"A Hero's Welcome"

I want a hero's welcome
when I am home

not a party for the
prodigal son who

returns penniless
willing to be a servant.

I want the journey
of a moment to be

considered brilliant,
wonderful, courageous even.

I am a hero
for I am God's Son.

Love bid me adieu
and welcome back.

"The Story Is Not The Miracle"

And another thing
what is up with your
sharpish retort to
the outpouring of my heart?

Did I say too much;
was I too open;
did it hurt somehow
to bear witness to the miracle?

How stupid I've been,
how brittle and insensitive
to not see this story could
not find a home in your heart

while you are hurting still.
Forgive my verbose blunder
and let me get you cup of tea
and let's be still together

until your hurt melts
leaving nothing but life
giving refreshment
and comfort for us both.

"Please Cry at Home"

There is no room for tears here
where we are busy forming treatment plans.

We have questions and answers
and tools and reason.

We cannot stop for you to cry,
there simply isn't time.

Our job is to mend your body
with everything we know.

Your feelings get in the way
of our busyness and routine.

But now I see you sitting there
alone in the waiting room.

Quiet and still. Trusting.
Remembering wholeness

even as your body tells
a different story.

I want to cry a river of tears
for the great Unknown Healer

to come and gather us both
in his arms and be home

where we can
cry together.

"The Gifts of the Spirit"

Life is the reason
forever is a word

Wholeness is the reason
healing can create anew

Living is the reason
for joy

Happiness is the reason
I was created

Loving my brother
is how I remember the truth

" The Gifts of the Ego"

Death is an excuse
to not live forever

Sickness is an excuse
to not be whole

Fatigue is an excuse
to not live fully

Sadness is an excuse
to not be happy

Loneliness is an excuse
to not love my brother

"This Alien Will"

This alien will have I treasured
thinking it could bring me

what I want, namely something
other than what I've got,

is second nature to me.
I now believe "Survival of the Fittest",

"Truth hurts" and "Time" as
the natural order of life.

Then I read this morning
"A happy outcome to all things is sure"

and either this is true or
everything else I know is false.

I am betting on the happy outcome
because that is the only thing that makes sense.

To know all wrongs are righted,
all slights healed

and the alien will
will be found

not
at all.

"I Am Determined to See"

Anger comes in with
a rush of power.

Determined. Poised.
Yet because I do not

understand its purpose
I quit breathing

until it passes.

What if
I breathed

into
the anger

and let it
be?

"Shocked"

My store of grievances
is tinder to your spark

of annoyance.
The conflagration

which ensues
shocks

the hell

out

of

me.

"What is Anger?

Anger

is

the unknown

force

of passion

that

opens

the door

to

inconceivable

irretrievable

delights.

Fear not.

"Anger's Gift"

When I can finally let my anger go
I am wiped clean of all illusion.

I barely remember my name,
or what I was doing.

Perhaps this is anger's
greatest gift to me.

The empty space it leaves.
Not a "waiting to be filled" space

but a holy emptiness
whose stillness calms all fears

and leaves me with a
simple yearning for the truth.

"Burning Bush Starts Fire"

There is such an immense, endless
stuck place in me that simply

will not express anger
in any healthy way.

I clamp down the breathing
of my heart so tightly I nearly

black out from the lack of air.
I am instantly ashamed and immobilized

by my own searing bushfire of hate
racing to annihilate every bit of me.

It was a too late, hollow realization
that I interpret all closed off

parts of anyone as anger-
not distractedness, tiredness or busy-

just anger: my own melting
rage against.....

what?

The lesson today mocks me now,
"This is a day of stillness and of peace."

My haughty inner comic sneers
"Sure we can have peace but

your ANGER is STILL here"
Oh Jesus, how do I accept

anger? How do I make a space
for that heinous of sins:

a boiling grievance against
my bothers? Against myself?

"Unwrapping Presence"

I kept seeing I had a choice
of whether to decide myself
or ask for help and direction.

Every time I chose a nanosecond
of holy help, a small decision

I could not make presented itself
easily like your Mother handing
you the next birthday present to unwrap.

The funny thing was that each
decision was the same:

"Unwrap the gift"

Each gift was wrapped exquisitely
in tears, or cupcakes or unwelcome guests,

yet the decision to receive
the gifts was all it took

for the perfection of the moment
to be revealed and this

morning I sit quietly
in the pale blue dawn in wonder

and gratitude at the bounty
of yesterday.

Are all days like that?
An unending stream of

gifts and my only decision
is whether to unwrap them

or not?

"On the QT"

Why is it that "quiet" and Heaven
seem to be describing one another?

You don't ever read
of noise or cacophony

and Heaven together.
Heaven is what Quiet Does.

Quiet is a singular
thought that calms fears,

brings you to your senses,
and stills activity.

Quiet prepares the heart
for listening and knowing.

Our true state, that eternal
joy called Heaven, must

be one of Quiet expectation
of God's grace.

The pregnant moment of promise
when the orchestra

is focused on the conductor
united in the inevitability of music.

The Holy Spirit is God's gift,
by which the quietness of

Heaven is restored
to God's beloved son.

"No."

You told her "No."
without anger or chastisement.

She heard "No", not abandonment
or shame.

The "No" both held back
and evaporated the threatening

tide of emotions leaving
only stillness in its wake.

And in the stillness,
they layed together praying

caressing one another
in the quiet,

knowing nothing, save the
sure trust in the quidance received.