From a Distance to Bliss

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&global=1&q=hopeful+heart#/dmkpws

I was up in the early hours of the morning a night or two ago and came across, in my more or less random surfing on the Internet, a pair of poems that totally moved me. Here is the first one whose author I wish I knew the name of to credit it ...

I’ve loved you for too long now
Do you know what you mean to me?
Do you know that my heart bleeds for you?
I need you to know now more than before
You may never know how I feel
Never give me a second glance
But what I need
Is to tell you I’m here for you
We are far apart
Too far away from you
You should know tonight
Know right now
That I want to be there with you

                 ~Author Anonymous

Who knows but the author of course, what the situation was. But I know that there are times when enough is enough and the truth, this feeling of heartbreak and emotion, just must come out. One would hope that for whom this poem was intended received it. Who wouldn't want to have been given it! And you just never know ....

This next poem was found on an Arabic site ...

if i were the earth that envelops your form,

if i were the fire that kept you through winter warm,

if i were the cloud that gave you shade from the sun,

if i were the spring from which you washed for the One,

if i were the turban that your blessed hands had spun,

if i were the sandals that protected your feet,

my whole soul would sing and my bliss would be complete.

             ~Shaykh Muhammad

This kind of love is just beautiful isn't it!

A Really Short Story ... Rubber Bands

I haven't been writing of late with  this being a rather tough term at school,but here goes it on a Friday morning ...

http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=rubber%20bands&order=9&offset=60#/d2dvyvg

Just one of the many joys of life, as I find, is cracking open those crispy little fortune cookies,with the crumbs going everywhere and scooping out the small bit of paper inside. There are those odd times where they tell you things you weren't ever aware of before.

And so I said: "What is it that it tells you?" to my smallish friend. Her name was Charlie. I called her Charles. It sounded much more sophisticated, in my mind.

"It says: good luck and good fortune are coming your way." she said, and ate the cookie shards all in one bite.

I carefully halved mine, and used my ring finger and thumb to pull the fortune from it's hold,trying not to make to big of a mess. And so, I looked at it. And it told me.

"The rubber bands are headed in the right direction."

To which I, and my friend, so very intelligently replied:

".....whut?"

The Weaver

Edgar Guest

The patter of rain on the roof,
The glint of the sun on the rose;
Of life, these the warp and the woof,
The weaving that everyone knows.
Now grief with its consequent tear,
Now joy with its luminous smile;
The days are the threads of the year--
Is what I am weaving worth while?

What pattern have I on my loom?
Shall my bit of tapestry please?
Am I working with gray threads of gloom?
Is there faith in the figures I seize?
When my fingers are lifeless and cold,
And the threads I no longer can weave
Shall there be there for men to behold
One sign of the things I believe?

God sends me the gray days and rare,
The threads from his bountiful skein,
And many, as sunshine, are fair.
And some are as dark as the rain.
And I think as I toil to express
My life through the days slipping by,
Shall my tapestry prove a success?
What sort of weaver am I?

Am I making the most of the red
And the bright strands of luminous gold?
Or blotting them out with the thread
By which all men's failure is told?
Am I picturing life as despair,
As a thing men shall shudder to see,
Or weaving a bit that is fair
That shall stand as the record of me?

From: Just Folks by Edgar A. Guest

Copyright 1917 by The Reilly & Britton

An Irony in the Tapestry of Recession

Last week, on my trip to Coquille, Oregon, I was checking out the TV and a local TV affiliate is broadcasting a commercial for a ministry, one that has a reputation for "deliverance" -- showing scene after scene of unemployment lines, people frustrated over desks of household paperwork, crying people, people holding their head in their hands in total angst. The pitchman exhorts viewers that "There's no problem God can't handle!" and urges us to come to this church and get all our problems solved. Sending in a "seed tithe" would be a major step in the right direction ....Several minutes later I'm watching CSI and on comes the latest commercial of a notoriously ambulance-chasing plaintiffs' law firm. More talk and imagery related to "these tough economic times," more angst, and the suggestion that if life isn't treating us right it may be because we haven't sued someone who deserves it: "Call the offices of ________!"Ironic.

Of course there isn't a problem God can't handle. But perhaps our comfort isn't His #1 concern! From where we stand, we see the underside of the tapestry...and it is a work in progress. The Master Weaver, sees the final pattern, the master plan, and the "right" side of the tapestry as it is woven. What may seem to be a giant flub or cosmic knot to us may truly be an ingenious and lovely design from the view of our Creator.

There have been so many times in my life when I have been creating something, and in the midst of the project wondered, "did I do that right? Doesn't seem to fit there very well, or suit the final project very well." Only to discover that the piece I had cut or the seam I had sewn worked out simply as the ONLY POSSIBLE WAY to achieve the desired end results. Now if I just "sued someone" or passed on the blame elsewhere, the work of art would have never been completed! Our prayer should stem from our hearts ... not our wallet!

Some thoughts on a Saturday ...

mosaic

Another from Henri Nouwen ...

A mosaic consists of thousands of little stones. Some are blue, some are green, some are yellow, some are gold. When we bring our faces close to the mosaic, we can admire the beauty of each stone. But as we step back from it, we can see that all these little stones reveal to us a beautiful picture, telling a story none of these stones can tell by itself. That is what our life in community is about. Each of us is like a little stone, but together we reveal the face of God to the world. Nobody can say: "I make God visible." But others who see us together can say: "They make God visible." Community is where humility and glory touch.

Have a blessed day everyone!

The Great Mosaic of God

The Great Mosaic of God

If you feel that you don't fit in,

that no place seems to be "your place";

It is because earth is too small for the

grand, eternal design of God to be displayed

in all its splendor.

Someday, in a new heaven and earth,

the pieces that have been flung to the four winds,

to rough terrain, and dry, hidden corners,

to the bottom of the sea and to the top of

rarely-climbed mountains,

Will be gathered up into a great mosaic

of God's own making.

A mosaic made, in praise of Christ, and

as a present to the Victor

for having ransomed every sort of man

and woman from the tribes and nations

of the old earth.

In that day, you will fit perfectly,

for you have been chosen

and designed for that.

It will be a great work of art.

It will be a great day.

You will fit.

Perfectly.

God can see it in His mind,

even now.

He is smiling

~Rose-Marie Slosek

Threads

The Thread
Something is very gently,

invisibly, silently,

pulling at me-

a thread

or net of threads

finer than cobweb

and as elastic.

I haven't tried the strength of it.

No barbed hook pierced and tore me.

Was it not long ago this thread began to draw me?

Or way back?

Was I born with its knot about my neck, a bridle?

Not fear

but a stirring

of wonder makes me

catch my breath

when I feel

the tug of it when I thought

it had loosened itself and gone.

-- Denise Levertov