Beyond the Usual

Beyond the Usual

The crackfinder,
that is what she called me,
my major professor.
She said I saw value in the people
who had fallen into the cracks of society.
It was not just that I saw value,
I saw the Ultimate.
It is easy to look at temples and synagogues,
everyday images and representations of the Divine,
but what if we look beyond the usual representations.
What if we see the Ultimate
in the homeless person,
in the prostitute,
in the addict,
in the ones who we would call the least of thee?
What if we saw the Ultimate
in the animals that have been
abandoned,
neglected,
and left to die?
What if we saw the Ultimate
in the hood,
in those areas that even make the hood look good?
What if we moved beyond the usual
and saw the Ultimate in everything,
everyone,
and every place?
The Ultimate does not just shine in the
usual people, places and things,
but in the unusual.
Can you see the Ultimate in the unusual?
If not, look again,
and keep looking until you see
the Ultimate in the Unusual.

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Hatred

Hatred

Hatred
I grew up thinking this was the opposite of love,
then I learned the opposite of love is fear.
Hatred comes from fear.
It is an intense negative response to
that which causes us fear.
It can be a fear of people,
things,
or even ideas.
Fear comes from
false things or beliefs
which appear real.
As much as I hate to admit it,
there are moments I feel hatred.
However, as I was once asked,
what are you doing with it.
my initial response was
nothing.
but then I realized holding on to it
was not helping me grow or evolve.
Hatred is now an opportunity to evolve.
it is an opportunity for me to let go of
that which is keeping me in fear.
When I use this to help me grow,
I leave the hatred behind
and grow in my capacity to love.

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Expectations

Expectations

I hate expectations.
It seems like they set me up
to get hurt, angry, and disappointed,
especially when things do not turn out
the way I expect them to.
Agreements are one thing,
expectations are another.
Agreements mean I have reached an understanding
with others about how things will be.
Expectations are about me having my own understanding,
without communicating about what
I expect you to know or do.
Sometimes my expectations are not with people,
but with life,
like when I expect things will go the way I want them to.
to be simple, not hard, or
to be easy and not complex.
what is frustrating is when I do not even realize
I have an expectation,
until I am frustrated
and then I see it.
once I release my expectations,
I find peace
especially when I release
my expectations about the Divine.

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My Share

My Share

I have never minded doing my share of things,
whether it was work,
chores,
relationships,
and life in general.
I have never minded paying my share of the bills,
the meals,
or any life expenses
as long as I can do so without going beyond my means.
I have always thought about my share
in terms of stuff and things
but not emotions.
When I do, I realize I am more likely
to share in the joy and celebration,
then to carry my share of the burden of pain and suffering.
I know I cannot go through the challenges
but I can be present, listen, and empathize.
I can be there to share in the suffering of others,
doing what I can to bring about change,
show compassion,
and lighten the burden of others.
I know I cannot take away the burdens of others or of the world,
but I can do what I can to be present in times of need
and remember how others have been present for me
lightening mine by sharing the load.

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Hungry

Hungry

Have you ever had that craving
In the pit of your stomach
and are so hungry
and know you really need to eat something.
I get that feeling daily,
but not for food/
I wake up hungry
for time to just be with the Ultimate.
I wake up hungry
to be fed,
to be taught,
to be nurtured,
and to just be in
it's presence.
I am hungry
for all that I absorb
nutritionally,
emotionally,
mentally,
physically,
and spiritually
when I sit with it
and allow myself to be fed.
There is a satisfaction that comes
from being with the Ultimate
that cannot be satisfied any other way.
Sometimes it is not that I am hungry,
but that what the Ultimate fed me
makes me wants more.
I am always given just enough
to leave me hungry for more.

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Living Without

Living Without

Sometimes I close my eyes
and I remember you
and the memories flow back to me
and through me and keep me warm.
I look at those who are still here
and I remember how important it is
to create memories
with them while they are still here
so I can hold on to them when
the day comes that I have to live without them.
Then it dawned on me that
not only are those memories
important for me
but for you
as the day will come
when I am not here
and those memories
will keep you warm
when you are living without me.

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sons from the Darkness

Lessons from the Darkness

We all have those moments
where we feel overwhelmed,
scared,
frustrated,
and sometimes even angry.
We may feel like this is one of those
dark moments in our life.
I felt this way yesterday
and just wanted to cry, but then the lesson came
and reminded me this darkness
was a door,
a pathway to the next blessing and phase
in my life.
It was, and is, about to introduce me
to new people, places and things.
Was it as I or others planned? No.
But once I let the fear go,
and walked even closer with the one I trust,
I was reminded of the words from Psalm 23
Even though I walk through the darkest valley,[a]
    I fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.
The lessons I am and will learn
are already comforting me
in part because the Ultimate is with me
teaching me
even from the darkness.

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Remembering my Purpose

Remembering my Purpose

Like anyone else,
I am human.
I have my moments
when I feel down,
depressed,
frustrated,
and want to give up.
Then I remember
I am only allowed for these
to be moments,
commercials in my life.
I only allow them to last for seconds,
before I remember that
I was created for a purpose.
There is a master plan for my being here.
I may not know it,
but I still walk in it
one step at a time,
only seeing what is revealed to me.
My walking, for me,
is like faith.
My left leg knows where it is
and what it is doing.
My right leg does not.
With no feeling or sensation,
it is just there.
I cannot feel it moving or walking,
It is about me trusting that
the same power that I can feel guiding my left leg
is the same power guiding my right.
The same power which guides me on the good days,
is the same that guides me when I am down.
Regardless, I have to remember
that I was created with a purpose and a plan,
whether I can see or understand it yet or not.
I have a purpose and I have a plan
and so do you.

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Michael Jackson and HGTV

Michael Jackson and HGTV

I know this sounds like a joke.
What do Michael Jackson and HGTV
have in common?
They both challenge us to begin
by changing ourselves
so we change the world,
whether Michael is telling us
to start with the man in the mirror
or HGTV is telling us to start at home,
the message is the same
making this world a better place
begins with us opening our hearts
to loving all of ourselves.
It means we start with the parts of ourselves
that are hungry for love and attention,
the parts that have felt as if at times they
were living in a homeless shelter
because I was not always willing
to love all of myself unconditionally.
When I take off my blinders
i open my heart, mind and soul
and I stop.
I stop running,
from all I was suppressing,
all that I was pressing down,
all I wanted to deny and not see.
I allow the change at home to start
by owning what I like about myself
and what I don’t.
If I can’t look at the person in the mirror
and really look at all of me,
then I cannot change the world.
Until I start with me
spiritually, emotionally; mentally, and physically,
I cannot change the world.
All I do is ignore Michael Jackson and HGTV.
 

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Seek & Find

Seek and Find

It’s a question I am asked from time to time,
How do you do it?
Do what? I ask
See God in everything.
Then I smile and laugh because the One is
everywhere and in everything.
Maybe it’s easier for me,
because I live each moment
remembering the Divine, the Ultimate, the One
is with me in every moment
and every place.
No matter where I seek the Ultimate,
I will find the Ultimate.
I have found the presence
in the warmth of my morning coffee,
in the bubbles of my club soda
in the cold breeze from the snow,
in the postal carrier who picked up my mail,
in the computer that allows me to work,
in the time alone,
in the parties I booked,
the poems I wrote,
the people I spoke with,
and the bed I will crawl into tonight.
Do you remember to ask for eyes that can hear
and ears that can see
and senses that allow you to be in tune
with the presence of the one who is ever present?
Take time each day
to seek and you will find.

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Unique

Unique

There is not,
never has been,
never will be,
anyone exactly like me
or you
or anyone else.
We are each unique.
We are divine by design
because we are designed by the divine.
We have so much in common,
but then we don’t.
We are like a museum of art.
Each one of us is a masterpiece
on our own
and part of a collection
which as a whole
defies description and understanding.
We are a collection of
unique.

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RSVP

RSVP

It doesn’t happen much anymore
that we get invited to places.
Out of sight,
out of mind.
But then it came out of the blue,
a personal invite to a birthday party
and it made us both feel so loved.
My friend felt bad that their home is not accessible,
but we honestly didn’t care
because they had asked and we felt so loved.
It wasn’t until we said we were coming
that I realized that when we rsvp coming
we make other people feel blessed.
There is a reciprocity that happens
when we rsvp.
We are blessed by the invite
and they are blessed
in the rsvp.
Realizing that when I say yes,
whether I want to go or not,
is not about me
but about letting others know
they are loved.

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Sharing is Caring

Sharing is Caring

Sharing is caring,
I first heard that when someone wanted
me to shre my food with them.
They wanted to try what I was eating.
But for me sharing is caring
has less to do with me
or even at the people at my table,
but more about the people who are not
at my table and maybe not
at anyone’s table.
Sharing is caring
is about me caring for those who have nothing
for those who are hungry
it is about recognizing my blessings
and sharing them with others
who are a part of my human family
sharing is caring
is about me giving back in
gratitude for the one who shared with me.
Sharing is not just about my food,
but about any of my abundances.
I share because I care,
because the Ultimate cares about me.

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The Undoable

The Undoable

We all have those moments when we feel like
God cast us in mission impossible.
it is so easy to feel overwhelmed,
perhaps even paralyzed by the
mission before us.
I all too vividly remember moments
I felt so overwhelmed
all I wanted to do is cry.
It is in those moments I find myself
traveling back in time
and thinking about my ancestors,
the ones who adopted me,
and the attitude with which they began their life
in a new country.
Their legacy taught me the importance
of immigrating to new lands,
to new missions in life
and to new understandings
of my own strength,
my own vision
and my own ability
to do the undoable.

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FEAR

FEAR

Fear,
I can live with it or without it.
Fear,
I was told is,
False Evidence Appearing Real.
I was told the way through it is to
Face Everything And Rise.
Facing everything has meant
I have to open my heart
to new ways of being and seeing in the world.
it means I have to seek the real
and not let it constrain me.
it means I embrace living
and not let fear kill me.
Living with or without fear is a choice.
Each day I choose to embrace life,
I choose to release my fears.
What have you chosen?

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Being An Artist

Being An Artist

I love thinking of myself as an artist.
Being an artist
requires you to let go, let loose and just be.
when I write,
which is my medium,
I don’t think about my words,
I just write.
I am never sure what words will get typed,
but it is in the uncertainty,
in the midst of the journey
that the words come
and flow through me
like water in a stream.
it just comes, sometimes slower then others,
but they come.
Each day I have to give myself permission
to be an artist,
to say yes,
to let go
and to let the Ultimate
use me as the brush
with which it paints.
I may feel like an artist, but
it is more like I am the brush.

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Being Played

Being Played

Sometimes, when you are trusting and giving person
people think you are being played by others.
Being played tends to be about being taken advantage of.
It’s when someone uses the fact that you care about them
to take advantage of you.
Saying you are being played
tends to evoke this image of
someone using and abusing you.
People are not the only things being played.
Instruments are also played
and they are done so in a way that is
filled with love, passion, and creativity.
So what if I am an instrument and
I am being played by the Ultimate.
What if I am being played
by the one I care about more than anything?
What if I am being played
like strings on a harp or
a bow on a violin?
What if I am being played
to produce the music
and beauty
that I can also create
when I am being played
by the Ultimate?
What can I do to
be played more often?
Am I selfish for wanting
to be played?

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My Mirrors

My Mirrors

I used to think that mirrors were these
framed pieces of glass
that reflected my own image back to me.
Then I started looking at people
I did not like
and who I allowed to get on my last nerve.
They were a reflection to me
of the part of me
I did not like in myself.
They were not made of glass,
but they still make me stop
and look at myself.
They are the ones who make me
reflect and grow.
I keep looking at them
until what I see
no longer makes me cringe,
because I have changed.
I am grateful for all the mirrors in my life,
those who reflect
what I like in myself
and those
who do not.
I need both
if I am going to continue to grow.

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Being Chicken Soup

Being Chicken Soup

Having grown up in a Jewish household,
there were lessons I learned from my mother,
who was one of several women who taught me
powerful traditions.
My mother taught me that my presence,
my simply being present for another
could lift someone’s spirit and
help them to heal.
As my Buby once said,
being present for others can be as healing
as a bowl of homemade chicken soup.
We can be the chicken soup
which heals someone and
lifts their spirit,
simply by being present.
It may be nothing more than
a smile,
a friendly hello,
asking how they are,
or spending time.
We have the power to bring
the healing power of chicken soup
into their lives.

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Intentional Kindness

Intentional Kindness

Just when you think you have it all together,
and then life happens
and nothing goes according to plans
and you just want to scream
and respond in a way that is far from kind,
that is when I stop, breathe and decide to be
intentionally kind.
Every moment of my life
I get to practice being kind.
Somedays it is easier then others,
but as I was always told
practice makes perfect.
In each moment, I strive to be
intentionally kind.
The more I focus on doing this,
the more I am able to make kindness
a part of my life
and a part of the worlds.

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