Gateway

Standing before the gateway
Atop the highest of hills
Life lies out before you
A reflection of your will

Pause and review
All that has been done
Embracing the meaning
Of all you have overcome

Learning the joys, victories
And sorrows
The past is reviewed
Now you must focus on tomorrow

Stepping through the gateway
Your entire life becomes anew
Observe it all
For the blessing is for you

What I heard

Be Emotional is what I heard
In movement and touch
Allowing the feeling to show
In response to the beauty
Of the shedding detachment
Letting the heart lead the way

Be Intuitive is what I heard
To receiving guidance
Taking a chance on the hunch
That has brought the familiarity
To this dream of inner life

Be Intimate is what I heard
A start and renew of love
That has brought someone closer
In a moment of togetherness
That goes beyond formalities

Be Loving is what I heard
Giving a thoughtful gesture
That expresses the understanding
In the forgiveness of self
And the hurt of brokenness

Be Life is what I heard
That brightens the day
And refuses to judge or condemn
Opening the window of change
To the blowing of your purpose

Constantly Walking

Constantly walking
Through the garden
Wandering about
The overgrowth foliage
That binds and strangles
Causing such great struggle

Constantly walking
Through the forest
Wandering about
The soaring trees
That shade and camouflage
Causing such great security

Constantly walking
Through the field
Wandering about
The undeveloped space
That releases and frees
Causing such great serenity

Constantly walking
Through the desert
Wandering about
The scorching sand
That pierces and blisters
Causing such great sensitivity

Constantly walking
Through the stream
Wandering about
The cool water
That soothes and rejuvenates
Causing such great surrender

Constantly walking
Through the path
Wandering about
Sensation, solution and salvation

Uncharted Territory

A trip into uncharted territory
Where offerings can not be weakened
But the negativity that sometimes fills the air
Crushes the magnificence of the experience

There is a fusion of opposites
Where two parts of the mind
Set up safe, but unnatural routines
Often allowing reactions to become predictable

The beauty of the unexpected
Continues to keep it all together
Opening the heart to the harsh exposure
That gives way to expansion and continued development

Remaining balanced and alert
So that the past is fulfilled
Consciously waiting in the here and now
As the future is elusive

May there continue to be mercy
Where muddled ways and expectations
Are treated with unpredictable joy
And sustainable loving grace

Pardon me

The meaninglessness of it all
Has brought me to an
Objectionable arrangement
The vigilance that once was
Is now wearing me thin
But allowing reprieve
From the pain
Time stored like
Boxes that have not
Been open in years
Covered in dust
But all the memories
Remaining silently contained
Bearing in mind the wisdom
Of simplicity
The answers coming from
Living the question honestly
Recognizing the incredible
Order of creation
Nothing is convoluted
About loving each other
Or our neighbors and
Giving thanks to the
Simple solutions from Spirit

MY friend

Cheryl came into my life when I had asked for her. Without knowing the experience that she would teach me, the understanding she would give me or the love that she would show me. I meet Cheryl October of last year. I had been wanting for some time to learn a solid mediation practice that not only may quiet my mind, but expand my soul. See Cheryl was MY teacher, MY guide and MY inspiration. Throughout that first class, which was only five weeks, we formed a unique relationship in her class of 15 students. When I had thoughts about God, humanistic behavior or how the sunset that evening on the way to class had been beautiful, Cheryl would repeat, regurgitate and show through her loving approach that I knew all the things that I should know… but that there was also more to know and even possibly never know.

I’ve had many people come into my life for a variety of reasons. All have taught me about life, love and most of all me. They always seem to come into my life when I need them the most… or at least when I think I do. But the outcome of my experience with them is most often a lesson in my understanding of the interworking of God in my life. Cheryl instructed me that all we have to do is ask, to be guided by the spirit in us and with that we will be on the path.

Cheryl also taught the need to let those around us and most of all God know our need for our own forgiveness and that of others. Through her stories of her life she shared with me, she had done that, had given her life to the spirit that so wonderfully and joyfully flowed through her.

In my last encounter with Cheryl, I knew something was amiss. MY body ached for her, MY mind was muddled in her presence, and I had a sense that my time with her would soon be ending and not just because our class was coming to a close. In my last conversation with her she related to me that she knew she was MY teacher, that she felt she had so much still to teach me and that I knew that I was feeling her pain and discomfort. This brief conversation said it all.

I learned this week that MY friend Cheryl passed away. This has left me in feelings of sorrow and joy, that I may never learn all I wanted to learn from her… but I know… I can hear her now say to me… but YOU know everything that I had to teach.

To you Cheryl, my promise is to live life the way I saw in you… to use my gifts as they are intended and to always live in love.

Blessings of Peace MY friend. I hope you get this... I love you!

Thank you A to Z

Thank you for your adoration
Thank you for giving me my beauty
Thank you for caring
Thank you for your destiny
Thank you for your excellence
Thank you for your faith
Thank you for being a gift
Thank you for hope
Thank you for inspiration
Thank you for showing me joy
Thank you for your knowingness
Thank you for your love
Thank you for me
Thank you for your nature
Thank you for the opportunity
Thank you for your patience
Thank you for quiet knowledge
Thank you for your rareness
Thank you for sharing
Thank you for your truth
Thank you for your uniqueness
Thank you for virtue
Thank you for who you are, who you want to be
Thank you, X
Thank you for you
Thank you for your zest

Thank you for your spirit that has made mine shine.
Thank you for the differences between us.
Thank you for life.

Felicitous Reward

I witness the mirror cracking around me
Thinking I had finally arrived to only see
It shatter and dissolve before my eyes

My journey isn’t over yet
It may be the moment in time to move on
There is always more to be explored

Continuously standing in my own way
The necessity to just move aside
Permitting the fires of passion to move in

Life isn’t a business to be managed
It should be a mystery to be lived
Giving elation to the skill of being

By keeping it all together
Making sure everything is perfect
I’ve kept the spontaneous away from my door

Now I must be open to what wants to be expressed through me
The past is no more and the future is not yet
Living only for a felicitous reward

Need To Be

Are you where you need to be
Deep in conversation
Stop, look and listen
Opening the door to
Go, grow and become
Taking a drink in order to
Live, yearn and embrace
Walking Home in
Love, silence and respect
Are you where you need to be
Living life free to always
Overcome, discover and observe

Between Times

It's the between times
That make me weak
Allowing me to forget
The sense of purpose
This all has

There is always
A choice to make
In the between times
To continue on
Or to move in a different direction

It's the between times
That make me question
Values, needs and responses
Like walking away from myself
To turn and head for the door

There is always
Worry in my head
In the between times
To listen to my heart and hold out
Or to accept defeat and fold my hand

It's the between times
That make me wait
Am I not ready for this sort of thing
In the end being left with nothing
But my choices and hurt

There is always
A chance to take
In the between times
To live in the space between
Or venture out into acceptance of just what is

It's the between times
That make my heart sad
Allow my mind to race
Giving me my insecure thoughts
With the fear that nothing will change

Three Decades

I see glimpses of you through the trees
Losing my breathe, heart racing, I approach
How incredible, your beauty, power, wonder
The red, brown, green and grey
A rainbow of earth colors
Stepping to your edge
The depth, width and enormity of it all
Taking deep breathes, stealing my breathe away
Taking my soul too, I let you
Giving me the most beautiful feeling in the world
Like love, all encompassing
Staring into the vastness of it all
Placed here by God
Wonderful, peaceful and astonishing
Tears of beauty
You allowed me to be apart of you, your magic
So large, so small at the same time
A pea in a world of giants
You were like my mother
You held me
And I was saved

Graceful Gratitude

When your heart speaks, listen
If something doesnt serve you, drop it
If there is something to do, do it
Seeing and hearing the truth
Leading out of the desert
Being set free, not accepting mediocrity
Chipping away at all that isn't perfect, just what is
Looking beneath, what appears to be
Fate will bring serendipity

Pray with conviction, not with fear
Going forward with dignity and unassuming grace
Life is an interwoven pattern
All parts working together
Making everything whole
Fully participating in life
The good, bad and incomprehensible

Finding answers in doubt, fear and lack of faith
Not running away from the path
Lead by peace, grace and gratitude
Crying out from the soul, to find that which
Fulfills and rewards
In reality, Perfection is nothing but an idea

In the stillness, hearing answers
Receiving direction and communing with God
Surrendering control, to a higher power
I hear, "Let go and let God."

Sensations of You

I see you
You don’t look as I had thought
But I know that it is you

I hear you
Your sound is unlike any other
But I can hear you

I feel you
Your touch is new to me
But I crave it like never before

I sense you
Your presence is all encompassing
But I am not afraid

I smell you
Your scent is of sweet wine
But I refuse to become intoxicated by it

I admire you
You are amazement and amusement
But I know that you know that