In the Path of the Cat

Meditation:  And I think God meant us to be this way

This day was grey;

A thin layer of snow lay over the sidewalks and flagstones of the little city. 

I printed it as I walked along;

Feeling the slightly raw cold of the late Lenten winter.

Not many snows left in it, I suppose;

But rain, oh yes, there would be rain.

Looking down I saw that other feet, little feet had come this way. 

Critter feet, cat feet, planted carefully;

Back feet falling in the same prints as the front feet;

Darkly pressing through to the sidewalk, with no details showing. 

The snow was damp, and I imagine those little feet were wet;

Yet they wandered from side to side on the sidewalk, with curiosity;

Investigating a postal box on one side, peering down an alley on the other.

Until finally they started to be filled, more and more with snow.  

The snow must have been falling as the cat walked, and he, or she,

Had been walking in the opposite direction from the direction I was walking.

I wondered by how much we had missed each other,

Me going, and the cat coming;

Did the cat pause, and watch me as I set out?

Eyeing me as I adjusted my bag over my shoulder and zipped my coat?

Or was the cat well past, with only me aware of our passing;

Inches away from each other in space, but more distant in time?

The cat’s journey was certainly a series of moments lived for themselves;

Whiskers a-tingle, damp feet getting the occasional shake,

Eyeing a bird, pausing to let a car slide by….

But for me it was more contemplative.  

What was the cat doing where the prints moved just so? 

Was this near the beginning or the end of its journey?

Ah, look how it moved!   

Like with us, the cat’s life is lived forwards,

But can only be contemplated properly in reverse.

Jacob's Ladder, Reprise

On Genesis 28:10-19

Antiphon: Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos

In the desert all alone
beneath his head he laid a stone
the stars looked down upon his face
in this dark desolate place.

In his dreams a ladder shone
let down from heaven to his stone
beside him holy voices spoke
out of fire and out of smoke.

"Where you go there I am too
I will always be with you"
-every place, a place of God
if floored with sand, gold, wood, or sod.

Original Post

Answer

Did you think
That all you had to do was read
That all you had to do was pray
That all you had to do was recognize me?

I am sorry
that the answer is not so simple
and that this is not all that is required

But in truth
what is required of you is much more

When everyone else is aligned with evil
You must speak of good

When the evil are dying
You must save them, and

When you are dying
You must speak of life

Did you notice the special deference allocated my son
And his disciples?

Know that they are not alone
And that you will share with them
The rewards of my kingdom

If you can gird yourself
with the word.

Nothing comes for free

And your sacriifice

Is not wasted

But the reward

Is also

Not visible

In this world

The peace of God

Such as it is

Be with you.



In response to 'Unclean'.

Unclean

His name we deny
And cross it out of our books
It must not be mentioned
Not in public
Or in the counting-house
Or at conference
Or even between strangers

We are embarrassed to call upon His name
We do not stir ourselves to take hold of Him
Wisdom is cast aside
And folly is counted as righteousness

We abandon His houses
And they rot
They are burned and not rebuilt
Or are used to store dead things
Or as drinking halls
Used for revelry and debauchery

Our leaders no longer contemplate His words
But instead their own
Saying that there is no true spirit
Only contemplations

So our portion is taken away
As it should be taken from unfaithful servants
And we weaken and fade
What is your instruction
To the servants who remain?
What is your word?

No Resolution

The chant doesn’t resolve
Nor the song
They fade away
They end
On a half-tone
On an unfinished phrase

And today my life feels like that
Half finished
Between this and that
Not at the beginning
Nor at the end
But somewhere in between

And it isn’t really clear
That I will ever find that end
That resolution
And that makes me sad

Because I am trained
To plan
To achieve
To make goals and meet them
To do more

But, I am advised
Life is not about
The things you check off a list
But more about
The relationships you build along the way.

Now.
How to put that on my To-Do List?

The Empty Place

Photo Copyright and Credit: Ciril Jazbec

There is an empty place

Where we had left you

Where we thought to find you

No one we recognize is there

A hole in our hearts-

Is this what you did to us?

Leave us with a hole in our hearts?

There is an empty place -

How do we fill it?

Create

Our God is a Creator;
He generates and nurtures;
He loves and cares;
And you are God's child.

When you are without;
Remember that God is with you;
You are not alone;
You are beloved and betrothed.

God stands with you;
And God's armies surround you;
And God's angeles support you;
Your self, and your soul are safe;
You are not alone;

Listen for the voice of God;
Listen to the voice of God;
It is not a voice that says;
'Reject';
It is not a voice that says;
'Condemn';
It is not a voice that syas;
'Hate';

It is a voice that says;
'Help';
It is a voice that says;
'Share';
It is a voice that says;
'find a place where you can make a difference';

Create in your life;
Do what you can;
In the place you find yourself.

God is with you;
And God blesses your creations;
Leave your frustrations and anger behind, and

Create!

You Are Given Now

We have only a moment
Not an hour
Or a day
Or a week
Or a month
Or years, decades, centuries, millennia

We have only a moment to trust
A moment to love
A moment to care
A moment to believe

Who that was who came before
- you cannot know
And who comes after
- you cannot see

But you have now
Use it to believe the best
To do the best
And be as much
As fun
As awesome
As inspired
As you can

You are given now

Use it

The Unusual Desk

In the night I pray for guidance in this interesting life I live
And I see warm brown leather
With ink drawings appearing and disappearing on it
I see the letters ‘VS’ appearing between two fragments of drawing,
And I wonder what they mean
The scene shifts and I find myself in front of a large wooden desk
In a large room that is strange to me, all done in wood of light tones
It is empty, but it feels welcoming and warm
The thought comes to me that this is like an English courtroom
But it is not much so to my eye
The desk is in the middle of the room
And there are wooden barriers like altar rails down either side
Beyond which several ranks of wooden chairs rise
Perhaps more like a room of parliament
But the dream is focused on the desk – the room is the background for the dream
The desk itself is odd
There are vertical ridges dividing it into three major sections
Making it uncomfortable to write the way I would like
With a paper at a jaunty angle
The left section is decent sized, no more than two feet wide
And the right one is very wide, over three feet wide
But the center one is narrow, too narrow for letter sized paper
To write here, you would need narrow paper
It seems that the form of what one would write here would be restricted
I opened the desk, the center section lifts and there are writing materials
A drawer as wide as the right section pulls out,
And there are disassembled bits for old ink pens,
Wooden shafts and nibs,
I start to assemble a pen and begin to look for the ink
And I wake

Jacob's Ladder

On Genesis 28:10-19:

In the desert all alone
beneath his head he laid a stone
the stars looked down upon his face
in this dark desolate place.

In his dreams a ladder shone
let down from heaven to his stone
beside him holy voices spoke
out of fire and out of smoke.

"Where you go there I am too
I will always be with you"
-every place, a place of God
if floored with sand, gold, wood, or sod.

-LE

Downspout

Rain comes down
Not every day
But it does come
Sometimes more often than I might like

And under my downspout
I have a watering can
Because when it isn't raining
A very small person likes to wander the yard
Blessing the flowers with water

And in this way
I keep water handy for her
To help her in her mission
And help make the world more beautiful
One drop at a time

May all of our dark rainy days
And all of our sadness
Be similarly transformed into moments
Of sharing and joy

Blessings
LE

The Unseen Tree

I have a maple tree in my back yard.

Or so I discover.

It was there all along, among the small trees growing behind the forsythia.

But the last couple days have been quite brisk,

And this morning,

As I made my mind up to apologize to someone,

The sun caught it just so;

And its leaves previously unremarkable,

Burst into flame.

And all the angels sang.

Peace,
LE

Ten for Life

In our dreams we oft can tell;
What from heaven, what from hell;

But in a cloud we have our days;
And oft should curse what garners praise;

Fair is foul and foul is fair;
Lies and half-truths cloud the air.

This world so fickle and so oft wrong;
Honors the glib, the fake, the strong;

Honors false over the true;
Honors words, not those who do.

If we find honors at our feet,
Perhaps we'd best be in retreat;

And seeing people raised up high;
On piles of honors, to the sky;

Hope not that they might fall this day;
But stand well clear and well away.

Tho' honor's given where it should not;
Yet we can judge by what is wrought:

And by their fruit do judge them still-
Doing wrong or naught, then find them ill.

Let God's commandments be your guide;
Mark them well -mark them inside:

Love the Lord and love your foe;
And often to your neighbors go:

And bring them gifts and help in need;
And be to them good friends indeed.

Worship not nor be obsessed
With this world; In God be blessed.

Nor worship any man-made lie.
Worship not the earth or sky;

Don't worship spirits of the air;
They cannot save nor do they care.

Don't make God's name a joke or worse,
Don't use God's name within a curse.

Do six days work, take one day rest;
Give it to heaven- you will be blest.

And let your helpers all rest too;
It is the Godly thing to do.

To your parents give your care;
See they can eat, have clothes to wear;

And give some mind to what they say;
You may be just like them someday.

Do not kill your fellow man;
But seek to save; do what you can.

Don't want or take what is not yours;
But work for that your heart adores.

And as this sin causes so much pain,
Let me emphasize again:

Take not from others save what they share;
Lest you cause them pain and care;

God will hear their suffering call;
May judge you ill, may let you fall.

And if you have ill gotten gain;
Pay it back, and twice again.

God will bless you and forgive;
And in your house the Lord will live.

Do not take another's spouse;
You'll bring a curse down on your house.

Honor your spouse, treat with great care;
Those who love you, and with them share.

Say nothing false, but what is true;
And give your lips a rest or two.

Seek out the good things you can do;
Treating others as they were you.

Keep these precepts in your heart;
If you'd be blessed, they're a good start.

Peace
LE

The redemption of Bully McFister

I looked up Bully McFister today
You know, the one that used to steal your lunch money, and hit you for no reason? Who liked shooting small animals with his bb-gun and bragging about it? At length? The one who liked to make fists with one knuckle sticking out and hit us as hard as he could in the bicep to give us bruises? That guy, you remember.

Well I felt like looking up the old crew and I 'Googled' his name. I thought I might at 'best' see a police blotter report of a robbery or a shootout, or even more likely nothing at all. But no, he pops right up, I see evidence of a creative soul, a sharp mind, an analytic, go-getting man who writes beautifully. I enjoy reading what he writes, and he is relatively prolific!

I squint at his picture in awe, trying to see the wise-acre who flicked boogers at us all from the back row, who enjoyed picking fights and causing trouble, who left us achingly writing our homework with bruised arms. A faint echo is all I get. Yeah, it's the guy. Who knew? Clearly my elementary-school self judged him prematurely, and I carried that predjudice forward. Somewhere inside the obnoxious troublemaker were the seeds of this new person. A person who contributes much to our world.

So Bully made good. I am glad that he did... ...it somehow seems redemptive. But I feel guilty for assuming he wouldn't, and wonder if we aren't failing many of our boys if they can be percieved as so futureless in school, and yet be so much once they hit the real world. I wonder what Bully's story is... Did he change all at once? Was there a series of transformative events in his life? Or did he just slowly start opening up, once he was away from the strictures, cliques and repressions of the school environment?

I wonder...

But I'm not sure I'll be reaching out to Bully to discuss all this. My arm is still sore.

Peace,
LE


'Bully McFister' is a fictional name that I made up to relate this story, but the story itself is true. For anyone who is actually named this, I pray your life is at least as redemptive as that of my 'Bully'. And for those working and suffering with today's 'Bullies' I ask you to take note. God is everywhere, indeed. Maybe your 'Bully' needs an outlet, a friend, a big brother, or a role model, maybe the investment in him is hard and painful, but he has real potential too. (And I reccommend thick sweaters to protect your arms.)

About You

You are goodness
And you do great things

You turn your hands to healing
You turn your heart to helping

You feel for others
You see their pain

You find their needs
And think of solutions

You do not sit and wait to be called
But think to go and do

You are the spirit of the arisen world
And God is with you everywhere

Blessed Be!

The Word Is Simple

The word is not only for sages
It doesn't take pages and pages
You don't need a degree
To sit on God's knee
And you don't need to study for ages

The instructions themselves are quite clear
You must hold each and every one dear
Share freely the love
That comes from above
Have faith and be of good cheer

Discerning the Spirits

I can often see what website my visitors came from, and if they came through a search engine, what they searched for.

And many people come to my site looking to see if their dreams come from a holy, or evil source.

Not wanting anyone to go away empty handed who came seeking, let me share my thinking on this topic:

1) God is everywhere and in everything and everyone, and loves you, no matter who you are or what you have done. What does this have to do with dreams? Well, it is a fundamental premise, the foundation upon which the theology that energizes me rests, and it informs my understanding of dreams.

2) We are complex beings with many different, conflicting feelings and ways of thinking. Some of these we supress, ignore, set aside, or deny.

3) Our minds choose from our many life experiences and conditions to help us 'process' things which concern us both in our dreams, and in what we notice while awake.

4) Spiritual forces, internal or external, can and do influence us.

So....

5) As God loves us, a message from God will never count us, or by extension, anyone as hopelessly corrupt. Messages that state or imply worthlessness and hopelessness are not from holy sources.

6) God is unlikely to order you to break the ten commandments, or harm others. (Turn to the Bible for guidance.)

7) More generally, messages from holy sources should eventually make sense in the light of faith, community and love.

8) Share your dreams, visions, signs and insights with your ministers and friends in the faith, and listen to their advice.

9) Write your experience down, and return to it later for fresh insight.

10) Watch for coincidences that seem to confirm or contradict your thoughts.

11) Your dreams, however dark, may reflect repressed anger and other emotions about past harms or slights, and even chemical imbalances or reactions. You should seek psychological or psychiatric help with your visions, signs, and dreams if they interfere with your life in a negative way.

12) Holy messages will be confirmed by prayer.

Peace to you, and may God's blessings surround you!

A Threefold Vision

I had a dream
I dreampt I should do three things
And I have done

One solved a problem in my home,
One solved a worry about my church,
And one of them solved a worry about my life.

None of these things got done in exactly the way I dreamed, in reality, each has been different, more complex, and better.

The third one was to build this blog.
In my dream it was called 'Book of Signs', but that name wasn't available, so here is 'Signs, Dreams, and Visions', something I dreamed, and then did.

How do we know if a dream is holy? Maybe if it comes true, better than you imagined.

May we have many such dreams.