Divine in disguise

The divine wears many disguises —

Learning to appreciate them all

Is the work of a lifetime...

Outside the box

There’ll always be those days

When it seems that everyone else

Knows exactly where they fit

And where they’re supposed to be;

When you’re left outside, standing in the rain,

Wondering what’s next and where to go.

Try not to see yourself as lost,

But rather as escaped, and embarking 

on a fabulous new adventure.

A shared abundance

The same spirit that enlivens us enlivens them:

So how can we begrudge them

The sharing of a few leaves;

A pause for refreshment on their journey?

Equal exposure

What if all the shakeups in life

Are not to sort the good from the bad,

But rather to ensure

That everyone gets equal exposure

To the warmth of the sun?

Love is our response

Love is our response

To people and things that echo

Some capacity; some truth within ourselves,

And so, when we contemplate the sky,

And revel in its magnificence, its color,

The vastness it conveys, 

That becomes an opportunity to appreciate;

To acknowledge the magnificent vastness and color

That lies within us, at the heart of being.

Let your heart speak

Everyone you’ll ever meet 

Is secretly crying, “Love me!”

Why not let your eyes and heart

Spill out the words each person longs to hear?

The grace that keeps us afloat

Conscious as we are

Of our own flaws and imperfections,

We forget to remember 

to be grateful for the grace

That brought us here, that keeps us afloat,

That guides us to each new destination

And helps us carry others to theirs.

The colors within

On these gray days we look within,

Discovering anew

That the Divine has clothed us in light

And filled our souls with color

With which we are charged to bless the world.

Our common quest

There are so many different ways 

to welcome the light.

Why argue about the proper stance?

It’s the willingness to maintain 

Our focus and attention 

On the coming of the light

That unites us in our common quest 

For truth, for unity, and compassion.

Be patient and trust

There will be days when your way is blocked;

When all your plans go up in smoke,

When precious opportunities are missed

For unexpected circumstances.

Instead of railing at your fate, sit back and trust:

This path is blocked because something big

Is making its way through;

Some greater benefit will bless the world,

And the time and space you give

Contributes to that blessing.

It may even be that this delay is to ensure

That you’re where you need to be

When you need to receive 

Your own particular blessing.

Reach out

Reach out, across the apparently

unbridgeable divide

That separates one island of thought

From another.

Perhaps, though you can’t get all the way,

The other side, encouraged by your efforts,

Might launch an invitation 

to meet in the middle...

Lift your heart

Lift your hearts to the mountain of joy;

Sing songs of praise to the sea and the sky

In gratitude for the beauty of this life.

Prepare the ground for new life

As the snow melts into puddles,

Replenishing the earth,

So our sadness and tears 

Prepare the ground 

For the new life that awaits us.

However far away it may seem at this moment,

Spring is waiting greenly in the wings.

Each of us a river bed

Each of us a river bed,

Over and through which life is flowing,

Broadening, deepening with the years,

And carrying grains, traces of being

Out into the world.

The truth that lies beneath

Chilled as we are by the incessant rain

Of incendiary posts, articles, and prognostications,

We find it increasingly difficult

To detect even the hazy outlines

Of the truth — whatever it may be —

That lies beneath.

Our true colors

Who I am, and who you are, and who he is —

Each totally unique and wonderful —

When will we release our need 

To be other than who we were born to be?

When will we relax 

And let our true selves greet the world 

in our own true colors?

The Divine has many masks

It would be a mistake to assume

That just because the roof is overgrown with ferns,

And the windows and doors are open,

That this simple hut cannot provide

A shelter from the storm;

That there could be no treasure hidden

In the confines of this space...

So, too, our assumptions regarding

Those we see who may appear

unkempt or vacant may well prove false.

The Divine has many masks.

Lies like a blanket of snow

Lies, like snow, reduce the world

To a melody in black and white —

Easy to sing, but harsh and cold;

Potentially deadening.

You’re in or you’re out, you’re right or you’re wrong,

You’re one of us or you’re not.

Truth, like Spring, has a broader range,

Alive with color, warmth, and possibility.

Divine shelter

Like a warm cabin in a snowy forest,

The divine spark within is always waiting 

to welcome our return;

A loving shelter in life’s storms...

The song in your heart

There’s a song playing, deep in your heart.

Can you hear it? Close your eyes and listen

To the music of the soul. Let it sing to you

Of wholeness, and love, 

and the path you’re meant to follow 

Today.

Celebrate the blend

Life will always be a mix

Of dark and light, beauty and grit,

Old and new, colorful and confusing,

Sacred and.

Learn to appreciate and celebrate the blend.

Paddle toward your dreams

You have everything you need 

to make this journey,

And you know we’re more likely 

to regret what we didn’t do than what we did.

Untie yourself, shake loose from your moorings,

And begin paddling toward your dreams.

Appreciate the unexpected

I understand.

Your life has taken an unexpected detour;

This wasn’t the path you chose for yourself.

What if you were to take a moment 

and just appreciate the unexpected scenery?

Scent of the light

Something about the scent of the light —

Of future, and possibility —

Keeps us moving forward even when

The path seems increasingly unclear.

Sail bravely

Sail bravely past the islands of 

If Only and I Could Have,

And steer forth into the bright sea of I Will.

Our common humanity

It is in delving into and exploring

That which makes us unique, different, lonely,

That we discover the common humanity

That lies at the root of diversity.

Time to move on

If you’ve been spending your time in a place

Where nothing you do is ever enough,

It may at last be time to move on...

The Now beneath my feet

Staring down the corridor of months
And wondering what the new year will bring:
What complexities? What confusion?
What sadness, and what joy?
Time to remove my shoes
And feel the Now beneath my feet...

This bright path

While walking this bright path

between two dark eternities --

before, and after --

what will we find?

What joys, what obstacles encounter on the way?

For those longing for more

It seems, however comfortable we are,
There will always be those of us
Who long for more.
The secret to a happy life
is learning to appreciate
The blessings of the Now.

Await the winds of change

In meditation we wait, like seeds,
drawing sustenance from the stillness and the dark,
For the new day to begin,
For the winds of change to fill our sails
And call us out of safety,
Out of thought and reminiscence into action...