more Love than fears (for 35 Years)

Thirty-five years

of more Love

and Laughter

than fears

(though plenty

of tears for

situational sorrows

and relational Joy)

have left me

with fewer words

and more Wonder

at what Love

has joined together

that no one

or no thing

has rent asunder

all that might

have destroyed

and buried Us

the blunders

and thunders

of brokenness

and unspokenness

the flurries

of worries

about narrowing finalities

and harrowing Realities

and the uncertainties

of imagined tomorrows

the many things

that could drive 

Us down onto

the wailing Floor

that can also

remind Us

of the prevailing

Flow beneath Us

and between Us

that empowers Us

to authentically Adore

and dovetailingly Engage

in this erratic

and Ecstatic Dance

the Resurrectional Rhythm

of the Love

that married Us

to Each Other

and deployed Us

to bear It

and share It

with All Others

that leaves Us

with this chance

to offer up

Thirty-five Cheers

and Sighs

and Laughs

and (Hope-fully)

many more...

Thanks.

#160wordprayers #FourFortyWordPrayersForOneAndThreeQuarterScoreYearsOfLifeConceivedInTheLibertyOfLove #HalfOfSeventyAccordingToPoppy #35YearsGetsYouStephanieInnAtCannonBeach #LoveYouKLM

puddles and muddles...Ripples and Revelations (*Memorial Day 2025)

Sitting alone on a rainy Monday.

Memorial Day.

A day to remember all those who have given their lives in the service of their country, bravely and sacrificially engaging in the tragic and seemingly unavoidable human irony of 'fighting for Peace'.

Looking out my front window from my candlelit desk.

Jotting some very random thoughts onto a very regulated (lined) note pad.

And then something unexpected caught my eye and captured my attention for a few fleeting moments.

A blue jay.

It's brilliant plumage puncturing the grimy grey of the stormy day.

Landing on a yard of recently roto-tilled dirt dotted with newly-planted bushes and trees.

Hopping its merry way over the humus. pecking at the peat moss. scratching away at the surface of the soil. searching for some seeds.

And plopping into a puny, provisional 'pond' on the edge where the sidewalk and soil meet.

The puddle having appeared as the result of a sprinkler head snapping off and water slowly seeping into the ground.

For the faithful keepers of the grounds and myself, a minor annoyance soon to be remedied by a remodeled drip irrigation system.

For the blue jay, a bounteous, blessed basin in which to bathe.

A makeshift millpond of mud in which to be washed.

Face refreshed, feathers flushed, and flying away in a matter of seconds.

And wee, winsome waves, remnants from rustling wings, gently rippling through the water.

i encounter a puddle appearing in the 'wrong' place resulting from a human-made system breaking down. and all i can see is a 'problem' to be solved by more human-made ingenuity.

A bird sees some dirty water that can make her clean.

People experience circumstances in life and brokenness in humanity that create caverns of confusion and conundrums of conflict, tiny puddles of pain in our psyches that transform into tumultuous torrents of muddle in our souls. And all we seem to do is rage against the machinery that has mangled our manifest destinies, and then manufacture new machinery to counteract those maniacal powers that have seemingly harrowed our hopes and destroyed our dreams.

Nature seems to face circumstances as they come, and simply works with whatever life provides to move forward.

We live to eat and fight for Peace.

A bird eats to live and flies in Peace.

And i'm reminded that the extent to which we are willing to give our lives is connected to what is essential in order to live our lives.

And that the sordid squalor in which we so often wallow and wrestle could actually be the Sacred Sanctuary in which we more often Wander and Wonder.

And that a tiny ripple in an inadvertent puddle can be the catalyst of remembrance, and contain the Reverberations of Revelation. 

(NOTE: This is NOT the one that landed in my yard. For once, i was too busy actually paying attention to and engaging in the life right before my eyes rather than distracting myself by trying to 'capture' it, and missing the Revelations that came enfolded in its curious careening.

(*Written on Memorial Day 2013...and for some reason, not published until Memorial Day 2025)

collapses and Synapses

trying to drift

off to sleep

but the wait

for my Psyche

to softly slip

in to sleep 

is increasingly stretched

out to lengths

untenable and unbearable

by the weight

of the world

(apparently unrepairable)

hurtling down from

the heavens like

boulders of lead

upon my head

swirling like dervishes 

of despair converging

into a taught

knot of terrorizing

tightness and frightness 

in my chest

swelling like tsunamis

of bludgeoning blame

and secret shame

within my Soul

(seemingly unsharable) 

demeaning my Self

for not beaming

more Hopeful Light

into a World

curling in upon

Its Self amidst

being battered by

the relentless waves

of ignorant ignominy

and monstrous misogyny

and shameless greed

and endless need

with petulant progeny

stirring up animosity

(rather than fostering

our innate inter-relationality)

and supposedly 'fulfilling

ancient prophecy' in

ways far more

divisive than Divine 

and rendering any

fleetingly flailing energy

to embody empathy

as daunting drudgery

in failing lethargy

leaving me feeling

like a dope

waiting for Godot

(or a plume

of Pope smoke)

to help me

cope with wondering

if i have

any room left

within my Soul

(scared and scarred

and barely Sacred)

to even care

about our Cosmology

or our Community

or our Humanity

which drives me

to a place

ravaged and bare

where the only

Water to share

are my tears

of aching despair...

and it's right

in that moment

of possible collapse

that the Light

sparks a synapse

in my Psyche

that transforms my

fear-based flagellations into

a Love-embraced Revelation 

that maybe 

it's when

i feel like

i don't care 

(weepily)

about anything

(or anyone)

that i find

i do care 

(Deeply)

about Everything

(and Everyone)

and so

i let go

of the rope

onto which (not 

from which) i 

had been hanging

and allow my

Self to slow

down and settle

my head into 

the pillow that 

had been serving 

as a wall 

into which i 

had been banging

whilst lying

and sighing

and crying

and dying

and trying

to Rest...

Thanks.

#333wordprayers #Eastertide2025 #LetGoAndLetLove #FaithfulReleaseCanUnleashJusticeAndPeace

('Synapses' © Corrina Chirila)

the First City

the last Time

i hurtled through

Space and Time

at a speed

and a height

that mere Humans

were not Created

to safely endure

for a distance

that my Forebears

could barely survive

from one shining

Sea to Another

through an Ocean

of Spacious Sky 

it was clear

enough to see

another sparkling Sea

(not quite Superior

but Great nonetheless)

with a City

on the shore

(not a hill

but shining nonetheless)

shimmering with Promise

and expansive (yet

unjustly expensive) Hope

and i Marveled 

at this Hallowed

and Heavenly sight

like a dream

manifest in Reality

(which i would

one Day see

for my Self)...

but this Time

the view is

murky and clouded

by stormy Skies

which both disguise

and sadly surmise

the sordid state

of our dis-union

the raging disease

of man-infest destinies

and turbulent tyrannies

enacted and exacted

by wanna-be dictators

disposing of essential

Human Rights whilst

posing for fame

overcompensating for their

insecurities and uncertainties

by blowing lots

of hot air

to douse the

Embers of Equity

and Humane Equality

(which only rouses

them into Flame)

blurring the Vision

of our Divine

sense of Mission

with a desperate

attempt at political

and sociological fission

like our Existence 

is some kind

of maniacal game...

yet whilst shrouded

mists of mayhem

reign supreme below

there is Grace

ever shining Above

the frantic fray

a Radiant Canopy

of Resplendent Love

with Space to

Breathe in deeply

a soothing Breeze

of Sacred Spirit

and to see

a Beautiful Vision

that extends beyond

a Second City

to the First

of Its Kind

where it's cool

to be Kind

where the cruel

are given Light

to recognize the

Rays of Revealing

that illuminate all

that paralyzing fear

has been concealing

giving new Sight

to the blind

and new Delight

to all who

Seek (and Find

that We are

already Found and

Freed) never bound

to any system

or religion or

philosophy or creed

but only to 

our Eternal Lover

and Each Other

and our need

to be there

for Each Other

Together in all

kinds of weather

through all Time...

Thank You.

#350wordprayers #Eastertide2025 

(Two pictures from 35,000 feet...one three years ago, the other yesterday...)

Ours (May Day 2025)

awakening in darkness

seems most fitting

on this Day

where most

(if not all)

of my Senses

and Sensibilities

feel increasingly numb

and my Psyche

is unceasingly splitting

and my hours

are perturbingly wasted

spending more time

wrestling with anxieties

and disturbing uncertainties

whilst finding it

harder to plumb

the Sacred Depths

of Divine Infinities

my reptilian Brain

violently whirled up

struggling to keep

the plates spinning

whilst mindlessly grinning

showing all others

a 'hopeful' face

yet knowing it

is only masking

what feels like

an unending disgrace

the increasing futilities

of endlessly laboring

in a World

gone mostly insane

(virulently taking actions

incomprehensible and reprehensible

and blatantly inhumane)

and wondering if

all this effort

to plant Seeds

of unlimited Love

has mostly been

undertaken in vain

and leads me

to questioning whether

it might be

best to consider

the surrendered simplicity

of quietly quitting

or shouting out

in vibrant alarm

to any Being

who might listen

a fear-filled 'Mayday!'...

yet even though

the suffocating starkness

of incriminatory injustice

and discriminatory depravity

(disguised as 'piety')

can leave Us

feeling such depths

of hopeless despair

that we may 

not even care 

whether or not 

the weather ever 

changes since Life 

has seemingly been

reduced to death

there remains hidden

within those depths

those pesky Seeds

planted deeper still

unseen yet present

(not unlike Hope)

to remind Us

that all Life

starts in the Dark

whether It be

Seeds in the Soil

Babies in the Womb

Jesus in the tomb

and this Planet

(our chaotically crazed

and Cosmic Home)

is perpetually spinning

towards the Light

and the Sun

is not Arising

but We ARE

again and again

each blessed morning

a new dawning

into a perennially

beautiful May Day

with blessed showers

(of rain and tears)

washing away fears

watering those Seeds

that blossom into

gorgeously glorious Flowers

of endless Varieties

quietly singing out

Songs of Praise

for the Love

freely flowing out

in Radiant Rays

displaying the Divinity

of a Brilliant Infinity

that is neither

yours nor mine

but Ours...

Thanks.

#340wordprayers #Eastertide2025 #MayDay2025 #LoveIsStrongerThatDeath #HopeIsPresentEvenInDespair #WeAreAResurrectionOfLoveAndHopeAndJusticeAndPeace #AlwaysConsiderTheLilies #JesusAndCreationAndBarbaraBrownTaylorFTW

Hours (Holy Saturday 2025)

Sometimes the Stars

are no longer

visible to hang

our Wishes upon

Sometimes the Clouds

can no longer

carry the weight

of our Dreams

Sometimes the numbers

no longer align

to serve as

a Hopeful Sign

Sometimes the nevers

need to be 

said to unbelievably

raise the dead

Sometimes formative fantasies

need to die

so transformative Realities

can be Born

Sometimes settled destinies

are gradually unsettled

as a Catalyst

for unimaginable Possibilities 

Sometimes what We

assume and expect

doesn't trap Us

in like fate

but is subverted 

and converted like

faith in Love

to Liberate and

set Us Free...

Thanks.

#100wordprayers #HolyWeek2025 #HolySaturday2025 #WhereWouldWeBeWithoutWishfulThinking #SayingTheNeversCanOpenDoorsToNewForevers #SometimesTheDarknessIsYourFriendAndIlluminesTheHoneyInTheMoon #LoveIsStrongerThanDeath 

('Defiant Joy' © Lisle Gwynn Garrity)

Showers (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday 2025)

before being apprehended

by anxious authorities

with pathetic fears

undressed by insanity

and unjust inhumanity

stripped of security

and inherent Dignity

(like prisoners packed

into cells like

sardines into cans)

and executed as

an apparent danger

to the powers

that be and

the status quo

the Love that

is the Light

of the World

(and will never

let Us go)

unfurled that Love

in torrential Showers

upon all Beloveds

by bending down

in gracious Humility

shedding all coverings

in genuine Vulnerability

and replacing them

with a towel

washing our feet

with the Water

of which We

are (mostly) made

and empathetic tears

soothing our soles

(and our Souls)

cleansing our fears

inviting Us All

(who can simultaneously

resemble sheep grazing

in the meadows

and hungry wolves

on the prowl)

to peek out

from the shadows

and open up

our frightened Selves

to experience and

extend this expansive

and Eternal Flow

through our Bodies

and our Beings

watering the Seeds

meeting the needs

growing the Flowers

of Beloved Community

in the Spirit

of the One

who embodied It

in Divine Humanity

by living Life

with Us All

and giving Life

for Us All

(We who know

and don't know

what We're doing)

to show Us

that there is

no splendorous height

or treacherous low

to which Love

will not go...

Thanks.

#220wordprayers #HolyWeek2025 #MaundyThursday2025 #GoodFriday2025 #LoveIsStillStrongerThanDeath #HopeIsStillMorePowerfulThanDespair #WeDiscoverLifeByLettingGoOfLife #RadicalEmpathyIsRevolutionaryResistance

('Were You There?' © Lisle Gwynn Garrity)