GRATITUDE MONTH--#23: MYSTERIOUS MARVELOUS HOPE

GRATITUDE MONTH #23: Mysterious Marvelous Hope

I wake up to the light of a rising sun
Already my subconscious is calling me to the LIST
Already nagging me about how far behind I am
Could I go any slower? 
The obvious answer is yes!

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes
I ignore the piles I must walk around
to get to the next part of my day
Some days my life just seems
Like one long to-do list
Running through a never-ending pile
Of life's stuff

Then suddenly, the fog lifts 
I find myself working on a project
that's been on hold for two years!?!
It is a complete mystery to me
how this has come about 
And yet here I am making progress
AT LAST! and it feels GREAT!

The patience of our better selves
The patience of grace to plow through the mess
The tenacity of hope for the dream
I wish I could claim credit for it
But I can't. It's a divine grace.

I can only work with gratitude
for the energy and motivation
to tackle the task in the now!
I can only pray for more of this
MYSTERIOUS MARVELOUS HOPE
and the strength to follow through.

with gratitude for this day,

jules

Like Nails and Wood

"Reclamation" by Melanie Van Houten

I saw this picture of this sculpture and these are the thoughts that came to me....


LIKE NAILS AND WOOD

Words strung together
Like pieces of string
Knotted, tangled, confusing and connecting
Some are within the walls of the rules we've built
Like nails and wood
They keep us safe
But we could be trapped in this old house
Of constricting, shaming and divisive language.
What if we strung together words in a new way?
Creating doors and windows
Lifting our old infrastructure
Right over our heads
Freeing ourselves in the process

What if it is just a house and we can rebuild it?
What if they are just words and we can imagine life differently?
What if what we say really does have power to free?

8/9/13
~jules

About Noise & Silence....and finding the Holy in it. Entry #1

A parable by Theophane the Monk in his book Tales of a Magic Monastery:

"Would you teach me silence?" I asked.
"Ah!"
He seemed to be pleased. "Is it the Great Silence you want?"
"yes, the Great Silence."
"Well, where do you think it is to be found?" he asked.
"Deep within me, I suppose. If only I could go deep within, I'm sure I'd escape the noise at last. But it's hard. Will you help me?" I knew he would. I could feel his concern and his spirit was so silent.
"Well i've been there," he said. "I spent years going in. I did taste the silence there. But one day Jesus came--maybe it was my imagination--and said to me simply, 'Come, Follow me.' I went out, and I've never gone back."
I was stunned, "but the silence...."
"I've found the Great Silence, and I've come to see that the noise was inside."

I hope you enjoy this parable form Theophane. I read it and immediately decided to do a series here on noise and silence. Perhaps i should ended it with this. I think I'll just see where each entry takes me. Tune in for more about noise and silence.

blessings on your noise,

jules

A Word Diet

My husband says the emails I write are too long…that I should never ask more than 3 questions or make more than 3 points if I expect to get a response…yikes!! That means I’ve got a lot of cutting back on words to do!! So here’s a few attempts to be brief…:o)

Love you on a (word) diet
You
Me
Magic
Mysterious connections
Overlooking difference
Forgiving doubt
Creating joy
Encouraging growth
Amazing
Me
You
Love
© 2008 Julie A. Bonde

Half
Half a friendship is only one
Ignore one half of a friendship
Whether the person ignored is you or the other
You end up without a friendship
© 2008 Julie A. Bonde

Who saves whom?
She walked right past all the slime
Looked right through the grime
Reached through the darkness
Grasped the desperate hand
And found her self saved in the process.

How could she then reason it made sense to later walk away,
And let go of the hand that had saved her?
© 2008 Julie A. Bonde

The profit of friendship
Smiling
Gotta smirk in my soul
Know that it’s because I like who I am
That I like who you are when you’re with me
When we’re together, we know the secrets
The idiocies that make life so silly
You can’t help but have a smirk
In your soul
© 2008 Julie A. Bonde