Passion and Persuasion

I went with my daughter to hear a beloved former pastor speak on the subject of evangelism. It seems that many churches believe this is a teachable skill. I'm not sure that evangelism is possible without a personal passion burning so brightly that people are drawn to the flame. Those that walk the walk toward joyful Holiness will have others asking to hear the talk.

When Richard and I were in Costa Rica many years ago, the praying mantises would be so drawn to the candlelight on our dinner table that they would reach for it and burn their little "hands". When my grandson was about two years old, he spied the sun setting over the water, jumped off the couch, and as he was drawn like in a trance toward the sight, he said, "Granny, look at the big orange ball. Can I touch it?". With these words, he put out his adorable little fingers with full confidence that he could touch the sun. All life is drawn to the light.

Some people just glow with their glory in God, their joy in Jesus, their happiness in the Holy Spirit, their peace in The Paraclete. How can others resist this power of persuasion? The most blessed with the light are the most needed to walk into the valley of darkness to retrieve the lost. This former pastor seems to be one of these people.

I have had several of my most cherished people facing cancer in the last year. They were at peace while I was dying inside. When I asked how they could be at such a peaceful place in the face of death, they immediately and repeatedly proclaimed that their peace came from their faith in the lessons taught by Jesus. I have faith, but I'm still dying inside at the thought of losing them.

I guess I wouldn't worry so much about missing the faces, voices, hugs, smiles, and smells of my loved ones if I was the one going to God. And I sure hate knowing that they'll be so happy that they'll never miss me as a mere mortal. I am, however, thrilled that they're not adding their own fear to my mourning, and it all comes from a belief in the promise of the Eternal Spirit of Wholeness.

There's an old church song taught to children, "I've got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart..." Live it and they will come, and when they ask how you can be so joyful even in the face of death, be prepared with an answer straight from your heart about the source of your joy.

Helping Holiness

It has occurred to me that greed and speed
Have convinced us that we have unmet need.
This has been our curse since our beginning,
The opening volley in mankind's sinning.

We talk about trusting in our God,
But I find it to be increasingly odd
That we want to force change in each other,
Not understanding our sisters and brothers.

Everything seems a competition for more,
Instead of accepting what I was meant for.
Faster we push to get there first;
The more we get, things only get worse.

It is not meant for me to save all of man,
But I do have a place in the Infinite Plan.
I'll step back and pray to see my mission;
Only this will clear my clouded vision.

Heal my head and heal my heart
Show me how to play my part
In creating a space for balance and peace,
In this way, helping holiness to increase.

A Winter World

New Orleans in winter with it's many delights,
The food, the passions, the sounds, the sights.
The streetcar rumbling along the track
Calls the city's children to please come back.
Church bells ring out three times a day,
Reminding us to give thanks, ponder, and pray.

In a courtyard, on St. Charles Avenue,
There's a world shared with the blessed few,
The beauty of winter roses in bloom,
The scent of the Sweet Olive's perfume.
Sasanquas are still gracing our eyes
With the winter gardens' most special prize.
The Crepe Myrtle is a flirty tree,
With no winter bark, she's a sight to see,
Enticing with her bare lacy arms
Come June, she'll display all of her charms.
In a secret corner, a magnolia or two
Will scent the summer air with her lemony brew.
Azaleas abound, though they're not in bloom
Dark green a backdrop for the colors coming soon.

People passing in the streets
Saying hello to all one meets.
This city throbs with love for life
Beneath the scars of her ongoing strife.
I want to be here as she rewrites her story
And this Dame in Distress recovers her glory.

Who Knows Where Life Will Lead Me

I've been feeling very conflicted about returning to the snow country of Coker Creek. We have some business to which we have to attend up there, but I'm very uncomfortable about trying to get emergency medical care during periods of being snow bound. Now I have a good excuse for not going home just yet, but I'll be close enough to possibly come for a visit for a snow-free day or two. Of course, we all know I don't overnight in the forest without my man, but I may make an exception if one of my Atlanta girls will accompany me.

My governor's mansion's chef friend in Atlanta tore up the muscles and tendons in her right arm when she fell on Christmas day. Seeing as she's pretty incapacitated and needing surgery, I've decided to accept her offer to come stay with her at her Atlanta area home for a few weeks. Included in this time will be providing chauffeur services to her and her mom for their before-the-diagnosis scheduled post-op trip to Florida.

While in Florida, my friend will accept her recently deceased husband's award for his work in establishing safety standards for residential window washers at the annual window cleaners convention. Can I be any more selfless than to move in with a renowned chef in a non-snow bound city, and go for a dead-of-winter trip to Florida with a best buddy?

My many-talented man is probably going to stay in New Orleans helping manage the refurbishing of a PT boat for the World War II Museum. The project director's wife is having multiple cancer surgeries, so I may just travel north without my Richard. I may be crazy leaving my man alone in the City of Sin, but I sure like leaving him in the hands of a bunch of boat builders better than with my widow women friends in the forest. I'd hate for them to get to used to having his talents around their houses and decide to keep him for their very own.

Who knows where life will lead me next. All these people in my life certainly make for many adventures.

Whole Again

It seems to me that we are meant to see
The Almighty as The Creator of our history.
Since time began for woman and for man
We've been part of a master plan.

We know we've strayed and pulled apart
The world that portrays Creation's heart.
Isn't it time we seek the fear to end,
And focus on ways to help our earth to mend?

Let's begin by confessing to sisters and brothers
The ways that we know we've wronged each other.
Open our hearts to becoming, once more, one;
In The Holy Spirit we're daughters and sons.

We're the children of Creation's light most pure,
Striving to find the eternal cure
For our turning from The Light in our arrogance.
Each of us must now seek to mend the broken fence.

We are not meant to look and talk the same;
We are sent to gather the well and the lame.
The common call of Eternal Peace,
We must pray to find a way to release.

Let us send it out on wings of doves,
With a message of Infinite Saving Love.
Let's share our joy and absorb others' pain,
So with all Creation we may be whole again.

Rejection and Resetting

Why do our babies fight us when they don't need us anymore;
Can't they say, "I'll call you" and gently close the door?
Why do they act as if they always knew how to walk?
Are words of angry rejection why they were taught to talk?

Dare I take the chance of finally saying, "No more";
To find out what values bind us at our core?
Love is not a feeling; it's action and a bond,
I can deeply love a person of whom I don't feel fond.

It seems that when we have opened our souls to our friends,
The relationships are not strengthened; rather, they're bound to end.
The pupa can't become a butterfly without being set free.
I pray that the reset button leads the butterflies back to me.

Sometimes I'm told that I make my own hell,
A lightless dungeon in which I often dwell.
I always see a glimmer, no matter how far away.
When the darkness scares me, I grab a friend and pray.

All The Love Has Leaked Out

Sometimes I see lives where all the love has leaked out.
I'm not sure where it began or what it's all about;
All I know is that at some point, what was there is gone,
Leaving everyone who loves both people feeling so forlorn.
What can we do to help those who are searching in the dark?
How can we help them reignite their relationship spark?
I think that we can only look back at their younger selves,
Hoping to find the sweetness that in every baby dwells.
Push the reset button to help them heal the pain;
Assist them and their loved ones to find their purity again.