Tag: gratitude

Hold Fast

Hold Fast

Hold fast to the truth
the light of the sun
the promise of spring
to the new bloom
to living water
that flows from your dreams
to the wonder of a child
not bitten by life's poison.
Hold fast to your self
to the truth that never dies
to the song in your heart.
Hold fast to pure love
forgiveness
hope
obsured by the clouds
that part to let it through.
Hold fast to those
who want the best for you
and do the best they can
especially when they disappoint you.
Hold on to what you have
do not lose contact
with what makes you, you
to what keeps you sane
that brings you back
again and again
from the cold pelting rains.
Hold fast and don't let go...

The Gratitude Journal

The Gratitude Journal

I want to say I'm grateful,
for this life
for my many things
for my many friends
and for my many family
true?

But also,
a slow Sunday afternoon
sunlight glistening 
on dark and rich skin
life breathe
flowing 
in
and out
eyes to see
nose to smell
a shelter where I can dwell...

And,
sadness that brings joy
sun to chase away the storms
ignorance that births wisdom
mistakes and failures that nip me awake
and escape
 the destruction that awaits
just around the corner...

Most of all,
I thank God
for the gift of gratitude
that rewards with beatitudes.

But For the Grace of God…

But For the Grace of God...

But for the grace of God
there go I...
Broken I am not
defeated no more
I can speak
of past disasters 
that remained untold.
But for the grace of God
I can stand
after sitting in decay
to the Light I prayed
I said yes and was blessed
for I could have been like the rest
forgotten,
downtrodden, 
but my weakness I confessed
and by grace finished the test.
Now I know,
but for the grace of God
there I go.

A Word on Discouragement

Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is ingratitudefor the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportuinities of todayand insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow. It is unawareness of the presence of beauty, unconcern for the needs of our fellowman, and unbelief in the promises of old. it is impatience with time, immaturity of thoughts, and impoliteness to God

– William A Ward

That Lesson is the true Blessing

Often times when “bad” things happen to us we question why. We feel and act like victims and may even curse the day we were born. It is not easy to navigate this life when your intentions do not bear the kind of fruits you had in mind. Too often people, like me and you, become disillusioned with the twist and turns that punctuate our lives. DIsturbances as we see them, that happen maybe when we least expect them or produce our greatest fears. There is a tendency to be angry in these situations, to feel trapped and oppressed.

So, it is hard to think that there is anything good to see in these situations much less to see them as a blessing. I have learned that hard times produce the opportunity for us to not only mature but to flourish. When we get too comfortable where we are, we may feel reluctant to “rock the boat”, and accept where we are, who we are and how we have come to be perceived as our lot in life. But here comes those lessons that say, “no this is not your final destination, you have to be stretched a little more, melted down to the liquid fire and beaten into a new shape”. We are there resistant, resentful and hopeless, waiting for it to end. By it I mean this season of hard lessons, the experience of the hard-knock life. However, it can be that our greatest strength can come from these surely hard lessons. We are forced to work from our survival and with it and toughness develops, when we choose to stick around, that can take us through another hard knock. With each of those knocks out toughness becomes more improved until we can better appreciate the hits and even welcome them because they really allow us to live life fearlessly, or with a little less fear even.

For all the things we can gain, awards and wealth, it is those difficult times, sometimes the hardest in our lives that are the real treasures on earth. It is never easy to reconcile the painful experiences that we have blessings as we have become too focused on blessings that lead to matchless prosperity. How about we shout amens for those lessons, hard lessons that lead to our blessings, true blessings not limited by a limited and our very human understanding.

Dark Places

Dark Places

Those dark places
twisted spaces
that are wasteland 
to make you understand 
that you are strong
to go the distance
because you belong.

I love those dark places
cool, wet and moist land
fertile soil,
that holds the promise of possiblity. 

Thanks for those dark places
that makes you dance and shout
when the sun comes out
and chases away those dark clouds.
The Sun,
that linger long after it becomes undone.

It Was Never Enough…

There is a Youtuber that I listen from time to time and often times she brings some clarity on things I come to realise but could not put into perspective.

This has been the best year so far for clarity. While it seems everything is going wrong, I feel as if something like this was bound to happen. I feel I now have the time to really look at myself and determine what I want to carry, for however long God allows me to be here.

It was never enough but now it has to be.

I have never been satisfied. No matter how much I achieved and reached my goals, it was never enough and that is so sad to realise, because what I took for granted can never come back. It is true that the more you have, or the more you gain, the more you want. The less satisfied you are with what you have and what you have achieved. It is so easy to focus on the shortcomings because they proof that we are not perfect, so we want to auto correct. Meanwhile, we are blind to blessings God has given us because we are too focused on acquiring more than we had before.

So you wanted something and feel your world will end if you do not have it. So, you work at it and when you are at that place, you do not take the time to rest and just have that experience. Instead, you look closer at what others have achieved and you want that so badly (we tell ourselves that we are living our purpose) and we tell ourselves that we can achieve it so we must.

But then when we are no longer happy with our gains, we become bored and self sabotage. We never really wanted what we gained and so it isn’t enough.

So what becomes of us? What becomes of having enough?

The gentlest of wind can tear you down, if your foundation is weak.

It takes something like a pandemic for us to realise that we have been reaching for a blinding flashlight and not the stars. We look back and realise that that crappy day wasn’t that bad. We realise that the disappointment of not getting what we wanted was really not bad and we can be grateful.

We come to appreciate so much more, the little things we couldn’t see because our heads were covered by polluted clouds.

They were clouds that made us foolishly greedy to have more and to be more, of the things that simply do not matter. To think that with one year (cough 2020) we can magically step away from years of being annoyed with our lot in life. The irony being that it would take less than a year to realised that “our lot in life” is all we have and we really want it to count.

So, when we get up tomorrow and see one more day, let that day be enough.

When we can greet each other no matter how, make that enough.

When we know that we have support, no matter how small your group is, it is enough.

When we have the opportunity to do something, anything no matter how small, to uplift and encourage someone, you will know it is enough.

The little things that were never enough before are great treasures to cherish.

Your health, body and mind are enough.

God is enough.

When we realise that we are still here, we know that we are enough.

It is enough, Life is enough .

All that was never enough, becomes vital, because those are the things that truly will sustain us. This moment that we have, in this transformed world, is enough.