and we struggle with ways to help to ease their pain.

As devastating as that is…nothing is more heartbreaking…more sorrowful…more tragic than…when the death and the destruction comes at the hands of their fellow man.

Which is why, as we witness the people of Ukraine in the midst of their man-made  nightmare….we gathered together last night in a park to light a candle and say a prayer.

We came together…most of us strangers…different backgrounds, different beliefs…to offer our encouragement…to help Ukrainians find relief.

We listened as Ukrainians spoke and sang…voices filled with hopeful apprehension

and as we prayed for their safety to our different Gods…we felt unity…not dissension.

You see it didn’t matter what faiths were represented…what Gods we may have named.

for the people of Ukraine…all the messages were the same.

We prayed for Ukrainians safety…that this senseless killing cease….

And as we prayed for them we prayed for ourselves…for a world of liberty and peace.

Everyone present lit a candle and we held them in the air

proving, once again, love is universal…proving love needs to be shared.

And when we finished praying…for an end to Ukraine’s plight…

we walked away in silence…taking different paths into the night…

Hoping lighting candles and coming together as one human race to pray…..

will somehow help to end a war…5000 miles away.

FAMILY TREE

 

There are days I don’t even think about it…well…perhaps unconsciously 

Then other days I like to lie in its shade and savor the beauty of my family tree.

Yesterday was such a day….blessed to experience a host of family faces

In the shade of my family tree…at the race track…of all places.

Although every family tree is old…they are built to last…with limbs that look to the future growing from a trunk that’s rooted in the past. 

A family tree is a living, breathing entity…made up of countless common parts…

yet each part is an individual…with different minds and souls…and hearts.

A family tree is constantly transforming…for every older limb knows when they fall they will help to nourish the soil so newer limbs can grow.

Some transformations are obvious…some more subtle…colors change…new limbs are added…given different names…yet, though this constant metamorphosis the basic shape remains the same.

There is this wonderful characteristic of the family tree that every family member  knows….we needn’t visit each part each day to stay rooted together…to help our tree to grow.

For when a new limb has sprouted…while still very young…as they begin to grow…you can see the whole tree smile…every part begins to glow…

And you watch as that entire tree tries to shield this newest limb from harm…each older limb waiting patiently for their moment to hold her in their arms.

Whispering she is safe…that with all her family near…she will never want for anything…there is nothing she need fear.

These are some of the reasons I was smiling yesterday as I basked under my family tree

These…

and the fact Deborah and I won 20 bucks on C’est Parti who won race number 3.

I WONDER WHAT JOYCE WOULD SAY

 

Joyce Kilmer, who’s most famous poem is Trees, was killed by a sniper’s bullet July 30, 1918 while scouting in France during the first world war. 

Which leads me to wonder what he might have written about war….

if he only had the chance…

I wonder if I shall ever see

A world of peace and serenity

A peace where north, south, east and west

everyone feels safe and free and blessed.

Where people look to their God all day

and lift their friendly arms to pray.

For peace…yes, peace is the thought that fills their prayer…

not just here or there…but everywhere.

A world where people are generous, accepting and humane…

where never again is anyone slain.

Fools like me do wars release….

so God please help my world find peace.

MONSTERS

 When we are children, if we’re lucky, our parents form a team…they teach us how to love and show us how to dream….they keep us safe and warm and happy…they make sure that we’re well fed…they are the ones, when we’re afraid of the dark, who check for monsters neath our bed.

But the children of war…and their parents…are not so lucky because day or night…on the ground or in the air…how can parents protect their children when there are monsters everywhere?

Real monsters who don’t care if you are alive…or if you’re dead…who destroy your city…your streets…your homes…who drive you from your bed.

What makes these monsters dangerous is it can be anyone you see…there is no way to tell the difference between them…or you…or me…It can even be a neighbor…perhaps at one time they were a friend…and we find it hard to understand and fathom the horrors they intend.

I imagine some of these monsters were once parents…once part of a team…who tried to teach their children how to love and show them how to dream…Who strove to keep their children safe and warm and happy…to make sure they were well fed…who, when their children were afraid of the dark…checked for monsters neath their beds.

Is it just war…or something else…the answer is never completely clear…what turns once loving parents into monsters other parents and children fear?

We can only hope and pray that one day our entire world and all her people will be blessed…to have no more wars creating monsters causing destruction and unrest.

A day when war has finally ended and only peace and love exist…a world where never again will we find real monsters in our midst.

A day when parents can go back to being parents…part of a wonderful team…who teach their children how to love and show them how to dream…who keep them safe and warm and happy and make sure they are well fed…a world where the only monsters they have to worry about are the ones beneath their children’s bed.

THE MAIN REASON FOR NO MORE WARS

 

There is one main reason to have no more wars…one reason no more soldiers…no more buildings…no more countries should ever fall…

That reason lies in the eyes and the hearts of the youngest of us all.

There are countless victims in a war…so many losses coast to coast….but, I imagine, in any war it is the children who lose the most.

All parents…every mother…every father…every woman…every man…want to see their children remain children for as along as children can.

It is the innocence of their childhood we’d like to take our time and walk them through…to show them all the beautiful things a little compassion and love can do.

Our children need us to be their teachers…to find a way to reach into their hearts and minds and souls…until it is their turn to teach.

It is a world of peace and love we’d like them to explore…but…how can we teach of peace and love in the middle of a war?

In truth…we can’t! Because even if children survive the war…if they’re one of the lucky ones…their eyes can never un-see the damage war has done.

For somewhere along the way they pay too high a cost…their purity is taken…their innocence is lost.

Because when children see that first bullet fired…that first bomb drop…with their initiation into war….no matter what we say or do…they are not children anymore.

IN THE LAND WHERE SUNFLOWERS GROW

 It is appropriate and certainly relevant once we ascertained 

why the sunflower is the national flower in the country of Ukraine

With Russia attempting to take away Ukraine’s freedoms…knocking on its door…Ukraine needs their sunflowers more today than they’ve ever needed them before.

Sunflowers are one of God’s creations which, notwithstanding the beauty they release, are a symbol of happiness, optimism, devotion, longevity and peace.

Sunflowers, however, cannot fight in wars they do not participate in the killing of fathers, mothers, daughters and sons…for that man has created planes and bombs, and knives…tanks and missiles and guns.

But the sunflower can remind us all…as we watch Ukrainians fighting an enemy with many more soldiers and many more guns…that even on the darkest day…you can stand tall and find the sun.

And that’s just what Ukraine is doing…standing tall as Russia attacks on the ground and through the air…you can see it in Ukrainian women soldiers who wear sunflowers in their hair.

Who know they are outnumbered…out-gunned but still they march into this confrontation….Fighting so save their country today…and for future generations….

Fighting to defend their lands…their rivers and their seas…

so that sunflowers can continue to grow in a country that is free.

I only hope my prayers and the prayers of the world can help turn away this barbarous foe…and once again bring peace and happiness to the land where sunflowers grow.

ONE PEACE AT A TIME

I love puzzles…puzzles of any kind…jigsaws, crosswords, writing poems…any puzzle that stimulates my mind.

In a puzzle I can see the big picture as I search for the right piece…the right word…the right rhyme…while realizing the only way to complete the puzzle is one piece at a time.

Our Earth looks like a completed puzzle from deep in outer space…beautifully round, blue, green and white…every puzzle piece in place.

But looking at the Earth from on the Earth…from the place where I am sitting…although the pieces seem like they should go together…as of yet…they’re not all fitting.

With so much hate…so much enmity…so many puzzle pieces at war

the puzzle that is Earth is much more difficult than any puzzle ever solved before…

It is, perhaps, the most difficult puzzle we will ever have to solve…so we must gather together our patience…our courage…our wisdom…our resolve

Knowing it will not be easy…it will take compassion…determination and grit…

for not until everyone on Earth is free can all the pieces fit.

At times we’ll experience little victories…other times we’ll feel defeated

but imagine how the Earth will feel…once this puzzle is completed….

Trying to solve a puzzle at war with itself is certainly an uphill climb…

but we can solve it…

as long as we’re determined to solve it…

one PEACE at a time.