We'll have to trust

We’ll have to trust:

However thick the fog may prove,

There will always be lights to guide us

Safely into harbor.

Choose not the darkness

Given the right environment,

Anything can flourish, even hatred.

But we can choose not to let

darkness grow in the cracks of our souls.

Toward a greater whole

Does the tree condemn the flower

For her height, or for her color?

Let all of nature teach us truth: that you and I

Together with our differences make a greater whole.

A longing for safety

My prayer today’s a longing

For an end to senseless violence;

For places where we gather to worship

To be safe no matter what our faith may be.

You'll just have to trust

Some days you’ll just have to trust

That wherever you find yourself,

However strange the circumstances,

There will still be a path.

That Restless Feeling

That restless feeling,

when you’re itching to get out and paddle

But have no clue where you’re supposed to go...

The road ahead

The road ahead grows narrower still,

And standing here, I brace myself and wonder:

Will I have the courage to walk those final steps,

Not knowing what awaits me at the end?

Mystery

In mystery we find

Both solace and inspiration.

Present Beauty

Stay focused on the beauty

Of this present moment;

Let the mountains of your past and future

Fade into the mist.

Laughing like sunflowers

Laughing like sunflowers,

We lift our hearts to the light

And drink in the last golden rays of summer.

Final flamenco

The dahlia’s practical pointed petals,

touched by death’s demented fairies,

curl and turn to lace 

as she performs her final flamenco 

and fades to dust.

Spellbound

We watch in autumn, spellbound,

as the trees reach out with desperate fingers

for one last taste of light before they fall.

The sun will rise

However dark things may appear,

Always remember: the sun will rise again.

Be gentle with yourself

Fragile, delicate, ephemeral—

You are a precious flower:

Be gentle with yourself today.

The path to peace

Come, leave the busy cafe of thoughts behind

And stroll along the quiet path to peace.

Let your eyes and heart be fed by the scent

Of green and the song of silence.

Ready to serve

Look past the worn, the scarred, the torn,

The rusted and the mended

To the heart of service, the willingness,

The quiet competence and patience

As she awaits the chance to serve again.

Defusing anger

What will we do today to defuse this anger
That hangs so heavily, like a wound
Upon our hearts; that endangers all
And seeks not hope, but only to destroy...

Breathe in the cool

Take a deep breath.

And now, take another.

Breathe in the cool, the calm, the peace,

And carry it out into your day.

Listening for wisdom

Beneath the blazing dogwood,

Amid the whispering ferns,

My Buddha listens quietly

For the wisdom of the earth.

Creativity

Creativity takes many forms.

Where will yours lead you today?

To know we'll bloom again

It takes more courage than I have today

To trust that everything will be okay;

That all our efforts can’t have been in vain;

To bloom and die and know we’ll bloom again.

Lost and found

Only when we’ve admitted we’re lost

Will we finally be found

By where, and what, and why

We’re meant to be.

I will still be here

The crows call insults from their lofty perch,

But the falling leaves and darkening sky

Mean they will soon be gone.

I, on the other hand, will still be here

To endure the winter they have left behind.

Out of the woulds

The path that once seemed clear and full of possibility

Has now been lost amid a host of shadowy probabilities.

How will hope find her way out of these woulds?

Reflections

Staring at my own reflection,

waiting for the world to change...

The chill sets in

We watch the trees put on their caps of gold,

Then shiver as the mountains reach

For their caps of winter white.

All hope of summer gone, the chill sets in.

Don't shut down

While everything within me wants

To shut out the world, close down, turn in,

The roses in my garden

Are still offering their fragile petals,

Turning trusting faces to the sun.

Hard to watch

It’s hard for us to watch each fall

As the fabric of this precious life

Is broken, torn, and shattered.

Harder still, these days, to trust

That spring and innocence might ever return.

How will you bloom?

The flower’s job is simply to bloom,

And in so doing she blesses all around her.

How will you bloom today?

Wash away the tension

Standing at the waterfall

I feel the tension wash away

And in its place a clarity,

An open receptivity emerges:

Refreshment for the week and work to come.