praying for the Sun

Praying for the Sun     or    Twenty Four Degrees of Christmas

As I awaken, very late for me, to a still and sunny day
I have to bless my wonder at daylight's golden ray
for sunlight streams into my home and along my forestwood
though I have done didiley to expect this rare sunshiny good

yesterday's silver somber gray has changed again once more
and I forget how low I felt when my chin was on the floor,
and I forget that light and cloud often weigh so heavy on my heart
tied as I am to this velvet life full of pricks and dart

but my craft is tethered tight and calm to my narrow little quay
and surely I've no right to think this light shines free from pay
for I have played the game of life not always as I should
so do I owe something for another sunny chance in this merry neighborhood?

midwinter cold grips the air and clings to metal and pot
and chills my rabbit frame as if my lucky foot was coldly caught
in a vise-like trap of all my sins and fears and the reasons not to love
but for no reason I survive and feel a grace from both below and from above

even though how far I've flown and lived till now I know little more than naught
I've ridden life's great silent currents not knowing that I useless fought
perhaps cool and errant zephyrs have carried me as a soaring dove
but all the while a deeper drift held me soft as a velvet glove,

my mutiny on all the bounty of my little ship of state
belies the peace I feel in my heart even though I do not really rate
and there is no joy in thinking I have the means to make my case
and somehow there are explanations for all the meanings of the race

but at last allowing wonder to range free from all debate
giving in to silent thanks and a wordless twist of fate
and now the air is warming with a brightness hard to face
and it is so very difficult to accept I deserve a little bit of grace

so I say a little prayer to our sun for the little that I feel and know
soon shrouds of white billows will wrap me with a winter snow
and my bright disposition will soon take flight before dawn's gray
but let my happy visage remember and take pleasure from this day.

A Global Christmas Prayer for Peace in Our Lifetime or All I want for Christmas

A Global Christmas Prayer for Peace in Our Lifetime           or         All I want for Christmas

Lord, thank You for this ordinary day, which is anything but ordinary; 

but I cannot live everyday in the exulted consciousness and knowledge of You and everything You have given us already. 

I can only live in my prosaic mind.   My small human mind is only capable of human thoughts and I am foolish and arrogant to think I can think Godly thoughts and know Your plan.    And it is silly of me to think and to use words to try to express Your Spirit. 

So I am left to my own rough and pock-marked character; even though, with Your divine help, I can remain constant, it is always my own uneven personality which needs to remain vigilant. 

It is a work in progress, forged by the choices I chose to make everyday.   For in choosing to walk in Your Light, along Your lighted path, I gain a measure of peace. When I harbor no mean thoughts toward my brothers and sisters and I judge not their souls or my own, but always seek to see You at work in all of us, I gain a longer vista. 

I gain an acceptance of a greater truth; we were not designed to hurt and to kill each other.   That is only what we do in our ignorance and denial of the real truth.   And for some the real truth is beyond them, or above them, or below them, or just does not cross their radar because they are too intent on their personal agenda and do not have the heart yet to see how You have woven us all together in Your matrix of life. 

 And when we hurt each other, these are only the disconnects of man's world which is always breaking the fabric of Your Perfect World. 

It is true we were once part of Your Garden of Eden and we chose to use only our minds to see what is all around us.  We extol our own rationality, but what is that but the wisdom You have already planted in our hearts.  Your divine wisdom is the only glue which maintains us.  Your infinite Love is the only force which drives all the creative forces of the world.

When we bend to Your will, and see ourselves in context, when we see ourselves as part of the miracle of life on this third Rock, we gain the emotional and spiritual maturity to know the real truth: 

       "We are all joined in one common journey; we are all part of Your parade of life."  

 And You sent Jesus and Many others to tell us of this.  But we remain ignorant because we chose not to see the real truth.  The real truth that would set us free of our preoccupation with ourselves and also set us free of the delusion that we rule the Planet and must enslave one another, like turtles climbing on top of turtles. 

   For those thoughts and that thinking is the thinking of man's mind and man's fears.

And while it is true we must compete and seek to perfect ourselves, that does not mean we must mistreat one another or treat each other unfairly.  Only when we uphold our uncommon dignity which we derive from You, Lord, can we be free.  Only when each is given an opportunity to seek You freely, and to express their heartfelt appreciation of Your Gift of Life and Your Gift of Creation, do we gain a proper place to stand. 

In the meaning of our Christian heritage in North America, in the meaning of all the diverse people of all faiths who have joined with us here to celebrate our freedom to worship You in whatever way holds meaning for them, and in the meaning of our First Nation's people celebrating You as the Great Spirit which joins everything,

I pray to all that is holy and sacred about our existence on this speck of rock and water and earth and fire and air;

for all of us to wake up and see the truth of our brotherhood, and to see You, Lord, as the only arbiter of our fate.    Amen

May all of you find peace in the celebration of Christmas and the holy infant, Jesus, so tender and so mild.  God bless all of you.

America is Only an Idea

America is Only an Idea or Chasing a Dream

345 words 12-1-2016

we live on the cusp of a wave of human hope

the rolling lip of monumental energy welling up,

from a source deep under what is visible to our eyes,

and the crest of this silent force assumes a sinewy shape,

containing an undeniable strength and resiliency we recognize,

and call our own without regard to it's true nature,

and we live fully formed on this moving edge,

but without the x-ray vision of a superhero or a simple soul,

we forget that the monumental energy is not exactly us,

but a natural and super-natural magnetism beyond our imagination,

and because we have no words and no ability and no way to name it,

we invent a million ways to give shape to what we cannot describe;

we start communities and churches and organizations trying to symbolize

the ineffable and indescribable and utterly impalpable gift,

we have been given:

to live, to witness, to share, to connect,

to touch the vibrant part of the living energy we are a part of,

but cannot put our finger on or find a way to wrap our minds around,

because we are only a small part and our vista is truly limited,

regardless and thoughtless and clueless we wander over the interior landscape

of our fearful and desolate imaginations, bereft of a Sense,

that we belong here, inextricably rooted,

tied to a golden miracle by a million silken strands,

woven seamlessly joining us to everything there is,

and to the ultimate secret and silent source of the Big Om,

the big breath we all breathe,

the yearning we share with each other to find God,

and have a communion with what is sacred and holy,

in our spiritual and most sensual intercourse with each other.

So thank you America and God Bless the Spirit of all those seekers of brotherhood,

and seekers of community, and those who have tried to do the right thing

and hold the love of God and their brothers in their hearts.