Jun 23, 2009

Losing Your True North

Sometimes life is full of wonderful surprises

Blessings, really, that you know you don't deserve

I believe that's God's grace blowing through

Making you know you are seen and heard and loved

Sometimes that gift comes in a way

That makes your world so complete

Someone understands you deeply

Someone encourages your gifts

Someone loves you with an earthly love

Like you have not experienced before

When that gift is given it changes you

You see the world in these bright vivid colors

A rainbow--so glorious and brilliant

And the horizon is forever illuminated ahead

The gift is given and you know you won't be the same

And you long to know that the gift will last forever

But you can only take it one day at a time

Because, for you, it's like a miracle

That you've spent your life longing for

You find your true north

It is deep and satisfying

It is joyful and hopeful

It is deep and sensitive

It is a culmination

Of dreams finally coming true

Then just like that

Your true north disintegrates before you

The path you were traveling twists and turns again

And you are left with an ache that can't be described

Yet, your true north is a journey

To find who you were truly created to be

Persistent love that brought you here

And though it has been taken away

You look up through the tears

And a rainbow lights the sky again

Reminding you

God keeps His promises

And He will never leave

Just keep true north

Burning in your heart.


Jun 17, 2009

BE GOOD FRIENDS


BE GOOD FRIENDS

“Be good friends
Who love deeply.
Face each other
In love and understanding.”

In friendship, be true and open
Your lives and hearts
And in humility pray for each other
For patience, wisdom, peace,
Forgiveness and trust.

And embrace the failings and hurts
That are caused and received
In honesty and in understanding—
To accept each other in all our humanness

For this simple truth remains:
Sharing and receiving love in true,
Deep, connected friendship in concrete ways
Requires us to open our hearts, to risk ourselves—
And there is some pain and uncomfortableness
In that truth.

But only in honest, authentic friendship
That is given by God
Can we learn about ourselves
And each other—
The treasures in our hearts,
Who God has called us to be
What gifts we have to offer the world

For in God-given ordinariness
We rediscover each other
In a profound way.


Jun 10, 2009

When the Soul Grows Through Loss

Loss always brings grief--

Sometimes loss is life-altering

Sometimes it's less intense
Sometimes the onset sudden
Sometimes it comes quietly and slowly
Like the night falling on the distant horizon


For so long I was afraid to dream my dreams
So aware that my life had taken twists and turns
That I had never though would happen to me
So I tucked my dreams away deep inside myself


But I found new joy as I found such peace
As I discovered my dreams again
Making the passions of my soul soar
Experiencing this innate God-given joy inside


Greeting the darkness with an assurance
That the light will shine again
Starting as a small spark, a glow, a glimmer
Giving way to the light to shine brightly


Even through grief and suffering
Realizing the soul grows through loss
Knowing now that dreams are meant to dream
But God's dreams may be much different than mine


Realizing the depth of loss
Means there was a depth of love
And that can never be viewed
As anything less than a pure gift


Trusting God--the One who never leaves
To walk through the storms
To reshape, reform, renew
Through grace that transforms


Forcing me to come to the end of myself
To find the new beginning again--
Growing in my deepest spirtual self
Living out the innate joy inside
Striving to live compassion in the world
So aware of the gift of simple blessings

Grateful for each day
Joyful for what was
Thankful for what is
Hopeful for what is yet to be

Jun 1, 2009

Life Anchor

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

When the storms I don't expect

Gently start in the whisper of the wind

And end up blowing furiously, one big deep wisp after another

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

When what is beautiful

Slowly falls apart and I cannot stop its destruction

Dreams dashed, relationships crumbled, leaving me hollow inside

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

When the darkest of nights fall around

When the fiercest of storms come my way

And I am left in the silence, in the rubble, in the pain

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

Like the woman at the well--a soul searcher

Needing to be made whole from the inside out

I come needing to drink of life-giving water

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

Who already paid the price for my freedom

On the cross where my stains were paid in full

Only hope and grace of the cross remain

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

For I am consumed and I need release

For this hole that reveals the scars in my heart

Can only be made full in the One who never leaves

Life-Anchor, hold me steady

For no pain, or struggle or sin can separate me

From finding the magnificent beauty and light

When I lay everything at the foot of the cross.

Life-Anchor.