Saturday, April 30, 2016

The Ground Is LOVE

YOU ARE FREE
Live.
Make mistakes.
Screw everything up.
But live anyway.
Taste failure. Taste success.
See how in the end,
they taste the same.
They taste of you.
They taste of life.
They taste of the love you always sought.
So live.
Make mistakes.
Screw everything up.
Say the right thing.
Say the wrong thing.
Shake, sweat, let the heart pound.
Find your edge and never abandon it.
They will call you names.
An idiot. Afraid. Deluded. Mad.
So taste rejection. Taste disapproval.
Taste the absence of any taste.
But hold yourself close.
Breathe.
And live.
Love. Break open to love.
Make mistakes.
Screw everything up.
Fall to the ground, laughing, crying.
Love is going to hold you.
The ground is always the ground.
The ground is love.
And you are free.
~Jeff Foster

Friday, April 29, 2016

Circle of Life

According to the proverb,
the longest way round is the shortest way home. 
It seems to be necessary
to try to discover the secret by going somewhere
in order to learn
that you already possess it. 
The path always takes you round
in a circle,
back to the place
where
you stand.

Alan Watts,
The Meaning of Happiness

Gabby's Pearls

Today's Daily Lesson comes from Matthew chapter 7 verse 6:

"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you."
At home we've been watching "Eyes on the Prize", the superlative, and award-winning 14-episode documentary on the Civil Rights Movement from the death of Emmett Till all the way to the rise of Southern black mayors, congressmen, and other civic leaders.

One of the most challenging parts of watching this film is to see my daughter Gabrielle's reaction to so much of the documentary footage where segregationists decry the mixing of races. As a bi-racial child, she takes every mean-spirited and cruel thing said with a degree of deeply felt personal pain. Even at 60 years distance the words still sting.  Perhaps I should not be surprised given that she is 9 years old and entering the time of life when identity becomes such a powerful influence over us.

"Why do they say those things?" she asks with her head hung down and a drawn look in her eye.

"They didn't know any better," I tell her. "Remember what Jesus said on the Cross, 'Father forgive them because they don't know better,'?"

I want her to have compassion on these people -- to seek to understand and love them even if they would not have understood or loved our family.  I do not want her to grow hard-hearted toward anyone.

And yet, I also want her to learn to protect herself and her heart. This is a lesson that goes beyond race and racial politics. She will have to learn that there are people out there of all different races and places and creeds and genders who just aren't very nice. In fact, they're mean -- perhaps just as mean in spirit as the segregationists in the film.  Part of the task now -- and part of the reason why we are watching this documentary -- is because I know Gabrielle will have learn to protect herself and her own spirit from the abuse and ridicule of people who simply don't like who she is and what she stands for.

Jesus says in today's Lesson, "Do not cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them underfoot and come and maul you."  The pearl of great price is the soul of who we are -- our true identity.

And what I'm trying to teach Gabrielle is that she is not to give that away to anybody.

Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Of Birds and Flowers

Today's Daily Lesson is a TBT Lesson from Matthew chapter 6:

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"
I read these words from Jesus to my daughter and in her seven-year-old naïveté she takes it all in on such a simple level.  In fact, she takes everything Jesus says at face.  "God feeds the birds. And look how pretty the flowers are - God clothed them.  Don't worry; the LORD will provide."

But she doesn't pay the bills or have to worry about insurance. The real world and all its struggle haven't hit her yet. She sees how the birds of the air are fed and the flowers of the field are clothed, but it hasn't dawned on her just how short the lifespan of a bird or the season of a flower really is.  I read to her Jesus' words and in my anxious and somewhat cynical adult mind I think (though I don't have the heart to say), "Yes, sweetie, look at the birds of the air and the flowers of the field; but don't look too long - for they won't last.  Soon they'll be gone."

But then it dawned on me not long ago - perhaps that's just Jesus' point.  The lives of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field are but a hair's breadth in length.  And yet, they make the most of the time they have. The birds set off in flight, dancing left and right, swooping down towards the earth, ascending towards heaven.  And the flowers dance in the field, blazing with a purple, even a king cannot afford.  The birds soar.  The flowers dazzle.  They live!  And they don't spend all day worrying about tomorrow.

"You must become like a child again," Jesus said.  In other words, I must learn to think like my daughter once more - open to hear Jesus' words at face value and to look with open and wondrous eyes to the birds of the air and to the flowers of the field in order to learn how to live.

                                                     The Mind of the Child:
"Look at the birds and the flowers - how God provides for them."

The Mind of the Adult:
"Birds fall.  Flowers fade.  It doesn't last long."

The Mind of the Adult Born Again as a Child:
"Yes, birds fall.  Flowers fade.  And it doesn't last long.
But they sure seem to enjoy it while it lasts."

Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts

Thursday, April 21, 2016

Far & Wide

For the Jewish and Christian tradition,
God is specifically encountered in history and relationships,
not in analysis.
Community and experiencing life together in the context of human history--
which is longer and wider than our individual lives
--help us trust reality and grow into fullness.
~R. Rohr

Rear View

At first I thought I was in a kayak,
riding the wild rapids of a river.
Then I realized it's more like being in a rowboat,
facing backward as I move downstream.
You have to look backward in order to go forward.
~Chris Haw

Tough (Tender) Love

John Donne wrote, "Batter my heart, three person'd God."  A battering ram is a strange metaphor for God. But it is indeed a good metaphor for the One who will stop at nothing to break down our defenses and finally get at us.

The term we have for this is "tough love", which when it comes from God is more tender than we can ever imagine.


~Ryon Price, Second Thoughts

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Hindsight


Exodus chapter 33 verses 17 through 23:

Moses could see only the backside of the LORD, as the LORD passed by.  There is a sense in which whatever we see or know to be true about God is always apophatic; it is always the backside of God's glory and movement. We can never in any moment be completely aware of where God is and where God is going, but only where God has been and where God is commanding us to follow.  In other words, we never see God coming but only going.

And that makes this whole faith thing -- this journey with God -- quite unpredictably exciting, and even these rear glimpses we get of God quite incredibly breathtaking.

Ryon Price, 2nd Thoughts

Telling it backwards...


December 20, 2014

Friday, December 20, 2013     Ahhh...yes.


"Forget trying to have the perfect experience.
 Forget trying to get life right.
 Sink into your current experience.
 Let it wash over you, drown in its embrace.



When you feel lost, heartbroken, unsure where to turn,
 When doubts smoulder and questions rage,
 Know that this is only Love in disguise,
 Burning all your dreams of tomorrow to dust.   


You are doing better than you ever could imagine..."



- Jeff Foster
  

Saturday, December 21, 2013     45 Years TODAY!
45 years ago (plus a few days), Rob and I
returned from a 3-day honeymoon in the metroplex 
to our little rock house just off the HSU campus 
to begin "married life".

The more anniversaries we celebrate, the more I realize
how very young we were at the time--
just 20 and 21, for goodness sake!
Yet we were doing exactly what we thought you did
during those days when graduating college 
without at least an engagement ring was suspect.

Anyway, when we got "home" on Christmas Eve,
to my surprise and delight, 
there was a little Christmas tree in our living room,
all lit up and fully decorated by my brand new husband.
What a sweetie!

As evidenced by many entries on this blog, our trusty silk 
ficus tree has been our seasonal celebration tree 
since we moved to Lubbock four years ago,  
and something I've enjoyed decorating for the grand-boys.
 But seasons change...
and it's been a while since the ficus was decorated.

This year, Rob and I will get to celebrate Christmas Eve
 and Christmas Day as just the two of us,
with a movie marathon and dinner out in store.
And, after 45 years, it's my turn to trim a little tree.
Happy Anniversary to My Rob.
I love you!
PS:  This just in...
Rob just texted that he's been "released from duty" 
and will be coming home three days early for the holidays...
arriving at 2PM TODAY!
Now how's that for a Christmas Miracle?

Breaking Up with Your Ego


“The present moment holds the key to liberation. But you cannot find the present moment as long as you are in your mind.”

“To the ego, the present moment hardly exists.  Only past and future are considered important. It is always concerned with keeping the past alive, because without it—who are you?”

“The mind can never find the solution, nor can it afford to allow you to find the solution, because it is itself an intrinsic part of the ‘problem.’”

“Real love doesn’t make you suffer. How could it?  It doesn’t suddenly turn into hate, nor does real joy turn into pain.”

“The greater part of human pain is unnecessary.  It is self-created as long as the unobserved mind runs your life.  The pain that you create now is always some form of non-acceptance, some form of unconscious resistance to what ‘is.’”

“Surrender to what ‘is.’ Say ‘yes’ to life—and see how life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.”

“Accept—then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.  Always work with it, not against it.  Make it your friend and ally, not your enemy.  This will miraculously transform your whole life.”

“Power over others is weakness disguised as strength. True power is within and it is available to you now.”

“Problems of the mind cannot be solved on the level of the mind.”

“The past gives you an identity and the future holds the promise of salvation, of fulfillment in whatever form. Both are illusions.”

“Your life situation may be full of problems—most life situations are—but find out if you have a problem at this moment.  Not tomorrow or in ten minutes, but now. Do you have a problem now?  When you are full of problems, there is no room for anything new to enter, no room for a solution.  So whenever you can, create some room, create some space, so that you find the life underneath your life situation.”

“How can we drop negativity? By dropping it.  How do you drop a piece of hot coal that you are holding in your hand?  How do you drop some heavy and useless baggage that you are carrying?  By recognizing that you don’t want to suffer the pain or carry the burden anymore and then letting go of it.”

“If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.”

“Die to the past every moment. You don’t need it.”

“Every form is destined to dissolve again and ultimately nothing out there matters all that much.  You have ‘overcome the world,’ in the words of Jesus, or, as the Buddha put it, you have ‘crossed over to the other shore.’”

“Love is a state of being. Your love is not outside; it is deep within you. You can never lose it, and it cannot leave you.  It is not dependent on some other body, some external form.”

“To suddenly see that you are or have been attached to your pain can be quite a shocking realization.  The moment you realize this, you have broken the attachment.”

“When you live in complete acceptance of what is, that is the end of all drama in your life.  Nobody can even have an argument with you, no matter how hard he or she tries.  You cannot have an argument with a fully conscious person.”

“Dissolution is needed for new growth to happen.  One cannot exist without the other.  The down cycle is absolutely essential for spiritual realization.  You must have failed deeply on some level or experienced some deep loss or pain to be drawn to the spiritual dimension.”

“Watch any plant or animal and let it teach you acceptance of what is, surrender to the Now.  Let it teach you Being.  Let it teach you integrity.  Let it teach you how to live and how to die, and how not to make living and dying into a problem.”

 From THE POWER OF NOW, Eckhart Tolle

What about this, Eckhart?

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

The Mercy Bowl

Of course, we won't become vulnerable enough to connect unless we learn to trust over and over again. Einstein is said to have claimed this to be the most important question: "Is the universe a friendly place or not?" The spiritual experience is about trusting that when you stop holding yourself, Inherent Goodness will still uphold you. Many of us call that God, but you don't have to. It is the trusting that is important.

When you fall into such Primal Love,
you realize that everything is foundationally okay.
~R. Rohr


The Gift

Lord, in my time of pain

Restore my soul again.
Humbled and weak, I stand.
I need your love.

Lord, in my deep despair
I wonder, are you there?
And through a wordless prayer,
I seek your love.

And it’s always there,
always there
Like the sea, like the air
Reaching out, fully free
Will I claim it for me?

Lord, in my brokenness,
Amazed, I must confess,
To find in gratefulness
Your love for me.

And it’s always there,
always there
Like the sea, like the air
Reaching out, fully free
Simply gift to me.

 (February 19, 2001)

Monday, April 18, 2016

High-Rising Voices

Each night before curfew,
500 kids in a Kentucky state-wide chorus competition
gather to sing the Star-Spangled Banner
from the balconies of the 18-story atrium
at Louisville's downtown Hyatt. 

2015 KMEA National Anthem

In & Out...Aaaah!



Heaven on Earth

For Jesus, such teachings as

forgiveness,

healing,

and justice

are the clear evidence
of a shared life.

When we do not see this happening,
religion is
"all in the head."

Peacemaking,

forgiveness,

and reconciliation

are not
some kind of
ticket to heaven later.

They are the price
of peoplehood--

the signature
of heaven

--now. 

~Richard Rohr





Forgiveness & Redemption

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Fr. Rohr

God's basic method of communicating God's self is not the "saved" individual, the rightly informed believer, or even personal careers in ministry, but the journey and bonding process that God initiates in community: in marriages, families, tribes, nations, events, scientists, and churches who are seeking to participate in God's love, maybe without even consciously knowing it.
 
There is no other form for the Christian life except a common one. Until and unless Christ is experienced as a living relationship between people, the Gospel remains largely an abstraction. Until Christ is passed on personally through faithfulness and forgiveness, through concrete bonds of union, I doubt whether he is passed on by words, sermons, institutions, or ideas.
Gateway to Silence
We are one in the Spirit.

Thursday, April 14, 2016

Sweet Baby James

James Taylor was our friend,
and like a good friend, he helped our marriage...
I mean, he really did.
Whether it was listening to the old familiar tracks as we travelled
vacation roads, or hearing the words that reminded us
why we were together and would be,
or just feeling like he was singing our hearts to each other
when we had forgotten the words and the tune...
Sweet Baby James was a constant for us.

We heard him in concert 15 years ago,
in Dallas...with Ed & Virginia,
and it was spectacular.

And this was his come-back tour...
and I was there...thanks to my season of 2014...
a move to the Pioneer...a new friend named Joy...
and then this!
I'm telling you, you just cannot make this stuff up.

Icing on the cake:
Zack's texts to ask if he'd played "Frozen Man" or
"Copper Line" yet.
See, those kids in the backseat really are listening!!

Morning after:

And we were there!
 Great seats...
there he is...
bringing him back on...

After he sang what appeared to be his last encore song,
and as folks started heading up and out...
THIS!

"You And I Again"
You and I again, these days go by
And I wish that I could slow the whole thing down
Have it all back again, just one more time
Then again maybe we can't, cause I can't escape this feeling
that we've been this way together, you and I

There You are again, I climbed so high
High enough to finally see your side
Shining in the distance
You were tending your own fire
We were biding our time
Both of us waiting for the moment when our
backs would come together you and I

I see how fierce you are
Never this world would drag us down
How serious you are
Standing on holy ground

And so although I know we are only small
In the time we have here
Maybe we have it all

I see how fierce you are
Never this world would drag us down
How serious you are
Standing on holy ground

And so although I know we are only small
In the time we have here
This time we have it all
You and I again
This time, this time

~James Taylor

Now, listen...and enjoy!

James Taylor - You and I Again

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Most Relaxing Music Ever! Slow down - by Paul Collier (11)

Just Mercy

This book was the "Common Read" for UU this year.
A small group of us read and discussed it,
and now we are exploring ways to share the information,
develop collaborations, and
"make a difference".
Prison Reform?
It seems impossible...and yet, we are committed,
as are others all around our world.
Baby steps...

Wintley Phipps Sings Amazing Grace at Carnegie Hall - YouTube from CMI on Vimeo.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Laughter & Tears

 I sent this to Colleen after our time together yesterday.
Who knew "grief counseling" could include
so much laughter!

Monday, April 11, 2016

I miss him...

 This appeared yesterday afternoon,
 reminding me of this that appeared a year ago today
after we celebrated the life
of the one and only
Rob Mulkey.
Love never dies!

Ends & Odds

Acrylics Class @ 2nd B



 Bank Art
 "Other Desert Cities" @ LCT
 "Paper Tigers" @ AlamoDrafthouse