Follow the thread of love
It will lead you home
When darkness, evil, fog or fear
Obscure your vision
Wait until you see it again
Don’t move until you do
It will break through
It always does
Move towards it now
And learn to let it
Pass through you
Change and transform you
It takes time
But if you do
It will spread out behind you
Like a trail or a path
Or rays of light
And others will find
Their way home too
© 2021 Julie Clark
Let us
Search for the light
Like wise persons
Follow it
Come out of the blinding
Darkness
Shake it off
Shake ourselves awake
And free
Let love
Come down
Melt the hardness
In our hearts
Let the tears
Flow
Do their work
Break us open
Just as the rain
Finds a way
Through the earth’s
Hardened crust
Look up
Rise up
Follow the light
Our paths
Need examining
Need pondering
Where am I headed?
Who am I?
Who am I becoming?
Is this who I want to be?
Is this path leading to life?
Leading to light?
Leading to love?
If not
Step off
We can change our course
We can grow
We can choose
We still have breath
We are still alive
© 2021 Julie Clark
The fruit trees
Have put on their new attire
Traded in the bare naked look
From buds to shawls of fragile blooms
Now with sturdy green working clothes
These garments will take them through the heat of summer
Their job, with branches stretching far into the sky
Collect all the glorious light coming their way
Transform the energy to feed the world
Fruit their goal, their hope, their song
No fruit, no life ahead
These trees will bear fruit
The leaves will do their job
And begin the cycle again
After the fruit is picked
Ripe and juicy
The old tired leaves will give
Their last hurrah
Decked out in the best of their colors
Gold, reds, oranges and yellows
The grand goodbye after all their labors
Before they fall to the ground
In storms of rain and wind
Will we like leaves
Live our lives
Dressed for the occasions
Of each stage of our being?
What are our goals, our passions?
Will they feed the lives coming after us?
How will we weather our storms and troubles?
Will we leave in a glorious hurrah
Having done all we can
To leave a rich inheritance
Of a life fully lived and a heart full of love
To the next generations?
© 2020 Julie Clark
The dawn seeping light into the day
Slowly, slowly, beginning it all again
Fresh hints of
New life
New hope
New start
Everyday
It’s never too late
To begin again
The old way is blocked
Go around
Light shines on a new path
A new idea
Change
Comes with the dawn.
© 2020 Julie Clark
Maybe not everyone
Finds the miracle they are looking for
You are still limping in pain
and I am gasping for air
Maybe there are other miracles we are finding
Still being loved by family
With all our brokenness and faults
These babies born to our children
Smiling and clinging onto our fingers
With the message:
“I need you to be strong and light the way”
The friendships that have endured
Despite separations and years of silence
Still hearing the Voice of the Beloved asking:
Do you trust me?
Finding highs
in my lows
Where is the learning
growing edge
from the hard places
in my life?
What is pushing up
from the dark
clotted earth
to the light of the sun?
Where is the true
beautiful self
sloughing off
the grave-clothes?
(c) 2018 Julie Clark
What is this fertile ground
Where hoods are removed
And torches lit?
Where these actions and words
Of violence and hate
Reverberate across the earth?
Where radicalized 20 year olds
Fed on hate
Can take extreme views
To their conclusions and kill?
Is this an exposure
For all to see
The faulty foundations
In need of repair?
We cannot move forward
Until we address
The underlying decay
Made evident by recent events
Is it force upon force,
Violence answering violence
That will do this work?
No, that will only destroy
What is good and best
Instead
Call the elders
Listen to the truly wise
Study their words and their works
The ones who know how to love
To overcome evil with good
To push back darkness with light
The ones who have done this work
Can shine a light that we all
Can follow.
© 2017 Julie Clark
In our exhaustion
Resources of love and patience
Run low
Small things take on large proportion
Sending us spiraling down
An open door for dark forces
To exploit our weakness
Yet, also a perfect time
To see where we need growth
Opportunity for forces of light
To nudge us to transformation
Stop
Pay attention
Pray
What are you doing Abba?
Where are you relentlessly working
To free me from the prison
Of self?
© Julie Clark 2017
I.
We are given the raw materials
Of our lives
As on the First Day
Out of the chaos and void
Life began
What will we do with
The darkness and light
Will we separate it into a
Smooth transition of colors
As in a rainbow?
It will be anything
But smooth
Full of fits and starts
Smudges and blackouts
As if we can erase
The messes we have made
Yet stepping back
With the whole of life
In view
Of the one who falls
And is trampled under foot
Yet rises again
Painfully struggling
Forward
Into the light
Into the Love
That calls each by name
We see
The darkness is part of the canvas
Entwined with the light
Creating patterns and contrasts
Always erupting in colors at the end
The struggle of life emerging
If we only focused on
The fire scarred trunk
And did not step back
We would miss
The strength and substance
Of the ancient tree
Still green in all seasons
II.
The artist
The gardener
The teacher
The builder
The writer
The dancer
The musician
All participating in
Taking the chaos
And creating something
Useful or
Something just
Beautiful
Adding to the
life that began
When the light
Was separated from the darkness
© 2016 Julie Clark
A fresh new day arrives
To discover
To explore
To be awake
To be alert
For signs and wonders
Will the breeze carry the whisper
Or an eagle soaring above
Will a salmon leap for joy
Or a child laugh with glee
Who will bring a message today
I never know
Until I open my eyes and ears
All senses tuned
Waiting
Will it be the notes of a song
The wagging tail of a dog
Will it be in a dance with my sweetheart
A kind word from a stranger
Will it be a longing in my heart
Pulling me
reminding me
as I examine sacred texts
That I am loved in this world and
my name is known
In another world
Another dimension of pure
Love and light
Piercing through
Here and now
© 2016 Julie Clark
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