PRIORITIES

When one things in terms of priorities, what is it really that comes to mind? Is it something spiritual or practical. There is always the text book response, but that isn't always the one that truly dominates in terms of our actions.

To sail without wings on a spiritual level means to let God's spirit set our priorities. Oh that happens a lot on Sunday. People gather at church and become very good at mouthing what is the rehearsed and know priority in terms of being Christian.

The only problem is that often it has nothing to do with what we live as priorities. Sunday's words drift off into the cosmos as one sits at a desk and nurses a cup of coffee. It is the barbed wire effect of being where breath makes no allowances for wings.

But the question abounding to me is what good is it to talk about putting God first in your life and then it never intrudes into one's daily life. Somewhere in the verbal perfume of inspiration we need to allow the scent to fill out lives to some degree.

However we also must allow God the wisdom, which means we accept he isn't without an appreciation for us being human. That to me translates into not speaking of priorities with the lips that we have no intention of embracing with our hearts.

I think God takes more delight in the kind of obedience that truly follows the Lord with sincerity and honesty than the type that sounds impressive on Sunday. For what we do in reality truly expresses our desires and priorities.

What is amazing at times is how people seem to forget this fact. God knows our hearts and thoughts. He knows what we will really due regardless of what we pray or claim.

Thus if we can abase ourselves of the need for self-deception and instead find the simple joy that only comes from the harmony and honesty then we can find the priorities in our lives that were truly intended. Not the ones we claim during some bible study or prayer. Nor the ones we love to express as our love impress others with if possible. But the ones that truly reflect what burns in our desires.

In the panorama of witness where we are only seen in glimpses we do savor the applause and approval of other eyes. It doesn't have much to do with eternal eyes that have a vision reaching so probingly into our secrets.

That is truly where our priorities lies. It is just as the scriptures declare, where our heart is (in terms of priorities and values) is where our riches really exists.

I for one don't enjoy the pretense of show. To merely act as if our heart is totally surrendered to god, while in fact it isn't the reality.

Perhaps the clouds shall set upon our minds and fog them in terms of this world. Perhaps we can grow wings in due season. But regardless, we know if what we say isn't what we do, our priorities will reflect the truth.

OPEN YOUR HEART

Can I ever let the delicate petals of my suppressed love
flower into the more than a wilting, decaying blossom?

Will I always leave it dying
while swimming upon the waves of greed
or wading through the surf of sins
to get lost upon a carnal, tempest ocean
as a lethargic and napping unfeeling creature
lacking the compassion to let mercy be more than a word?

Then in my last gasp of pure emotions the sky calls to me
as my savior's voice comes
like a melodious and dulcet wave song.

Beckoning to rescue my sinking and dying soul
from the riptides of vanity and lust
till his spirit cleanses my pain
leaving me a life preserver of faith.

Then I return to the sands of my naked and bruised shoreline
joyously picking up the tender rose of caring that I had discarded
as his spirit's power at last brings life anew to my deepest grains
freeing me from the waters of emptiness and abandonment
where I was adrift without purpose or feeling.

All occurring from my lord's unseen touch
as only he can truly make us feel
beckoning the dam of selfishness to burst
while we hear that heavenly whisper
open your heart.

LEADING

There are some kinds of leading that makes sense to everyone and no one gets confused over why you are following a giving direction or path. When that involves an employer or some other form of authority it is even easier since you can have the person check with the powers that be if they want an explanation.

Following the leading of the Holy Spirit isn't always something that lends itself to what is practical or common sense. One only has to look at some of the experiences of those mentioned in the scriptures to appreciate that God doesn't worry to much about how image in that regard.

I'm not sure that is important in many ways if we are truly living to trust the Lord. It might be hard on the ego or pride, but remembering that it is the Lord's opinion that really matters can strengthen us.

What can be an added burden is being sure one isn't translating personal bias as the leading of the Lord. One can see that so often where people translate the scriptures not by truth, but by their prejudice. Basically that God is either in favor or against whatever they happen to like or hate.

Being human though we will make mistakes including misunderstanding God's will in a given situation. And if we allow pride to prevent us from accepting when we make that kind of mistake we can end up stubbornly following a given path that we adamantly claim is God's leading even if it isn't.

Presently my wife and I are in the midst of a struggle in terms of one issue in our lives. And I have prayed and feel I know what is God's leading for the situation.

However on the surface it doesn't necessarily appear to be the most practical choice. Still, in my spirit and heart I feel the choice I need to make is truly the one the Lord desires.

So despite how it might affect me in certain ways, I have accepted the choice that lingers and will need to be made in due season. As for any possible consequences, well, that for me is just another area of life that must be surrendered to the Lord in faith.

About the only good thing I do know is that there is a difference in that regard between the now and eternity. That regardless of what appears to be the potential dangers of a given situation, it doesn't have much to do with God still being sovereign/

I don't know how many times I have to remind myself of that when I was tempted to trust to my own talents instead of the Lord. I am grateful that he has been able to nudge me in the leading of a given direction despite the temptation.

And if that means along the way, I have to accept where I'm being lead isn't always going to make me popular, I'll live with that reality. For I also know too that the following the Lord's leading will always yield a better harvest than following your own path.

LONG BEGINNINGS

Another journey beginnings. It is like a staircase one climbs and you look forward to ascending each step if for no other reason than being able to rise passed the beginning. The mind conjures the image of the journey pass the original point. All the thoughts brew as a testimony to the conviction that there is a logical relationship between cause and effect. That if I do A then B will happen.

Then reality intrudes upon the theory. And instead of moving on to the next level of experience we feel stuck at the same step.

In a more practical vein perhaps it would be like in one's spiritual experience. We assume that we start at a given level of faith and spirituality and believe with enough time we will be able to graduate to a more mature point of relationship.

How many times we discover that in reality we have yet to truly rise above first step of a given part of life. That can be very discouraging at times. It can even be harder to accept as reality too in terms of our pride.

I feel God often keeps us in a given situation for a variety of reasons. He may be seeking to help us learn a lesson we need to know or testing our obedience.

And in our haste to get "beyond" the infancy level of a given experience we get impatient to feel more "mature." So in our rush for that next step we ignore or miss some relevant thing we need to know.

Spirituality, like our relationship with the Lord is forever. And if we look at the nature of how God deals with man we often see how it does take a long time in some cases for us to learn what God intended. I am reminded of how in more dramatic cases such as with Moses, God kept him in exile for 40 years in order to prepare him for leading the people out of Egypt.

I'm grateful that is the time for when how long it takes for all of us to learn our lessons. Still even with the disciples they were with the Lord three years of his ministry before his crucifixion. And we know from the book of Acts that there were times they still had things to learn after the resurrection.

So why we assume in our calling, which is most likely not as overwhelming as being chosen as Moses or the Apostles were called, but it still takes longer than a week. None of that makes us necessarily happy or content with the process, but it doesn't change it either.

However, I do take solace in the fact that God is merciful and long suffering with us. Even when we fail him and stupid he so often tarries with us. For that I am grateful. And I just keep reminding myself when I leave I'm having to take the same lesson over again that it is better than not having to learn it at all. Walking by faith is still preferable to racing by one's own strength.

A PUDDLE OF SHADOW

Images of funeral shrouds form a mask over my heart
consuming beyond the sun's fleeting
where the blend of haunting mourner's hues
swim through the mind
as their nemesis from the dazzling tones of morn
becomes a perilous demon instead of deliverer
stabbing with truths
from which one seeks to hide.

Somewhere in the morass of why stabs
over a promising dawn's failings
each banshee specter of eve's courtroom
glues shut the doors of excuses.

During the smoldering vapors of thought
I retreat to isles of gourmet laughter
savoring the illusion of controlling illumination
by scores of candles and bulbs infecting one's mood
till my eyes groan with the lamented lantern
over the dazzle of turquoise skies
uttered by a weary, undeniable stare
which our hearts jingle in intuitive pricks.

In those occasion when handcuffing a noon's shimmering fingers
ever grateful for a reprieve in the blindfolded, sensory alleyways
that are so emotively fallow
where one is content to wallow in
a puddle of shadow.

THE REAP SHORT

There are times this can be a good thing. Such as if you say were observed saving a bus load of orphans who were in an accident. Then comes the pictures, hero accolades, etc..

On other occasions it isn't a good thing. Like if you happen to be a fish. Being caught is other than a blessing.

I imagine the most common use of the term would be in the way of caught in the act. As in someone found you doing something that you were supposed to be doing. This is definitely not a blessing.

As a politician the concept of caught is definitely an area of concern. And you can be sure that it almost never is a reason to smile.

I wish it was otherwise, but it isn't. So I live with that reality whenever I plan or plot my next move.

It does make life interesting at times I guess. For it adds a certain zest of ramifications to my thoughts.

And since the potential for disaster is so great, I just feel so thrilled to have the adrenaline rush from knowing each decision I make is more than a casual choice. Not everyone can claim that, but I can.

I do bring this up for it does have relevance to others. That is in terms I suppose of knowing the joy that comes from seeing how many ignore the reality. They don't bother to give as much credence to the risks of life as I like to call them.

Which naturally when they discount or fail to adjust for all the joys then I savor the fabulous joy of seeing them act extra shocked when they do get caught. I wish I could say I feel sorry for them, but normally I'm not. Instead I'm prone to wait till I am alone and jump up and down with joy. Yeah, it sucks, but it works for me.

Basically life trudges along in that regard. We just don't seem to savor the reality of how life carries the risk when we do things that are other than ordinary.

And so many people are amazing in their assumption they will never suffer any consequences to their actions. Ah it is such a joy. Because I really love seeing those times when somebody crosses over so to speak from the so-called life of decency to some other level. They never even appreciate when it happens normally.

So I sit back as they rationalize their behavior and fall farther into the abyss of indulgence. All the time thinking nothing bad will happen.

Then judgment day comes and brother are they hopelessly stunned. As for me, well I just enjoy the irony of it all when a supposed good person ends up being as depraved as I am.

ONE MORE WORD

Ever have those moments you reach when you feel totally exhausted emotionally and nothing said could in anyway help? They are for me the one more word moments when you will scream if you hear a single more comment regardless of any kind, good or bad.

Mercifully, I think we do manage to survive, but we all have our limitations. They are really hard on the system and we wish they never took place.

Sometimes in the midst of a valley, I do admit that it is hard to always see the wisdom of the trial. It just becomes that burden, which suffocates and that is so exhausting.

I have wondered on occasions is it truly necessary to even go through such trials? Sometimes they truly seem pointless. There are those too where they come as a result of some mistake on our part.

However, in either case we struggle and hopefully along the way manage to see the Lord in the process. That can be the hardest part of all.

Some people presume the journey of faith can be traveled without adversity. But I haven't seen any evidence of that.

And goodness doesn't have much to do with it either. We see that in the scripture that talks about the rain falling on the just and unjust alike. Rain being a symbol for many things that means it is common to everyone.

None of that has anything to do with us in any way feeling satisfied with the mantle of grief falls on our shoulders. I doubt that we sit down and say thank you Lord for this suffering.

Instead, if we are honest we probably are asking, "why me Lord?" That is the one question that often never gets answered.

So we plot along, crying out to the Lord and praying for understanding. On some occasions it comes as just a wind. One that only touches the soul. It brings an air that when inhaled gives us strength for just one more day.

Is that the type of reply we truly want? Probably not. Is it the one we feel satisfied with? No. But it is the one, which we survive with knowing.

Providing we look to the Lord for help. To seek his comfort and strength in the crisis. That might seem like enough, but in its provision we often learn what we might otherwise not know.

Lessons aren't always without a price. Hopefully, it is one that we don't have to learn more than once. May the light of God truly shine in our hearts to guide us beyond the shadows of any words.

CURVES ALONG THE SIGHT

Curves always seem to hold the promise of a continued journey. They seldom lead to a dead end in most cases.

But they also carry with them a hint of uncertainty. There is more to the journey, but we just don't know where it ends.

It leaves us to wonder and speculate if the road is unfamiliar. We have no way of knowing what awaits. And depending upon our experience with curves that can be a point of added anxiety.

Still the journey continues. We have to tread into the distance in order to reach a given destination. If it includes curves then we learn to cope.

Beyond the issue of traveling, this also has relevance in the life of faith. We have to learn to keep moving when we reach some curve in the road of life. When trusting this can be one of those places we reach where we can tell what is going to happen next. We may know which direction to go, but not all the possible consequences that lie ahead.

And if the road gets hazardous in any way, it is tempting to stop and turn around. We all enjoy the idea of when things go perfectly. Only little in life ever actually does.

That does prevent us from wishing or imagining the outcome. And depending upon our nature we can easily get caught up in planning the outcome. If we are too incline to wishful thinking we may even interpret the result with some spiritual significance whether it has any significance or not.

Such is the nature of human thinking. Being mortal we will make errors. Curves can and will happen along the way.

If by chance we take a wrong turn or end up making a mistake, the need is to be honest, instead of lying about our error. I've seen those who couldn't admit they were wrong. They just never in their minds made a mistake. Any errors were always somebody else's fault.

Such "curves" in thinking are often the type, which become roadblocks to a deeper relationship with the lord. For in inhibits one's capacity to appreciate and see God's hand of grace. Instead of discovery how often God truly blesses our lives with mercy when fail him or end up having an "accident" because of a curve, we merely resort to denial.

Worst of all, we do not learn the lessons intended in the process. And when we fail to learn what God intended we simply leave ourselves open to making the same mistake again. Such is the sadness of the types of curves that bend us in a direction and we just resist the path or to see what is was suppose to help us grow in our lives.

When that happens, we just fall short of the opportunity as it was suppose to bless. Sometimes in the haste to avoid a curve we end up having the type of accident that truly causes more harm than if we followed the curve.

TO FLY WITHOUT WINGS

A belt, an angrily raised open hand
and the wicked intent in the closing of her bedroom door
were always followed by a muffled cry of "please daddy, no more."

They are hellish, abusive stains of childhood misfortune
upon her tattered garment of memory lace
caused by a drunken father's sadistic and demented perfection twist
who used hate and legalism as brutality's catalyst
for his vicious and violent broken rule retributions
that hideously scarred a fragile, young cherub's pores of reality.

When in time her beauty and flower of femininity blossomed
she fled the evils of spiritual decay and that temple of torment
becoming homeless and forced out of a desperate need for survival
to sell her body as an erogenous cotton candy
surrendering to the depraved slow dance lusts
of men with cold, lifeless steel for a heart
having been sucked into their harsh and cruel erotic lairs
where romance is a sickness played in perversion's abyss
dragging her, with insides screaming, into its sickening clutches
by the gravity fear of shear existence.

Beyond a world that only judges her as morality's villain
will come the healing season when at last mercy's burnished thread
shall stitch her pains and wounds with a divine forgiving love.

Then she shall soar the lucid beams of a perfect endless sunrise
her inner. pure raiment shining oh so bright as she blissfully learns
to fly without tears.

SAGGING DAZE

When the heart is a blend of thoughts and confusion from unclear vision it bleeds the essence in so many ways. Not only do we feel the weight from such a burden, which brings fatigue on so many levels, but it also weighs down the soul too.

In the process under such a weight it is hard for the mind to always focus on what is the right choice. Through one's life of faith the added dimension involves the need for spiritual eyes that look to heaven for an adequate guidance in whatever maze inhabits our reality.

But the Lord for many reasons may not shine upon our ponderings with an immediate or clear answer. He may restrain his reply as part of the challenge of our obedience and faith.

Thus is the struggle we often face on many levels. Is there a place of only light without any shadows where we can feel the pure refreshment? In reality with the Lord the answer is most honestly both yes and know. It resides in Heaven for certain. There we shall only know light for truth shines from the Lord.

However, in this life there are the shadows and they do creep into our essence in so many ways. Darkness consumes if left without any guiding to help us sustain our essence to any real degree of aid.

Once upon a moment, ever clinging to a heartbeat we become a vessel chosen to trust and be set apart from the race of greed. So in this season that the Lord captures in our being and guides we can plot along, but not always with the joy of knowing that even if we can't see passed the horizon of our own limitations, God is there.

Knowing that doesn't mean we will always understand on know everything when we think it is our right to know. And along the way it is easy to become weary. I think the Apostle Paul in part might have been thinking of that problem when he mentioned that we would reap in due season. In addition I feel he also might have been thinking of this when he spoke of not growing weary in well doing.

I don't see anything in scripture to suggest that God will spare us from the times of sagging daze. What he does do is equip us for such times.

It doesn't mean that we will always be looked upon by others as successful or victorious in the process. Merely that God will empower us with enough of what we need to complete a given journey.

To the outside world that might not be all that apparent. For one might still be regarded as being other than successful or blessed when following such course.

The abiding hope resides in the awareness that God is able to see us through any moment and any challenge. But we have to be prepared to let it be by his hand and according to his will.

SMOTHERING EMBERS

Honest is the water that can truly bind the burning wound. Without it in terms of seeing one's life in perspective, we simply play a game.

And if the embers of hate or other negative images smolder without ever being exposed to such honesty, we always feel the burning even if we don't admit it. Such is the peril of conformity to life's expectations where we let opinion be our lord.

In spiritual circles this is even a bigger issue. For there is the added layer of spirituality, which suggests and implies a higher state of values that allow us to travel beyond the pettiness of the self.

The only problem is that we bring to the house of worship and in our hearts all the frailties and weakness of our lives. Those do no disappear just because we hide in the shadow of the cross.

As a result, it becomes almost a soap opera of sorts when speaking of the social elements of churches. We go through the "we love everybody" antics, but in reality behind the smiles are all the smoldering sins that reside unconfessed in one's heart.

So we pretend too often and somehow convince ourselves that God accepts the lies we till ourselves. It is sad how we intrude upon scriptural truths by adding the seasoning of our excuses and prejudices. And the whole time we think because the Lord doesn't strike us down or we see the numbers in a church thrive that it has his blessing.

What a pity we must play this farce and do it at our expense and the expense of others. For the only thing that can possibly cool the smoldering embers of our negative emotions is the power of the holy spirit.

That would require honesty on our part. We can have healing or any possible blessing in terms of God's presence in our lives when we focus on deception.

The Lord will bring us to that spiritual pond where we can baptize our sight in new light. But if we stare at the reflection in the pool it will reveal all the ugliness and sin that we refuse to embrace in our lives. That can be such a painful experience for some. One that in no way actually is easy to deal with on a human level.

God doesn't spare us from this pain. For discovery is an important part of the process. Without it we gain nothing. We learn nothing and we never grow beyond the limits of our own fears.

Still many a believer has been brought to that pool and refused to drink. The image they see so disagrees with the illusion we have painted for ourselves that we leave the pool, excusing the choice for a variety of reasons.

For some it means they do their best to smile while the smoldering embers burn their insides. It is a form of death that kills the soul long before the heart also dies.

COLONNADE STORY

Feeling utterly soaked to the bone
by the lingering dew of longing
my heart is impaled by the sabers of power
who bleed my soul of hope and dignity
as I serve as slave in their greenback castle.

It was built by greed upon the jagged isle of need,
and I pause in my misery to gaze out a window of dreams
that overlooks the tempest lake of unanswerable questions
where one can drown in its tainted waters of guilt and doubt.

Deep in the castle's lairs of fear confessionals
where I spent hours whitewashing shadows
the walls murmur with the boasting of tyrants
till a vision stirs in my suffering soul
about the archways to Elysium's love
which dwells beyond that toxic pool of pondering.

Then the agony brings an image of elegance
adorned with the garlands of tranquility
as echoes come from its gossamer celestial columns
rendering me transfixed by its unspeakable beauty.

By the caress of more than brick and stone
where I sense the eternal awaits to be known
the pains of power's abusive foundations fade
as I imagine paddling towards the bedazzling glory
found through a trust in paradise's
colonnade story.

STILLNESS VERSES FIERCENESS

There is the quiet from contemplation where the mind is drinking from the well of deep profound thought. However, there is the quiet that is the moment of seething where the person is like a volcano about to explode.

But is that temper truly the kind of fierceness that is productive? I do wonder at times. True it does intimidate, yet does it actually end up in anything profitable?

That would depend upon whom you ask. I know that what is a yardstick is in part the results in the long run. Forceful people do often through such fierceness succeed in forcing others to do as they wish.

Only problem is that it has a season if not tempered with some sense of stillness or control. To be strong and courageous are good attribute, but if it means the person is abusive and selfish in the process the long range fruit may be tainted.

Speaking for myself, I know that I have never been regarded as particular aggressive or courageous. My strength doesn't come from bullying, but from stillness. For me I only succeed when God is my defender.

Currently, my wife and I are struggling to deal with this one person who is sadly very religious and at the same time very evil. A classic example of the kind of greed and hypocrisy that truly is what draws criticism to the faith.

Worst of all is this person's need to lie about this level of sinfulness that exists in that person's life. And predictably this person has managed to do everything imaginable to lie and renege on promises.

It has taken all my strength to keep and maintain any degree of stillness while it is necessary for us to deal with this person. Later, as I have prayed and been lead by the Lord, we shall pursue our options in terms of how to deal with this person's actions, which have been in part flatly illegal.

The main comfort is saving that anger till it can be vented in a positive and healthy way as a form of fierceness that God will bless for being his way. There are times when it is hard to keep that in focus when more problems come up, but I do my best.

Perhaps the sun shall shine upon a day that will not bury us in the fog of despair. But till that time I intended to do what I can to listen to the Lord and be obedient.

Which means remembering the times when I have to remember his word that says "be still and listen to the Lord." In those moments I can rejoice for he truly is often able to manifest his power in ways that are often so amazing.

And for the precious time when I shall feel a special time to rejoice when God's hand will deal with the evil in a special and just way. It is a pray I feel as much as express.

BRUSH

There is no broom to sweep the dirt of cares from the soul. Or so it seems at times. We are admonished not to worry or fret by scripture, but admittedly that is very difficult to do at times.

In those desperate occasions of struggle and risk, faith can be the stabilizing means to any form of brush that can cleanse us in part of the dust of worries. But it is more being able to trust in the Holy Spirit's cleansing that brings any sense of being purged.

However, like with any type of sweeping, it never works to do it just once. It is a ritual practice that must be done over and over and over.

That is perhaps part of the difficulty that arises for some in this situation. It is so natural to want something to be permanent. We want to learn a lesson and move on. Having to repeat the same mistake or crisis can be so disheartening.

Yet it is also essential to our maturity that we learn the truth of how immature we really are at times. I didn't say that we enjoyed such lessons, only that we do have to learn them.

God in his wisdom will test us in that regard. And I know from my personal experience that no matter how much I have learned from the past it doesn't keep the future from rising up the same challenges.

There are some that want to believe you reach a point in life where you can avoid such crisis. They want to think that blessings by God means a life without problems.

Some flock to churches that teach such doctrines. They are so desperate to purge their life of its burdens that they will eagerly accept any brush somebody offers even if it is broken or doesn't work.

The reality is life never as a rule reaches a point without it being life. This is not, nor will it be a form of heaven as long as sin and Satan are part of reality.

Knowing this doesn't have to be depressing. It can be a time of hope and promise. A chance to trust the Lord and know it will mean new challenges will come and often they will be even more demanding than the past.

So rejoice when the brush comes that gives any temporary cleansing. It is a repository of temporary cleaning, but the true brush will only be available at Heaven's throne of grace.

We celebrate our faith with obedience not with indifference or assuming we can obtain paradise in this temporary condition. Live the dream of knowing eternity is yet to come. Smile in the warm of affection that God truly knows our pain and suffering and will reward those according for their deeds both good and bad. May we not be among those with more bad deeds than good ones that come through faith.

HUSH

How easy the dialogue of complaint dominates the tongue. It is so overpowering in terms of stirring our fires of hate. We can slip so subtly into a frame of thought where the world is painted in a hue of angst that is totally without any rainbows or hope.

Being unhappy with some aspect of life is a common problem. Life is imperfect and it doesn't in any way keep us from dreaming for otherwise. And when the two extremes collide we get frustrated and angry.

Some things are easy to solve than others. Dealing with people to me is not that easy a problem to solve. Too often people don't do what they promise. Oh they always have their reasons, but in the end the reality is we lied.

I didn't say people admit it, but they do. And one of the ways a person copes with such lies is to not contact the person when they break a promise. That way you only have to lie to yourself.

Over the last few months my wife and I have been involved with a project that has brought us into contact with a number of people we have hired to perform certain tasks. Now what is amazing is that all we want is the person to do the work that we hire them to do for the price they asked. We aren't asking them to do more or in anyway cheating them out of money. All we desire is they keep their promise of doing what they said they would do.

However what we have found is that almost without exception, whether they claim to be a Christian or not when it comes to keeping their promises it simply doesn't happen. They either don't do what is promised or only do it very poorly.

So it becomes a constant vigil of having to monitor their behavior till they finally do what they were suppose to do. And I can't help being grieved over such rampant state of unfaithfulness by people who have no apparent ethics.

It isn't like I'm perfect, but I do like to think that if I make promise, God knows of what I said and will hold me accountable for it. Apparently that doesn't hold true in some other cases.

So in the ensuing frustration it is easy to slip into a dialogue of feeling sorry for oneself. On one particular night I was feeling extra depressed and during my prayer time poured out my heart to the Lord.

Then the first thing that came to me was simply to "shut up." Basically, that if I would stop whining long enough to listen, God would show me what was his will for the situation.

And when I did that, he did show me the path I was to follow. It gave me a special peace that he would see us through the crisis in due season and would exact his judgment on those who had wronged us. Sometimes that is enough even if we don't enjoy the process of hush since we can't control it.

SWEET SERENITY

Fading came for the sounds of yesterday's deepest wailing
as they became only echoes in those moments
during the cherished plumes of the purest hush
when life burns with a new light's rush
so warming, yet calmingly quiet
rising like a mesmerizing sunrise
to stop the drowning rain of angst
which so often pours over my heart
during night's long vigil of bleeding souls.

Death is the angel I had seen too long
when what I chose to believe
was a journey by a magic carpet
into the hellish reflection catacombs
where ghouls and vampires
from my tainted cornucopia of memories
swallowed any chance for a hope drenched sight.

Then my eyes found amid the tumult and the pain
one precious place of tranquility's merciful stain.
By longing's desperate and dire prayer
did I enter the glory of a writer's sacred creative lair.

Lost between heaven's spell
and the torment of an inner hell
finding reprieve from esteem's bleeding identity
touched to the bone by
sweet serenity.

RUSH

Ah, the wonderful duality that some words have in the English language. Rush is haste and it is also an emotional high. Both are significant to some degree in life. How we cope with them differs and there is no single rule or advice that fits all situations.

Rush is the moment extreme that is felt in the veins and riddles our senses with an intensity like no other experience. It can be good as in a feeling of euphoria or bad as in a paralyzing sense of fear.

All of this is of course mainly related to this life and our experiences. On a spiritual level one does have battles and moments extreme, but I think often they never last quite as long as with those that intrude upon our body and emotions.

However with the spiritual realm a rush to the soul can be so overwhelming as with a born again or conversion experience that it truly stays fresh in your mind forever. And sometimes a person can sit and relive that moment with vivid detail.

But is it beneficial to crave the sweet rush from some spiritual moment? It might appear to be a thing of value, but there are dangers with that kind of approach. For it can be a risk to use the spiritual realm as a form of opiate for the soul. Some don't even appreciate when their approach has that ulterior motive.

How do we keep any balance to the issue of rush? Well I can only speak for myself, but I think it is to not crave such experience, but to instead let it happen naturally. By that I mean we don't go looking for rays from heaven and seeing them in our mind whether they are there or not.

Instead, it is to walk the path of faith, keep one's eyes on the path and our Lord and be receptive for the times the rush does come. Trying to force such moments gives it an artificial element. When that is the focus one can so easily invent reality without it actually having merit.

Seeing angels or claiming that you have when you imagined them might impress some, but does it really cure the ills of the soul? I recall listening to this one celebrity once speaking about how God had spoken to him audibly. He made it sound like it was the kind of event that could happen to anyone if you just had enough faith.

I know God can speak to us in many ways, including audibly if he desires. But I think also he gave us his word so he didn't need to give us that kind of communication all the time.

Only simply relying upon the scripture is not enough for some people I guess. They seek a more dramatic form of rush. Personally, I am thrilled whenever I feel the Lord's presence in what I'm doing.

That is enough rush for me most of the time. And as long as I am carried more by the winds of faith than of pure invention I know the rush I experience is the one God intends for my life.

BUSHELS

The scriptures speak of not hiding one's light under a bushel. It carries the meaning in part that having passions, but not letting them shine has no value.

Passion in this case it is a flame within the soul. And one related primarily to faith. While faith is associated with one believes, the expressions of that believe are “limbs” of our energy. They are the digits of action whereby we celebrate what we believe through what we do.

Thus we are commended to not hide our “light” or faith under a bushel. A bushel being whatever inhibits our actions. It might be fear of failure or disapproval. Or it could be a lack of confidence or any other of a multitudes of bushels that can cover our lives for one reason or another.

But to remove a bushel that restrains one's light doesn't mean it will shine according to our purposes. If it shines, it shines for the Lord. And more important is that the light is one that reflects in eternity. What shines forth in this life is important, but not as important as the eternal.

While most bushels are easy to recognize as a rule, there are times when one can ignore the ones that can truly hide one's light. Especially if we recognize that light is associated with truth and that is from God not our own glory if it is one where the Lord causes the illumination.

Such things as traditions, dogma, denominationalism and legalism can all be a form bushels. I say can as opposed to must. For it depends on whether such elements force you to hide God's truth under a bushel of someone's interpretation of truth.

In such cases, one might be seduced into thinking that just because they are “showing” their light to the world, it is hidden. Yet, it if not God's truth that is being shined, but something else, it is still a form of bushel.

Only we find it easy in those situations to pay more attention the “hiding” part than the bushel part of that admonition. We become so proud of our courage to not hide under a bushel of fear we forget that we have more than one bushel where our light is hidden. So it shine through a different covering and we are so happy, but sadly since the light is a hue of other than God's truth it really is still hidden in his eyes.

Perhaps in this modern age, we don't have too many of the bushels like they used in those days lying around the house. A paper bag might be our choice, but we all do carry things in some form of container. And part of this idea of a bushel is to not let what we have to carry in the sense of the chores of life become a covering that interferes with our ability to let God's light shine through our lives.

Traditionally real bushels are one's made of the kind of material that would burn. At the time when this admonition was given, most people used bushels for carrying items such as harvested crops. They were in a way like a basket, which people could identify with since they used them everyday.

But just like a real bushel, when something covers the light that God wants to shine from inside us it can end up catching fire in the sense that his spirit can make that particular bushel useless in one way or another if we use it for a covering. That is to say, if something in our lives becomes a hindrance to what God intends us to do, he can make it so unappealing so we will be motivated to abandoned it. All for the sake of making sure it doesn't keep that light he wants to shine from burning bright.

Yet God still grants us free will. So even if a given bushel keeps us from letting God's light of truth shine from our lives, sometime we still cling to it anyway. Oh it might be full of holes (as in flaws or things that don't satisfy) but at times the human heart full of pride just stubbornly refuses to abandoned a given bushel.

To be free in Christ is to listening to the Lord's spirit and allow his light of truth to shine in a way he chooses in our lives. It is not simply discarded one bushel for another as is so often done in our desire to serve God, but only our own terms.

May God strike his match of pure inspiration in all that will listen so that his light of truth will shine from our candle of being. And may he given us the sight to know what bushels we keep in our soul's house that we just can't surrender that keep hidden what God desires in our lives.

AWAKE, BUT NOT ALIVE

She is the small still voice within,
an immortal warrior of conscience,
seeping into the blood of thought
to pierce our waking
with her crimson lance of ultimate truth.

Through the windows of our eyes
does her power flow so deep into our soul
as she seeks to free us
from the addiction to excuse and lies
we use to mask our lust for flesh and gold.

Ever faithful, ever vigilant,
to ignite in our spiritually vital veins
a flare of awareness from her righteous flames.

Her very touch wages war with our carnal demons
by a soothing, whispered potion of inner witness
blessing with an Elysium serenity sired release
while quenching the torch of an accusing hell
and granting clarity of right as our new found peace.

But in the mind seared of any guiding morals
being a slave to the daily diet of sins
the conscious treads like a drone with each breath,
absent the fire of virtuous purity
utterly dead to what resides
beyond the clouds and shadows,
awake, but not alive.

TOUCH AND GO

Is there any more aggravating or stressful situation than one with too many layers of uncertainty? It might be seem wonderful to always know what tomorrow will bring, but it never is reality for most circumstances.

However, I think most of us try in some way to add a little security to our existence despite this fact. What we do depends on our view of things such as faith, positive thinking and perhaps whatever other elements influence our thinking.

What I find interesting it the number of times I've known people who would try to claim they had this incredible faith in God, but they fretted over every little detail in life. It is amazing how easy it is for some reason to lie to themselves.

I think God prefers honesty in our dealings with him. Everyone has moments that trial our souls and make us feel that disquieting sense of not sure how an event will turn out. But I don't feel it accomplishes anything to pretend we are immune to such emotions. And I doubt think God is impressed either.

Can one truly be so spiritual and perfect as to never doubt? Perhaps. I just know I haven't reach that level of maturity in my own experience or thinking. So if that confession in any way would surprise anyone, I live with the reality.

Which is perhaps part of the reason I feel a need to even devote this posting to this topic even though I have discussed it before. The plain fact is too often it seems people just can't feel comfortable in a circle of believers if it translates into admitting to such weaknesses. It is as if being a Christian you suddenly put on this garment of perfection and never sinned again or had any doubts.

Of course the truth in no way comes close to that fact. And I'm often comforted by the way our Lord dealt with his disciples. He knew their weakness and failings. Yet, he didn't reject them for such flaws.

The one thing Jesus did do was bring each disciple to that crossroads of confrontation where the follower had to face the truth about his fallings. This was to teach grace, to demonstrate the depth of God's love and I feel more than anything to help communicate the need to depend on Jesus for salvation.

How easy it is to lost sight of that reality even though we are all supposed to know it as believers. It is so easy to fall into chasm of doubt and not realize it. But at the point when we do, the great joy comes from being able to turn once again and lean upon God's grace by faith instead of offering up excuses for our sins.

Hopefully, along the way we learn the touch and go of spiritually in terms of our closeness to the lord. If we gain from that lesson then we are the most blessed of creatures. Which is the kind of wealth that truly enriches the heart as no other gold can ever accomplish.

THE TOUCH ETERNAL

To be grace by God is to come to an awareness that life truly extends to eternity. That might seem like a strange observation, but I do think it is as odd as it might appear.

The question is how many times does life really demand our full attention whether it is for good or bad? Do we honestly spend that much time remember that eternity is really our destination? I doubt there would be quite as much need for devotionals if our minds were as able to actually dwell only on the eternal, but that isn't really possible.

Yet, even in the limitations of daily routine I think there are occasions where we lose out on a opportunity to see heaven in all things. It is so easy to get caught up on the physical realm and miss out on the layer of eternity that lingers just beyond our eyes.

But to appreciate it when have to do so with the power of the Holy Spirit. God's spirit inspires to let our eyes lose their natural sight and instead view a situation by more spiritual means. To be able to look beyond the layers of now and see God's hand as he often works behind the obvious.

To be sure there are plenty of occasions when one has no choice but to think in terms of the here and now, but we do need to be sensitive to when God is speaking to us in some special way.

So often we just seem to get preoccupied with the present. To only see problems in terms of this life and our individual needs.

God calls unto our heart and we often are too busy to hear. Instead of harps and heaven's song we grow deaf, totally consumed by the sound of our own heartbeats.

Mercifully, God doesn't hate us for the times when he do fail to hear what he is telling us. And thank goodness he will speak again. Only problem is the times when we don't listen are often followed by a more dramatic situation where he speaks to us louder in order to be sure he gets our attention.

Still the great joy is when we have paused in our race to survive and can see and hear more than just our own thoughts. The meaning, the sound, the pure rapture is without peer of experience. It is a moment to be cherished if we are willing to enjoy it as God intended.

Perhaps someday I'll even listen myself enough to where I won't need this kind of posting myself to remind of how I fall short in my own listening. Till then, I will do as hopefully we all need to do and stop on occasion to pause and pray for God's grace that helps strengthen my ears as well as the rest of my life.

Then as the day passes I won't need to feel the dark that comes is one covering my heart instead of just the sky. It is a time to be feel more than just survival. It is the moment of the touch eternal.

LISTENING TO THE LIGHT

That might seem like something that is impossible since light is normally something you see not hear. But what we can "hear" is the sound that comes from the result of where light shines. Basically, without wanting to make it too confusing, I'm speaking of light as a metaphor for God's truth. And to hear it is to listen to more than the words that people say.

To often if some spiritual leader uses the right set of words or simply quotes scriptures I've heard people say, "he preaches the word of God." On one level I'm sure it can be said that is true. But if you don't "listen" to what the person is saying in terms of interpretation you may not be able to know if what he is saying is God's truth or simply something that shines.

I can't think of the number of times I've come to appreciate the contrasts between the two and how few people I've seen who apparently even care. If they hear preaching that tells them what they want to hear, they are satisfied. It doesn't matter to them if it is true because they are happy with how the words shine with a light they prefer.

Admittedly, we are so prone as humans to give in to the pressure to conform to majority opinion. It is a social dynamic that is very common in lots of organizations and churches are no exception. That doesn't mean that they are correct or even attempting to be correct.

The fact that there is such a diversity in teachings and some contradict each other I think sadly demonstrates the reality of how not all the light being cast is from the Lord. He isn't the author of confusion. And as a result it becomes our burden to seek him above all else.

That includes following Christ even if it means it takes us into the shadows where some think God would never venture. When we truly embrace the truth that to please God has nothing to do with pleasing man in some situations then we can understand how there are times when the Lord leads us to places other than we think are correct.

Some of course put more priority on worrying about what others think. They could never be used of God to serve him in some ways because it would violate their sense of what is acceptable behavior for a Christian.

With the life of faith, freedom is above all being free to do what our Lord and Savior commands. And to truly be free in Christ means have the willingness to respect other's rights of choice at the same time. There is a difference evangelism and spiritual terrorism. One seeks out of love for the Lord to share Christ the other seeks for the purpose of control to force others to believe what that person believes.

Only in the heart can a person truly know which is the path he or she is following. The good news is if are following the light of God for the right reason then we shall hear his voice and not someone else's.

WHISPERS

Whispers
shouted in the glow
of that dusk
I’ve learn to know.

Tomorrow is that beast
bring oft
far too much
the emptiness feast.

Light is the fire
that blooms
in the middle of a doom.

For me
there is only sadness
incurable
never promising a hint of gladness
in the fleeting mist
which I see
as the doorway
unto my
rescuing room.

BEYOND THE NOW

My wife and I are never in harmony when it comes to being impatient. I am by nature far more prone to be the one to anxious in life than her. However, there are times when she can be even more impatient than me.

A lot depends on what is a stake. She tends to be more focus on issues related to long term concerns whereas I get more obsessive about elements relevant to the moment.

Part of that is naturally because of my basic writer's mind. What is important to me often won't make sense to others because it is driven by some intuitive issue.

Now I only mention this to point out how we both approach the subject of worry from a different point of view. And I have a feeling that applies to a lot of people in life.

On a spiritual level we are told in the scriptures to "fret not" in one place. Jesus also mention about the futility of worry.

Yet it doesn't keep any of us from worrying from time to time. At the core, of course, is the issue of our trust in the Lord. Faith and worry don't really go together. So whether we are willing to admit it, when we worry we are in essence expressing our inability to trust God.

I believe God understands this aspect to our nature and thus is longsuffering with our stumbling. But I also think that the Lord will sometimes place us in a situation where worrying is more of an issue for the sake of teaching us that we might not be as mature as we think.

The last year I've had the occasion to deal with this one person who thinks that as a Christian the individual is full of faith. Yet this same person is incredibly prone to panic attacks over the smallest issue. And when suffering from such attacks the individual is hardly trusting the Lord.

Yet this same person I doubt would ever see such anxiety attacks as a lack of faith. In the individual's mind worry isn't associated with a lack of faith. This is a person who also is obsessive about being very controlling in life and of other people and has not ability to admit to ever doing anything wrong. I only mention it to indicate how sometimes worry is connected with other problems in our spiritual life.

I have this one brother in the lord that often is very good and speaking his mind in a blunt manner. He has mentioned at times the stunned reaction he gets from some believers when he points out that worry is in reality a sin.

People like to think of sin as only being when you do something seriously wrong. But I feel my friend is completely correct in how he interprets the subject of worry.

And I think when we can be honest with ourselves it always brings us closer to God. Providing we don't spend the whole time trying to somehow excuse our behavior as something other than a sin.

TILL THEN

The promise keeping, the promise dreamt. This is the vow within. A gentle nudge of the spirit to remember life is the sum total of days and not a single event.

Yet, neither does it end at the grave. So why do we only apply a scale to fairness in this life? God never promised justice would always take place in this life. But everything will be revealed in due season in eternity.

Still the heart does sing for reason. To be able to apply logic to the issue of cause an affect. For some happy ending when looking at deed and consequences. We coin such phrases as good winning over evil, crime doesn't pay and a host of other sayings intended to convey the idea that there truly can be justice sometimes in this life.

And sometimes there is. We do see when the system works and evil is punished. It just never is complete or universal. Most of us have been victims at some point in life. Such experiences never leave us content. Just frustrated.

Seeing this chaos is hard on any system of thought. It nags and digs t the soul with questions over why we can't find any equality or satisfaction in the scheme of life.

However, when seen through the eyes of faith, life has a different type of vision. We rejoice in knowing that the Lord who sees everything will bring balance to all that is in eternity.

That can be of a great comfort at times when you struggle on a path of identity that mainly carries you into the shadows. You can't travel such a path and do so with any opportunity for boasting. So the ego suffers in the process.

In the record of lives that were devoted to God that is found in the scriptures more than one person who was chosen by the Lord found themselves on the "till then" path. It isn't glamorous nor does it necessarily offer reward in this life.

But in the heart, if one is truly serving the Lord out of obedience without any other priority, shouldn't it be enough to know he is aware of the truth? Unfortunately, while the answer is yes, it doesn't mean people are willing to serve without attention. We should just please our Lord, but for some that is not enough.

For those without a vision for eternity who have only an obsession for now, they will always gauge life by the hear and now. Their idea of blessed will be drawn from how much wealth they have and how successful they are.

God's standard is different. He does have so much that awaits us in eternity if we are prepared in faith to wait for due season to reap in faith.

Along the journey we shall often find the footsteps of those who went before in one way or another. If we see them an know not their name, perhaps we can appreciate how footprints were more important because of what they did than who they belong too.

CALM

Broken
severed of the tangles
of more,
speaking
apart
the declarations
resting
under a pew of expectations.
I am want
without light
having a coma
for my sins.
Redressing happiness
sleeping
under a badge
worn
by an angel
on loan
from Heaven's
bookstore.

GOING AND FLOWING

I'm thinking of this mainly on a spiritual level. Primarily about how we so often manage to create a dam in our capacity to truly accept given spiritual truths. No matter how many different ways in the scripture God tells us about our lack of goodness, to many still get obsessed with thinking you have to stop sinning to get God's approval.

It isn't that God enjoys having us sin or that we should totally surrender to all our pure lusts, but we just don't seem able to embrace the reality of grace. Essentially, it is God's favor to us that we can't earn. He loves us and gives us through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior the promise of forgiveness.

But he doesn't do it with the stipulation that we in addition to that also agree to stop sinning. Again I didn't say it meant that we will suddenly think forgiveness mean sinning doesn't matter either. It is just the focus is suppose to be trust and not sin.

Still, the mind too often goes through the mental exercise of trying to make doing good deeds as the reason for being a Christian. It is a subtle thing often that people don't even think about. But what happens is the person when talking about being a believer will immediately focus on all the things they did that might be considered as "good" deeds.

It is in reality just a way of saying "see, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person since I do all these good things." It also is a way of trying to expect that these good deeds somehow make up for the bad things we do. And as a result the one thing that never does get going in our spiritual lives in the flow of true light.

By that I mean that God is seeking us to trust him. He declares he prefers obedience to sacrifice. And obedience is the element that desires to listen to his spirit and do what he wants. It is an act for which you don't expect reward. Instead you are just trusting him and responded with the real spiritual type of going where we do what he desires.

Along the way his spirit will flow through us. This always affects us in terms of our behavior. Not in ways that allows us something to boast about. But in ways that will draw us closer to him.

So next time when contemplating the nature of one's relationship with Christ, if the thought comes in about thinking in terms of "good deeds" does it also come with memories of a sin you think it will offset. Often one follows the other. We remember a sin and then our mind will flash to some good deed and say "ah I sin, but I did do this good."

And in it we do nothing to truly improve the spirituality that should be going in our lives. We have just created a dam of "control" where we think we can get God to forgot our wrong by what we did right. God is never impressed with that approach, no matter how we manage to curb our sense of guilt in the process. When letting ourselves get going in the arena of obedience what honestly will flow will be his spirit as he intends.

IN THE HANDS

It is really hard at times to trust in what other people say. And if by chance they tell you too many things that aren't true then any sense of trust normally dies rather quickly.

What amazes me is the people I deal with who have a record for being wrong and still keep telling you things that are wrong and expect you to believe them. It is utterly amazing what races through their minds that might in some way make that seem logical.

Suppose you do find yourself in a position that have to trust in the hands of somebody whose behavior is less than impressive? It does become a very taxing on one's senses. Still there are times when we have no choice.

All of this backdrop to me on what can often pollute our brain during the times we have to trust to a spiritual leader. They may speak for god, but we know they are also human and can make mistakes.

Yet, despite this fact we do appreciate the truth that in the spiritual realm where reality is something other than necessarily logical, it means trust goes beyond reason. Not in every case, but in some.

Finding the path that is balance and obedient to the lord in such situations is difficult. For not everyone who wears the title Reverend or Pastor is necessary a true messenger of the Lord. And it can be difficult to assess when such leaders are anointed and when they are not.

What complicates it is that the leader may be called of the Lord, but we might not always agree with their opinion. It doesn't mean they are wrong. Nor does it mean they are right.

In my own experience the barrier for me in terms of being involved with a given leader has been how they handled the truth of God's word. I've seen those that were incredibly gifted as preachers, but in no way taught salvation by faith or the importance of grace.

I've been involved with ministries where the leader was less than perfect and it didn't concern me because they really did try to share the truth in terms of salvation. I have also been involved with ministries where the leader might have been far more flawless, yet the individual honestly had no concern over truth at all. The person only concerned himself with preaching what was popular. They grew large churches by saying what people wanted to hear, but it didn't mean God had anything to do with what was happening.

Sadly a lot of people have a criteria for following a leader that isn't based on truth. It is dependent upon some other motivations.

However, I feel God holds us accountable ultimately for whether our faithfulness is to his truth and not how well the leader taught his version of what is true.

CHARMED

I don't think I'll ever lose my sense of being completely dumbfounded over how some people appear to have an incredible power to be popular. With certain people it is easy to understand. They are just naturally likeable and fun to be around. You just sense their positive and upbeat nature and it truly warms. The person just oozes with the type of sincerity and honesty that it is easy to admire.

All of that is logical and easy to appreciate. What is harder to understand are the people who are obviously evil and yet adored as loving and caring people. It is like those they encounter are so totally blinded by the truth that they can't see the reality. And yet to you it is obvious.

You can't endure that kind of experience without ending up scratching your head to some degree. It is so hard to make any sense out of such situations.

And sadly it happens way to often in churches. You meet someone who is all smiles, but has a heart exposed by their hateful remarks. They are often revered in their churches and saintly people, yet when you get to know they, in reality they are the opposite. It is all illusion of false image for the sake of impressing and gaining approval.

When the opinion of men takes precedence over the spirit of god you get hypocrisy. And worse than that you get hate in the form of persecution so those defending a failed spiritual system and perpetuate its illusion and myth.

Why does God tolerate such despicable behavior when it is done in the name of our lord? I think in part it is an issue of accountability and obedience. It is to test our hearts and see whether we will care more for the Lord's truth or the nods of men. Many unfortunately give into this pressure for we all have the need to feel accepted.

I feel another element is that God, when someone has failed the test and given into lies, surrenders them to such lies. So when a person rejects grace in favor of the illusion of goodness, the Lord allows the person to have the god they truly worship in the sense of being popular.

In the end, such people, if they are saved at all enter heaven with nothing since they received their reward in this life. They look back and in their hypocrisy where God hasn't punished them and they think they are blessed. I've heard more than one person in such a position claim just that.

Meanwhile, the real kingdom of God continues on the face of the earth and those who seek to follow him for the right reasons become shadows in the pews. Those who are often ignored and rejected for being too immoral in the eyes of the self-righteous.

If you are like me and have been a victim of such abuse, then rejoice for you have joined the company of the real redeemed. We may not be the lights of attention in this life, but in eternity where only Jesus' light matters we will have the chance to praise it's shining.

ALONG THE BUTTERFLY'S HEALING PATH

Virgin and impressionable eyes
blissfully wearing imagination's spectacles
see the omniscience of angels, fairies and magic
in those curiosity nooks and crannies
where a child's mind
conjures the endearing spell of mystical playgrounds.

By the precious delicate sigh uttered in innocence
fantasia's fragile feathers
sprout on tender, trusting arms
giving flight by awe, gasp and dream
unto the figment flawless firmaments
where naive ears only hear enchantment's song
being deaf unto any maturing dirge of impossible.

But then age's reality dragons stalk and invade
a youth's theme park of oblivious serenity
fracturing the gossamer wings of belief
till naive orbs are unveiled of myth and mystery
and never can heal in the suffocating shadows
of harsh practicality.

Yet, even in the oldest and coldest heart
when reborn by passion's flame of revere,
wings can heal and blood set ablaze
to reach once more
for some lofting desire and hope.

When Oz visions infect naked emotions
that neither time nor doubts can mar
the soul shall travel once again
along the butterfly's healing path.