SO MANY QUESTIONS

 

On a morning walk gazing at the stars as they hover in the sky…I thought, when it comes my time to meet my creators, I’m going to ask them why.

In truth, it’s going to take some time because I have a million questions why…

Like why are there stars, a moon…a sun…why is there even a sky?

Why did they design the giraffe’s neck to be so long and sleek and lean…

Why are dolphins always smiling?  Why do sharks always look so mean?

Why are there 4 seasons….why don’t elephants ever forget?

Why did you make a sun that rises every morning only in the evening to make it set?

Why do some animals walk, swim, hop or fly while snakes just slither on the ground?

Why did you create some animals that never make a sound?

Why did you create colors…all those different tints and hues?

Why did you make trees green and the oceans, seas and rivers blue?

Why did you create so many different flowers?  

Why does the ocean need the shore?

Why can’t I swim like a dolphin…or like an eagle…soar?

Why are spider webs so beautiful no matter where they’re hung…

Why do pets, like dogs and cats, have to die so very young.

And while I have the creators ears…perhaps I’ll take the chance

to ask them what they were thinking creating mosquitos, cockroaches and ants?

I have many more questions to ask, I’ll say.

after they give these answers to me…

to which I’m sure they’ll smile and say…

no problem…we have all of eternity

WALKING BAREFOOT IN THE SAND

 

Here’s something we did yesterday that was totally unplanned…

In the morning…and the evening…we walked barefoot in the sand.

There is something magical when feeling the sand beneath your feet…

It’s like when two friends who haven’t seen each other in a while…

have a chance to meet.

The morning sand felt cool…after a night of rest…untouched by anyone…

The evening sand was warmer…after a day out in the sun.

The morning sand was quiet…save for two sounds I adore…

birds waking up and greeting one another and waves crashing against the shore.

The evening sand was much louder…with people all around…

laughter…singing…music…it was a sweet cacophony of sound.

Standing in the water with the sand squishing between our toes…

we watched the sun set into the ocean to a chorus of…’there she goes’.

Studies have proven the benefits of walking barefoot as a way of reconnecting with the land…like we did when we were children in the grass, the mud…the sand.

Perhaps that’s why I wasn’t surprised…to me it wasn’t shocking….

the moment I took my shoes off…it was my child who did the walking…

Which is why of all the places I have walked across this wonderful land…

I find my child seems the happiest…walking barefoot in the sand.

IT'S YOUR CHOICE

 

Here is a simple fact of which I’m sure you are aware…

If you’ve spent any time upon this planet you know…

life isn’t always fair…

Here’s another simple fact…across this planet…

near and far…

although life isn’t always fair…

you’ll find…

some people are

So..

if life isn’t alway fair…

but some people are…

here’s a little quiz…

will you be one who isn’t fair…

or will you be one who is?

I LOVE YOU

 

Once we say ‘I love you’ to someone…once that feeling is spoken or expressed in pencil or pen…what is it that makes us keep repeating ‘I love you’ over and over again?

Perhaps it’s because ‘I love you’ are the first words we remember…meant to wash away worry and fear…when our mother placed her head next to ours and whispered ‘I love you’ into our ear.

Perhaps we keep saying the words ‘I love you’ so we can linger in their echo for a while…remembering the comfort we feel every time we hear them…how those words always accompany a smile.

Perhaps repeating ‘I love you’ is one way to recapture the feeling in our heart…

the first time we heard…or read them…

perhaps it’s one way to revisit the feeling the first time we actually said them.

Perhaps, because we have no way of knowing if we will still be here…

the next moment

the next day

the next year

we want ‘I love you’ not only to be the last words we say…

but the last words our loved ones will hear.

Or could it be when we say ‘I love you’ we’re hoping an ‘I love you’ we’ll retrieve….

knowing as beautiful as the words ‘I love you’ are to give…

they are equally as beautiful to receive.

How wonderful we have so many ways to say ‘I love you’…many ways for “I love you’ to repeat…we can say them, write them, paint them, nowadays we can text and we can tweet.

We can sing them…we can yell them out…we can say them fast…or slow

but I imagine the best way to say ‘I love you’ is one we learned from our mothers…long ago.

It’s the ‘I love you’ meant to wash away worry…

to alleviate any fear…

It’s when we hold someone tight 

place our head close to theirs 

and whisper ‘I love you’ in their ear.

STILL THERE

 

He remembers asking his dad, as they gazed up at the sky one night…

“Where do the stars go during the day, Dad?  Who turns out their lights?”

“The stars are always shining.” His dad told him. “Each and every one.”

“It’s just…during the day…their light blends with the sun.”

“And once their light joins with the sun…that light spreads out everywhere.

So even though you cannot see them, rest assured, the stars are always there.”

He remembers asking his dad, as they were looking out their window pane,

“Dad, I’ve always wondered. Where does the sun go in the rain?”

“The sun is always shining.” His dad whispered…for he never talked too loud.

“She’s shining as she always has…she’s just hidden by the clouds.”

“And so you won’t forget she’s out there keeping safe and dry…

she occasionally gets together with the rain and paints a rainbow across the sky.”

His dad’s been gone for many years…many years they’ve been apart.

Yet, every now and then he’s blessed when his Dad’s words echo in his heart.

Now…any time he sees a rainbow he thinks about his dad…

thinks about the words he whispered…about the good times that they had.

And like the stars in the middle of the day he is joyfully aware…

even though he cannot see him…he knows his dad is always there.

LOVE WARIOR

 

I think it is quite obvious in this world we’re trying to create how many have forgotten the delicate relationship that exists between love…and hate.

I believe our creators created us for one reason…that reason is to love…

and I think we’ve moved quite far away from the world they were thinking of.

A world where we love ourselves and realize how every person is our sister and our brother…how, if we are to survive…to thrive…we need to love each other.

Because when love is not cherished…when it’s not nourished…before it is too late…

love not only dies…but can easily turn to hate.

And once love has changed to hate and a heart is filled with pain…

hate does not change so easily back to love again.

For once its roots take hold after the seeds of hate are sown…

hate will use every weapon in its arsenal before relinquishing its throne.

Love knows it is more powerful…that she has the will…the strength…the might…

but, being love, she wants to love…and has been reluctant to engage hate in this fight.

Love has said…be patient…love will win out in the end…we know!

and all the while, as love waits, hate grows and grows and grows.

Looking at the world hate’s created…I think love can no longer wait…

It’s time for love to fight…to join the battle against hate.

For now that hate has its knee firmly pinned against love’s throat…

it’s time to fight with every weapon in love’s arsenal…

including our voices and our votes.

It’s time to be a love warrior…to stand up unafraid…strap on our boots…

and attack hate where it is most vulnerable…by cutting off its roots.

There is one problem, and love knows this, when love warriors fight to redirect their fate…that somewhere in this fight…we too…may begin to hate.

But if we are ever going to have a say in the world we’re trying to make…

this is a road that must be traveled…

this a risk we all must take.

PRAYERS

 

My friend sent her friends a message the other day…the message said, “Pray for me!”

because she needed prayers, because prayers can be given wholeheartedly and because all prayers are free

“And while you’re praying for me,” she said…(since she is a loving person who cares)

“pray for anyone in the world who may also be in need of prayers”.

When people ask for prayers from me…there was a time I felt chagrinned..

until I realized a prayer is just a wish we whisper on the wind.

For I am not religious…I have no God to call my own…

but I have faith when I make a wish for someone…that wish will find a home.

When I close my eyes, take a deep breath and make a wish for you…

it matters not to me which God that wish floats to.

Or if it never finds its way to a God…but travels across the Universe…wide and far…until one day it finds itself adding brightness to a star.

We never know while forming a wish within our mind…when we finally make it…

once we whisper it upon the wind…where the wind will take it.

So I closed my eyes and upon the wind I whispered a wish for my friend…

hoping it will join other wishes..other prayers…and help her troubles mend.

And following her lead I made another wish and then another and another…

I sent out wishes across the world for all my sister and my brothers.

I wished no one would go to bed hungry…I wished for the people of Ukraine…

I wished people would stop banning books…I wished for California to get rain.

I wished we were a kinder, gentler world…where everyone was blessed…

To be treated with acceptance and compassion…where no-one was oppressed.

I wished everyone was accepted…no matter their color, their religion, if they were gay or straight…I wished people would stop using religion as a vehicle for hate.

These and many more wishes, once I opened up my heart were freed.

to hopefully find their way across the world…and to my friend in need.

So if you were like me, when someone asks you to pray for them and you feel a bit chagrined…remember…a prayer is just a wish…we send out on the wind.