I am but a part of the whole
I don’t need to
do everything
know everything
be everything
I just need to
do my part
know who I am
be who I am
As I take my place it is as if I’ve
caught a wave
found the current
flown onto the jet stream
This is a process
Not perfection
Pointed this way
Growing each day
Working and resting
Exerting effort
To become effortless
Watching
The master plan
Of my life
Intersect with the whole
Acceleration and
Exhilaration
Are the results
© 2016 Julie Clark
I Thirst
I gave it all
My everything
Not one more drop left
Of me to give
Empty
And now
I thirst
© 2011 Julie Clark
For the sake of the One who thirsted, let us not neglect these who are suffering today.
Do not let your hearts be troubled. You trust in God. Trust also in me. (Jesus) John 14:1
What about when violence seems to be in the water we drink, in the air we breathe, the rule of the day? What about when lives of children are taken without a second thought, gunned down on beaches, in airports and by drones taking out whole families? When a president of a private christian university encourages students to arm themselves and take out people of a different religion?
How do we live in these days when politicians skew all decency and accusations fly through the air waves thick with fear and racism?
Do we pull back and hide, stockpile goods and arms? Protecting ourselves and a few others perhaps? I seem to recall One saying “if you choose to save your life you will lose it”.
This terror, this fear is like a vortex, spinning out of control, if you get too close to it will suck you in and down.
There is another way. It is a way that refuses to lump people into categories of other, evil, enemies, or sub- human. It chooses instead to pray for, to bless, yes even love our enemies. It chooses to reach out across barriers to the other, the one who is different, has a different hue to their skin, or language on their tongue or culture I do not understand. It chooses to seek understanding and to bridge the gap rather than build another wall.
This is the path of peace, the way of love, the road to life.
Here we are today Maundy Thursday, approaching Good Friday, before we can get to Easter. What lessons are still here for us to learn as we see Jesus throw off his robe, tie a towel around his waist, pick up a basin of water, and wash his fearful, doubting, even betraying disciples’ feet? This, a precursor to what was to come the next day. He laid down his life for all. He calls us to follow Him.
“Blessed are the Peacemakers for they shall be called children of God.”
There is a way through these times. One deep breath, one step, one prayer, one cry, one embrace at a time. It is a humble path and no one is saying it is easy. Is it possible? Well, what is impossible with man, is possible with God. Let’s choose this path of peace instead of participating in the destruction of our planet.
Undone
I fall into your arms
No life in me to give to you
But like the babe in mother’s arms
I take from you all that I crave
Only to find that what I’ve craved
Is what you all along have saved
To give to me
Love so deep it has no end
In your eyes I see
The hope and strength of eons gone
And paths laid straight for weary souls
Whose company
I am one
I can walk this path with you
I can stand among the stars named and numbered
I can rest upon the waters
Thrown and tossed and calmed by you
I will trust and I will see
The living lights of eternity
© 2000 Julie Clark
Harbor grey
as the sky
Fog wisping off
the far islands
Evergreens
holding their color
Apple trees
across the road
ahead of the rest
with their joie de vivre
In full bloom
reminding us
this is the way to live
giving it all, everyday
not worrying about
tomorrow
provision of fruit
on it’s way
On the ferry
a bald eagle
showed us how to fish
from the shore
Made it look easy
with those wings
those eyes
Grateful to live near enough
to these island jewels
Summer time
they are full of
roaming tourists
from afar and
Orcas cruise the channels
Off season
has it own secrets
Quiet strength
building up
preparing for the
Glorious spring show.
© 2016 Julie Clark
Passing on a beautiful poem/meditation I read this morning from Howard Thurman’s Meditations of the Heart. In our over full, over stimulated stressed lives, this is a good reminder. Perhaps a good way to start the Lenten season.
How Good To Center Down!
How good it is to center down!
To sit quietly and see one’s self pass by!
The streets of our minds seethe with endless traffic;
Our spirits resound with clashings, with noisy silences,
While something deep within hungers and thirsts for the still moment
and the resting lull.
With full intensity we seek, ere the quiet passes, a fresh sense
of order in our living;
A direction, a strong sure purpose that will structure our confusion
and bring meaning in our chaos.
We look at ourselves in this waiting moment –
the kinds of people we are.
The questions persist: what are we doing with our lives? –
what are the motives that order our days?
What is the end of our doings?
Where are we trying to go?
Where do we put the emphasis and where are our values focused?
For what end do we make sacrifices?
Where is my treasure and what do I love most in life?
What do I hate most in life and to what am I true?
Over and over the questions beat in upon the waiting moment.
As we listen, floating up through all the jangling echoes of our turbulence,
there is a sound of another kind –
A deeper note which only the stillness of the heart makes clear.
It moves directly to the core of our being.
Our questions are answered,
Our spirits refreshed, and we move back into the traffic of our daily round
With the peace of the Eternal in our step.
How good it is to center down!
Howard Thurman
How well am I listening to the voice of my Shepherd?
Have I been searching his Word for his words to me?
Have I been watching his every move to move with him when he moves?
Am I slowing down when he does,
to stop and play with a child or
listen to another who needs my ears and comfort?
Have I stretched out my hand in healing as he does?
Am I studying his ways to match my ways with his?
Forgiving as he forgave me?
Forsaking condemnation and judgement,
while learning the art of love and compassion?
How well do I know his voice?
Enough that I do not follow the thousand voices
leading me down other paths far away from his?
How well am I listening to the voice of my Beloved?
This poem is dedicated to a little girl, (8 years old) my friends’ daughter, who befriended another little girl, a Muslim child in her class and invited her over to play and have dinner. Another morning her parents found her boiling an egg to take to school. Her friend was embarrassed about her lunch being so different from everyone else’s lunch. My friends’ little girl noticed she had a boiled egg in her lunch. She decided to boil herself an egg, so her friend would not be embarrassed. She brings me great encouragement. Peacemakers are being raised up quietly right in our midst. She gets my first chocolate bar.
When darkness gathers as winter settles in
with black clouds surrounding
what little light we have left
Hold tight to the hope in your heart
It is buried deep within
Faith, Hope and Love
will not be extinguished
…and the greatest of these is love
It is love which is the greatest
and most powerful of all
not fear, nor revenge, anger or hate
Let love ruminate and perfect
through the night, through adverse circumstances
because joy will come in the morning
and when it seems utterly impossible
…let a little child lead you.
Musings of a Mother (Revised for Advent 2015)
He’s a puzzle, a mystery, a riddle
This person I know so well yet not at all
I only see a part not the whole
I can’t get inside his head or his heart
I don’t know why he does this or that
Says it that way instead of this way
He could avoid a lot of conflict
if he said things a little differently
or not at all
I admit I am perplexed and mystified
I even wonder at times if his mind is overloaded
Some what imbalanced
He always has so many people
clamoring about him
he doesn’t take care of himself
What’s a mother to do?
Yet, he is the one the angel
called me to bear
The one we have been waiting for
I know
I said yes, and I did what I was asked
I was not ashamed
I knew where he came from
But what kind of deliverer will he be?
How is he going to save us from our enemies?
He says we should love them!
He is so gentle and kind
This babe I once wrapped in rags
Where were the angels when I wreathed in pain
like every other woman?
I heard later they were off singing to some shepherds
sending them to us
They worshipped him and
mentioned peace on earth
I wish I could have heard the angels sing
The angels did come again
Just in time to warn us to get out of Bethlehem
before Harod’s treachery
A terrorist slaughter of babes
Then we were refugees in Egypt
until the angels came again to send us back to Israel
Those were somewhat ordinary times
under the heel of Rome in Nazareth
We lost our precious Joseph in those years
broke our hearts
We made it somehow
until the day cousin John by the river
pointed to the Lamb of God
I will continue my daily watch
Pack up and move with him
as any mother would
He is so weary and spent
He may need me again
Before this day is through
Let’s Trump Evil with Good and Win a Big Chocolate Bar!
Here is how to do it. I have 5 big bars of Trader Joe’s Chocolate for the first 5 people who invite a Muslim friend, co-worker, or neighbor to dinner. I ask that you simply invite them, cook a simple Halal meal, which could be vegetarian if you don’t have access to Halal meat. Now ask your guests questions about their life and listen. Please just listen and learn some things you’ve never known before. This is how we make friends, how we make peace and defuse the crazy phobias flying around these days. The first 5 people that get back to me with their address (US only please) and a simple description of their time I will send a 1 pound chocolate bar. I suspect you will receive an invitation in return and make a life long friend. I hope this is true. How about taking this challenge? Especially if you have never done this before.
Let us be world changers together and truly “Love our neighbors as ourselves”. “Doing unto others what we would like them to do to us”, takes some thought. What would it be like to be a Muslim in our country right now? How could I do something to help ease their fears and anxiety? What if I was in a foreign country where words were flying across the airwaves and threats being made about people of my faith? A simple invitation of hospitality might be a start. May God bless you! I hope to hear from you soon!
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