It is the Soldier

It is the Soldier, not the reporter
Who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the Soldier, not the poet,
Who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the Soldier, not the campus organizer,
Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.

It is the Soldier, not the lawyer,
Who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the Soldier, who salutes the flag,
Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,
Who allows the protestor to burn the flag.

-- by Marine chaplain Father Dennis Edward O’Brien
-- -- May God continue to bless America.

kavanah

Jewish word, meaning
"intention"

ubuntu

zulu word meaning,
"I am because we are"

1 I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worth of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
3 endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling;
5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
6 one god and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift.

-- - Ephesians 4:1-7, NKJV

29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of our mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice.
32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

-- - Ephesians 4:29-30, NKJV

The world breaks everyone -

And afterwards, some are strong at the broken places.
- - Earnest Hemingway

Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.

-- - Hebrews 12:1

And the day came when the risk to
freezing tight in the bud was more
painful than the risk it took to blossom.

~ Anais Nin,
~~ Cuban-French author

"The Bible never belittles human disappointment, but it does add one key word: temporary. What we feel now we will not always feel. Our disappointment is itself a sign, an aching, a hunger for something better. And faith is, in the end, a kind of homesickness-for a home we have never visited but have never once stopped longing for.
-- Philip Yancey

Reflections of July 12

Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing,
There is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down n that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn't make any sense.

-- Rumi

Proverbs 19:8

He who gets wisdom loves his own soul;
... he who cherishes understanding prospers.

-- (NIV)

Ode to Cybele

We were happy together
that late summer afternoon
and early evening----
she on the grass,
front paws crossed
in her customary style---
I on a garden chair.

She had made it across
the rough gravel
on a bridge of cardboard
I'd made for her
to the soft lawn
and was content and alert--
to a plane overhead,
a car driving up the road,
the no-see-ums
she snapped at fiercely.

I drank and wept,
cherishing this day with her.
She was in the now,
I, somewhat further on.
I could hardly get enough
of her beauty, her grace,
this being in this Universe
with me so many years.
Now she is everywhere.


... Barbara Wolf
... May, 2009

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when,
. or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities
. or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

-- Pablo Neruda

Blue of the bay before the snow
was the blue - blue - blue of the kind that

... Tickles the nose
... Gasps the breath
... Leaps the heart
... & dances the most stationary feet
so pure and luminous was blue that
... only more pellucid blue might
re-illuminate its blueness.

-- Henry S. Maas

No two alike

Look then at the faces and bodies of people you love.
The explicit beauty that comes not from smoothness of skin
or neutrality of expression, but from the web of experience
that has left its mark.

Each face, each body is its own living fossilized, record.
A record of cats, combatants, difficult births;
of accidents, cruelties, blessings.

Reminders of folly, greed, indiscretion, impatience.
A moment of time, of memory, preserved, internalized,
and enshrined within and upon the body.

You need not be told that these records are what render your beloved beautiful.

If God exists, He is there, in the small, cast-off pieces,
rough and random and not two alike.

-- from Broken for You, (2005)by Stephanie Kallos

Spring Flowers!

We, the older ones,
call it Spring,
and we have been through it
many times.

But there is still nothing
like the children bringing home
such happiness
in their small hands.

-- Mary Oliver

Words of Truth

Words of Truth are the language of prayer
and if we desire results in prayer,
we must learn to speak its language.

-- Mary Kupferle

Without change there is no innovation, creativity, or incentive for improvement. Those who initiate change will have a better opportunity to manage the change that is inevitable.
William Pollard

Life loves to be taken by the lapel and told:
"I'm with you, kid. Let's go."
-- Maya Angelou

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Pink—small—and punctual—

Pink—small—and punctual—
Aromatic—low—
Covert—in April—
Candid—in May—
Dear to the Moss—
Known to the Knoll—
Next to the Robin
In every human Soul—
Bold little Beauty
Bedecked with thee

Nature forswears
Antiquity—

-- by Emily Dickinson

Peace

Peace is not static, but very active. It's not the lack of violence, but the predominance of joy, compassion, and connectedness with all that surrounds us. Peace is Love.

-- unattributed

That thing you do

You must do the thing you think you cannot do.

--Eleanor Roosevelt, 1960

We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty,
charm and adventure. There is no end to the
adventures that we can have if only we
seek them with our eyes open.

... Jawaharlal Nehru

He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man and bird and beast;

He prayeth best who loveth best
All things both great and small:
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

-- Coleridge

Trading is done ...

"When you see that trading is done, not by consent, but by compulsion - when you see that in order to produce, you need to obtain permission from men who produce nothing – when you see money flowing to those who deal, not in goods, but in favors – when you see that men get richer by graft and pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you – when you see corruption being rewarded and honesty becoming a self-sacrifice – you may know that your society is doomed."

Ayn Rand, in the novel "Atlas Shrugged," 1957

Wisdom - She

Proverbs 8

Therefore preach wisdom, and understanding will answer you.
2 For wisdom is on the top of high places, she stands between the ways and by the paths.
3 She cries at the gates, at the entrance of the city; she cries aloud, saying,
4 Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of men,
5 So that the simple ones may understand prudence and the fools understand their heart.
6 Hear, for I will speak truth; and the opening of my mouth shall bring forth uprightness.
7 For my mouth shall speak truth, and lying lips are an abomination before me.
8 All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing perverse or deceptive in them.
9 They are all plain to him who understands them, and right to those who are willing to find knowledge.
10 Receive discipline and not silver; and choose for yourself knowledge rather than fine gold.
11 For wisdom is much better than fine gold; yea, she is better than precious stones, and nothing can be compared to her.

[George M. Lamsa translation from the Aramaic of the Peshitta, 1933. A.J. Holman Company.]

The Beauty of my Sisters