Seek Her

Wisdom tires of being mocked
She tires of chasing you down twisting alleys of lies
She tires of calling and having you run instead away
Of stretching out her hand and being rebuffed
Of having her counsel ignored

Attend, lest She abandon you
And laugh at your calamity
Lest She mocks when panic strikes you
When the storm sweeps you away
When you find yourself and all you hold dear
Lost in pain and anguish.

Call upon Her now
having trampled Her word
having ignored Her histories
having spat on Her offerings
having scoffed at Her reproof
and She may not answer

She may leave you to your own devices
Twisting on a gibbet of your own design
Trapped in a cage of metal and spikes
Food for the carrion birds
A warning to others

Should you not eat the fruit of your way?
Should you not find yourself at the end of the road you have chosen?

Wisdom still calls - but you are far from Her
Her voice is faint - but can be heard

Perhaps you can return, retrace your steps
Do not listen to the loud voices around you
Hustling you onward to bad ends
Resist the pushing and jostling of those around you
You still need not be lost

You still, perhaps, can be found.
I write this for you, you yourself

Seek Her!

The Others

It seems like there are always 'others'.
Bad people, stupid people, ignorant people;
people we don't like;
People it is ok to hate.

Perhaps their last name is Clinton,
Or perhaps their last name is Bush;
Or Paul, or Kennedy, or Obama;

Or perhaps 'the others' are a race;
Or a belief;
Or a gender;
Or a sexual orientation;
Or a nationality;
Or a class or category.

We hate them, and everyone who likes them.
We hate what they represent.
We put bumper-stickers on our cars awash in hate or contempt;

We post vitrol on websites,
We wear buttons and T-shirts that drip anger, lies, and hatred.

We tell jokes that dehumanize;
We repeat slander;
We mock;
We make angry, racist, sexist, and paranoid comments.

We find it hard to relate to anyone who likes the other.
Who sees good in them.

We can't countenance a single good thought about them.

And this is unfair.

It is unfair to the other.
It is unfair to those who love or appreciate them.
It is unfair to the world of people who don't want to pass a litmus test to even speak to us.
Or who find that in our presence their speech must be censored.
And it is unfair to us ourselves - because hate blinds us to the truth.

And the truth usually lies in a third place,
Distant from the hills and trenches of our petty wars.
And it is to the truth that we must find our way.

If we can be honest with each other,
If we can hear the voice of the other and not blot it out,
Not block it out with hate;
Not ignore it.
Not censor it.
Not turn it off.
Not walk away.
If we can be in dialog with the other;

We will be wiser people.
We will be richer people.
We may be kinder people.
We may find better leaders.
We can step aside from our anger.
We can cease our fighting.

But first we need to open the gates of our heart and truly listen.
And open our minds to truly hear.

May We Find Peace
LE

Mending the God-road

Anger divides us from God

There is no question in my mind that anger, no matter how righteous, makes it harder to hear God.

Maybe anger is noisy, in a spiritual sense.

Maybe it is by its nature self-centered.

Maybe we tend to turn off our mind, and/or our judgment when we get angry, or feel like our anger justifies our not being in as much control.

What I do know is that no matter how justified my anger is, it tends to wall me off from my wells of inspiration, my unity with God, my one-ness with everything, and that is not good.

I suppose it may be I am not 'doing anger' well, and I don't want to say we shouldn't feel angry.

Perhaps the thing is to recognize and acknowledge the feeling, drill down into the 'why's of the feeling, vent to friends and safe sounding boards, but to move beyond anger as soon as we are ready.

But another element is focus. Life is busy for most of us. When my life is over busy, and I am being pushed from five directions (or pulled in them, if you prefer), I am also less connected. I try to bring God actively into what I do, to walk with God, but I don't remember as well in the business of life.

Sharing inspiration and love helps though. Telling someone the good news, that God loves them, helps. Writing a bit helps. Maybe that is sort of priming the pump of Faith... Share some of what faith you have stored away, and more and more comes out.

May you always find plenty of faith and love to share, and always be brave enough to share it.

Love,
LE

I'm giving up being angry

I'm giving up being angry
I'm giving up yelling, I swear
I'm giving up all the grouching...

...You CUT your sister's HAIR!?!