Silence

Words born are words born out of silence.  Words born from word loose their flavor.  When our constructs are built from previous constructs, we get further from the center.  In silence, my thoughts may emerge, my fears surface, I may not like myself.  I may desire to flee the silence.  But this is my chance to not run, to process, to feel, to know at a deeper level.

Silence, where the ground of being may be realized a little more, and where in the dry desert of our being flowers can break forth.  And the desert becomes a tropic, with golden shores, waters of blue, and a bright and energizing sun.

We must let our inner selves out.  We must give it breathing room.  It needs oxygen.

Let us integrate ourselves with ourselves, reconcile ourselves to ourselves, and free the self that's in ourselves.

Free Soul

Be free soul, let yourself dream.  Let not capture be your home.  Choose not captivity, let yourself dream.  Lay down arms, they are not your weapons.  Let freedom ring in your soul.  Take down walls, we need each other.  May light shine in your mind and body so that you experience life as good, as the universe rigged in your favor, as the current and waves dancing with you.  Let us not fear our bodies, fear our longings, fear our darkness.  They were meant for the light.  That is their home.  Let us simply walk into the light.  The light takes effect.  Conversion.

Let the children sing and dance without hinderance.  Let me not be a hinderance to their joy.  May we encourage life in each other.  May I not see you as other, but as one with me.  There is a body that engulfs all our bodies, we are seamless.  Alive.  Loved.

In need of mercy

Help me to never forget that I'm in need of your mercy.  Help me to live in your forgiveness.  Reveal to me areas where I need your forgiveness, and help me to give them to you.  Help my pride not get in the way of being in the flow of your mercy and forgiveness.  Have free access to my heart and soul.  Let your agenda be done, your love take root in me.  Help that be the strongest force, and if it asks me to give up a petty pride, a hate, a taking comfort in my own accomplishments or illusions of accomplishments or to rest in my own goodness, help me to give them up to you.

Have mercy on me a sinner.

A Tribe that Contains all Tribes

What if there are people who love on both sides?  What if there is a tribe that contains all tribe?  Life.  Love.  Kindness.  What if these are the places where we should go.  When I give myself to an ideology, I give part of myself away.  My instincts then are to defend that ideology.  My walls come up.  What if the victory is already won, what if love is at the core of the universe?  What if this speaks louder than any word?  Now I can lay down my defenses, and not try to muster up a "right" response and simply accept love, to accept that I am accepted.

Beneath our differences, in thought, in belief, there is a river running that joins us all.  All notion of independence isn't the full reality.  We are interconnected with Christ at the core.

Democrats and Republicans.  Gay or straight.  Male, female or transgendered, we are all one.  The river flows.  The river doesn't judge, it simply invites.  May I, may we, always just simply say, "Yes!"

Becoming One

If there were fragments, these fragments gained a buzz, not quite an energy, but a pre-energy of sorts, an attraction to Another and to each other.  Rather than shrugging it off or explaining it away, they indulged their curiosity and then suddenly found they were  not alone.  They were no longer isolated fragments, but were together, being interwoven without even having knowledge of it.  This new element, felt a buzz, felt attraction to Another and longed for something else.  "We've been here before, it says, let us indulge."  And so it did, to find itself bonded to, consumed by, consuming, one with other creations, the fragments, turned one, turned into a larger and more inclusive one, a more complex, and diversely created one.  "I like this cycle!" it states.  "Let us for all of time seek out those not yet included and include them, for we are stronger together.  Our diversity makes us beautiful, we must share, we must include, we must accept, we must love."

A Clarifying Peace

A whisper becomes a word, the word gains energy, causes curiosity, starts an energy, then energy gains momentum, the momentum picks up speed; a raindrop, to a puddle, to a stream, a river, an ocean.

Peace felt in the heart, becomes peace felt in the limbs, becomes surrogate legs to walk with.  Peace that starts in the far corner of the soul, bleeds over into our consciousness, if only as a mist at first, but is enough to color the eyes.  A wound is allowed to breathe, might seems like a small feat, but in the oxygen it begins to flower, and it's discovered that through the very place we tried to hide, mystery and light makes itself known to us.  A little fear gets uncovered, a little freedom gained for the soul, and seeps into our conversations and strivings.

Let the small victories pour forth.  For it is in this way the battle is won.  Our day to day fighting, fighting against the restrictive, constrictive, habitual, critical voices.  May seem irrelevant, may want to give up.  But landscape cleared, can be a place for grace to rest, and grace that rests is grace taking affect.  Every step you take is a step, don't run from them, let them sink in.

You matter.  Every one of your victories is a victory.  Live in the wisdom of accepted tenderness.

Hospitality and Rest

Lonely, afraid, bitter, down.  All I am feels to have sulked low.  This divisive greed wants to sprout throughout my body.  It promises me that it's my keepsake, it says no one knows like it does, it promises gold and silver.  It says "I am the silver lining, trust in me."  But I have this aching feeling that its bitter path leads towards death.  My memories start to wrestle with me, to make themselves known.  "You've been here Aaron," they say, "There is good, you don't need to kill yourself for this terrible darkness."

And lo, I have a choice.  What voice do I listen to?  Which voice is real?  Which voice is good?

Lord God, open my path before me.  Be my spacious grace, my hospitality and rest.  Lead me deep into your heart