He Is Risen!!!!

In the dark cold winter night,
candles are lit in the pew.
in the brightening room, sounds pierce the room.
sounds of silence broken.
echoing cries across the land.
of the prophets of old.
Of the babe in swaddling clothes
crying out the sounds to the earth
to listen
to ponder
to understand!


The throne room awaits for His arrival...

The crowds clammer
The anvils smash
Angst rains down
Diasporas occur
Only for the moment

He arrives to the throne room
To be sent back

Angels reappear
for the sequel to LIFE-Part II

For He is arisen. He is not there!!!
" Yeah, not at the tomb!!
He is RISEN!!!
Let us continue to ponder what began on that cold winter night.

Let us continue to light our candles in the darkness!!!
Let His love and light spread through the World.
For He does love the world and each one of us!!!

For at Easter's Eve and Dawn
Hope for paradise

For Amazing Grace
How sweet the Sound
That He would save a wretch like me!
Let us cling to that old rugged cross
as we see the incense swing forth in churches
and hear the bells chiming on Easter Morn!!


Now the mist lifts and the sun rises. The Lord shine His face upon you!!

He sits at the right hand of the Father!
Caring and interceding for us!!!
All Glory, Honor, and Praise go to you Lord Jesus

Happy Easter to you!!!!
I love you.

Refusing to present oneself as muscle of pleasures

A powerful thought came to my mind of how we can refuse to present ourselves as muscles of pleasure but instead should present ourselves as muscles of grief. That is indeed what the Apostle Paul did.
For in our faith, we are called to bear sacrifice. That is what we are turning the corner on when Jesus and God took on the radical project of suffering to redeem our world. To enter and bear into the suffering so that we could have muscles that could feel pleasure for eternity. But the problem with our society today is that it demands and desires the pleasure and satisfaction of a good time now but loses the perspective of eternity in their hearts.

Forgotten Fruit

This evening, my hands wandered through the refrigerator and visited a rather lonely green pear, a red apple and some withered red plum tomatoes in a clear see-through plastic box.
I washed each and then proceeded to eat them. The pear was firm to the taste and tasted fairly well despite being somewhat crystallized. The red apple was another story, being somewhat turned, not unto wine or cider yet, but only able to consume 1/3 of its purpose. The flavor of the tomatoes was a little off for having sat quietly for quite some time. Never hearing its cries for consumption.

That brings me to the subject of fruit this evening. For fruit grows on the trees in their season and are monitored through the season by the farmers to make sure that it lasts and is ready for market.
The other day, I purchased an orange and it looked fine at first glance. When I took it out of the refrigerator, I noticed the rind had a gash in it. Sniffed it some and it smelt a little moldy. I peeled back some of it and took a taste. It did not have its full robust flavor. So I am going to return it to her home and get an exchange!

If Jesus was going through my refrigerator, he probably would come up with a well thought out parable. But since I don't have the gifted story telling that He has, I can still draw out the inference of what it means when St. Paul in Galatians 5:22-23 states, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Yikes, this 9 pack of fruit is something that I lack the fullness of and some it may be somewhat stale, having sat on my cupboards for longer than I have intended.

Yes, it may still have some taste but as Jesus mentions about salt in Matthew 5:13, "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again. It is no longer good for anything ,except to be thrown out and trampled by men." Therefore, fruit just as with salt needs to be treated nobly and with immediacy and not left to sit around for days.
For our lives and others can be nourished as we use the fruits that God has given us in ministry to build up the body. Much better than having trash heaps of fruit and salt decomposing for the ravens to pick at.

Next time, I will start unpacking that crate of fruit that has just pulled up to the warehouse of the church to be distributed and worn by believers.

Next off to the call to the vegetable side of the produce aisle.

w e

Star struck windows
Reflections seen from within
Glimpses of faces
mingling among the flickering lights.

The scenes of life grab us and capture us.

There is never a dull moment when some stardust falls from the sky and sparkles ones day.

The moments can be brief and the moments can take take us off guard.

Moments such as the time that my dad invited mom and I to the porch to view the Northern lights from our cottage in Maine. A moment that I will always remember seeing the laser beams of yellow and red and blue and green dance across the sky. A moment in time to look up and out at the expanse of the heavens and see the handiwork of God. Locking eyes with an audience throughout time.

A moment such as the time when I got stuck out in Cozy Harbor with a single operational oar lock. A time to rely on the one single heavy oar to give a heave into the blue-green depths of the harbor and the strength required to ply it through the waters.
Sun drenching upon my neck and arms.
Unexpected to say the least, but enough to bring me full circle many times, inching one at a time until I reached the dock safely.

Times such as the spotting of a perfect clam shell on the beach
hinged together in beauty. Wrapped carefully for the journey home and placed in the box on the closet shelf.
Then that unexpected moment for its crash from the closet shelf to the floor below.
Shattered and rather ordinary now. Dust now filling up the box.

Times to see the beauty of the Moon's eclipse in the summer evening. The time to sit quietly at the window and to watch the light fade away. Hoping to see it blaze brightly again. Only to see it dark. Disappointed not to see it flare again.

Such are these shaping moments. Moments that give one ecstasy and one joy. And sometimes moments to endure through and moments to savor life in its fullest potential, yet to blossom fully.


Against this backdrop, I have moved forward through my life. A life that has had its adventures and its shortcomings. I wish I would listen and look for those invitations and heavenly breaths of great joy more often. As a middle-aged adult, I have the full responsibility for my life. It is not like the times when I was a child and could look to my parents for my daily provision. Now I have to forage for them and make those decisions myself.

I accept when I have broken opportunities and times that do not go as I have planned. That can be a challenge but I am grateful for the times the perfect clam splits in two or when I only have one oar lock to guide me. Keeping me focused on my path so that I don't go astray and appreciating the time for a challenge. When I was young and that happened, I did not analyze the mess I was in as I would now. I brought with it a youthful attitude and a can do attitude.
Not that I can rebuild the broken clam shell either or extend the light from the eclipsing moon either.

One Easter sunday, I received a chambered Nautilus from the Yale Peabody Museum. I have it displayed in the middle of my knicknack shelf in the living room. I love that shell because it is beautifully painted with streaks of red and maroon.
It has a sharp curve to its shell and is shiny. It is firm to the touch but delicate with its wavy and dance-like design.
One day when I had my carpet cleaned, I found a note on my hall table that the shell was damaged and not perfect as it once was. Yet the shell can stil stand up on the shelf and it serves as a splendid reminder to me that I can be beautiful despite the defects and able to stand even in my weakness. I also realized a lesson from that shell when I thought of how God was broken for our shortcomings as well at Easter.
And it was not like the time when I was young and dropped the box with my summer shells. That was painful but served as a lesson for me when my nautilus shell inherited some damage from its fall from grace and beauty.

Only to say that time and space heal our prior hurts and grow us. Times that will bring new ones too.
I look out to the sea and see the tide coming in and the tide going out. Bringing in new nourishment for the resting and dormant shells.
Reliable and constant.
Attitudes that I strive to live up to as well.

Cycles of composition

Today, I awoke to the pow of the transformer out front. Seems to have a semi-annual habit of doing this. About 6 times to a collective memory of me and another neighbor. For not having slept much in the evening and then kaboom.
Some lights were still on and some appliances were off. Took the stairs down and then back up. Our association president was downstairs. Not easy climbing six flights of stairs twice. Was going for a third but had some trouble finding my way since the hall became darkened.

I was thinking on poetry today and how it is a collection of some random ideas throughout our day somewhat weaved together.
Of how I looked at the orange I purchased and how it became pierced somehow. Torn. I called the store of Stop and Shop and I can return it absent of the deformed orange. And it had a moldy aroma to it also!

Chopped up some scallions after tearing off the limp leafy limbs of the scallions. Put some in the shells and sauce and bread crumbs. A nice everlasting twinge of flavor.
The same can be said for belief in Christ for after two thousand years, there still is that twinge of belief. Of that flavor that believers add with the salt and light of their lives. All requiring a mild washing off and getting a little of the stalk stuck on the fingers.

Felt good to stay inside tonight and not pierce the darkness. I forfeited a writing night to clear writer's block but I also needed the downtime to recover from the interrupted night of rest.

So I challenge the reader to go ahead and pierce the day with familiar things to see how they can impact you and see where they take you in order to become a blessing to others.

Hard to believe that in less than 3 weeks, we will be celebrating the loss and the triumph of our God in the same weekend.
More on that later.

No longer a desert

The past month or so has felt a little bit like a desert, a hot stretch in cooler weather.
When I was riding the bus on an adventure to a meeting with some sales and marketing professionals since I am interested in maybe breaking into the sales field. On the bus, there was a lady who wanted the door to the bus opened since it was getting hot inside. A laugh ensued with some of the riders on the bus. Also, the bus driver averted some turkeys crossing the road. At least the two of them were not run over.

Yesterday, while I was awaiting for my friend to finish some shopping, I noticed a young pre-teen get out of the car to pick up a movie to rent at RedBox in his pajamas. Pulling up next to the car I was in was a van painted green with flowers all over it. On the license plate, it read Utopia. When my friend pulled down her window, she mentioned that it was a nice van. It was for his side business of landscaping.

Today, the sky was an unusual color in that it appeared more silver and the white lettering of Kolbe Cathedral stood out in stark contrast to the building itself. Exciting. And with the rain creeping in, I thought "Evacuation orders." That could be since when I was at the networking meeting and heard all the fancy projects that people were involved in the past and when I gave my 60 seconds, the earth did not move. I felt a little awkward even in the networking afterwards with just 20 in the room. Even with the humor that was bantered about. But I made a few connections and I hope to circle back to them and encourage them.

So, all to say, Thank you God for providing me with these moments that I could look out and around and be on this unusual adventure and even have some time for a blessed nap in the afternoon!!!

As my friend Mary said, "I hope that you get a job that you will love." Indeed, that is my true desire. It would be great to have that happen and to feel fully in the center of His will.

God's life blood

This poem was inspired during a 30 minute quiet reflection after reading and discussions Richard J. Foster's book, Celebration of Disciplines. This is after focusing on silence and solitude.
And a big thanks to Celine for her hard work teaching God's children His truths each and every week in that very room where her signs of Christ abounded.

Gods blood runs through me
Hard to grasp the essence of you since...
I like quantities to grasp and hold onto.

Signs that say God is alive,
and new life in Christ
and Jesus lives.
You, Jesus, were born son to Mary and Joseph
in a family
The clocks ticks ever so slowly
individually
one second at a time
distinct just like my heartbeat and my breaths
Thank you Lord for the small acts of
kindness and for your big act of kindness at Calvary.
For enduring the cross and the shame

For I kneel at the cross for you.