Last time I went it was like attending a revival rave...
this time proved to be a little "calmer"
I love that kind of open expression.
*
They had asked us to speak...preach...share.
So three of us did
Julie, Karen and myself spoke
I wanted to share with you what I shared with them.
As I prepared the couple days before
I asked myself
If I had one chance to share my heart
what would I say?
this is what I came up with:
Jesus said there are two great laws.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart
and love your neighbour as yourself.
These should be reflected in all that we do.
I then read from The Bible
1 Corinthians 12:12-26
12-13You can easily enough see how this kind of thing works by looking no further than your own body. Your body has many parts—limbs, organs, cells—but no matter how many parts you can name, you're still one body. It's exactly the same with Christ. By means of his one Spirit, we all said good-bye to our partial and piecemeal lives. We each used to independently call our own shots, but then we entered into a large and integrated life in which he has the final say in everything. (This is what we proclaimed in word and action when we were baptized.) Each of us is now a part of his resurrection body, refreshed and sustained at one fountain—his Spirit—where we all come to drink. The old labels we once used to identify ourselves—labels like Jew or Greek, slave or free—are no longer useful. We need something larger, more comprehensive. 14-18I want you to think about how all this makes you more significant, not less. A body isn't just a single part blown up into something huge. It's all the different-but-similar parts arranged and functioning together. If Foot said, "I'm not elegant like Hand, embellished with rings; I guess I don't belong to this body," would that make it so? If Ear said, "I'm not beautiful like Eye, limpid and expressive; I don't deserve a place on the head," would you want to remove it from the body? If the body was all eye, how could it hear? If all ear, how could it smell? As it is, we see that God has carefully placed each part of the body right where he wanted it. 19-24But I also want you to think about how this keeps your significance from getting blown up into self-importance. For no matter how significant you are, it is only because of what you are a part of. An enormous eye or a gigantic hand wouldn't be a body, but a monster. What we have is one body with many parts, each its proper size and in its proper place. No part is important on its own. Can you imagine Eye telling Hand, "Get lost; I don't need you"? Or, Head telling Foot, "You're fired; your job has been phased out"? As a matter of fact, in practice it works the other way—the "lower" the part, the more basic, and therefore necessary. You can live without an eye, for instance, but not without a stomach. When it's a part of your own body you are concerned with, it makes no difference whether the part is visible or clothed, higher or lower. You give it dignity and honor just as it is, without comparisons. If anything, you have more concern for the lower parts than the higher. If you had to choose, wouldn't you prefer good digestion to full-bodied hair? 25-26The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don't, the parts we see and the parts we don't. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part enters into the exuberance.
I continued on to say:
I believe that we are all connected.
I believe that what happens to another affects me-
sometimes indirectly
sometimes directly
But we affect each other none the less.
We are like threads in a great tapestry and together we weave something beautiful,
something hand crafted
by God him/herself.
When one of us is fed
we all are fed
when one of us is rested
we all rest
when one of us is healed
we all heal
to come here is my heart
To come here helps me learn more about the One
I follow
To give of myself here is easty
what I receive from that giving is great.
This is not about saving each other
it is about coming together,
working together
coming alongside one another as Brothers and Sisters.
When we do this God's Great Love
is shown
When we journey together,
people from different worlds,
we show the abundant Love of the Divine
who does not see us by the country we live in,
who does not see us by the home we have,
who does not see us by our standard of living
Instead we show a Love
that surpasses all
those things.
A Love
that sees the heart
the true reflection of a person
And when we come together that Love grows.
It closes miles, countries, continents.
Bringing Hope
Hope to those who are lost
Hope to those who think they are alone
When we fell alone
separate from others
Hope Faith and Love are easily lost.
But when we stand together
we become strong in Hope and our Faith grows
And when Faith grows
Love flows forth
And it is Love
The Spirit's Great Love
through us that
can
does
and
will change this world.
then I sang this:
"Life Uncommon"
Don't worry mother, it'll be alright And don't worry sister, say your prayers and sleep right It'll be fine brother of mine It'll be just fine Lend your voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lend you strength to that which you wish to be free from Fill your lives with love and bravery And you shall lead a live uncommon I've heard you anguish I've heard you hearts cry out We are tired, we are weary, but we aren't worn out set down you chains, until only faith remains Set down you chains And lend your voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lent your strength to that which you wish to be free from Fill you lives with love and bravery And we shall lead a life uncommon There are plenty of people who pray for peace But if praying were enough it would have come to be Let your words enslave no one and the heavens will hush themselves To hear out voices ring out clear with sounds of freedom sounds of freedom Come on you unbelievers, move out of the way there is a new army coming and we are armed with faith To live, we must give To live And lend out voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lend out strength to that which we with to be free from Fill your lives with love and bravery And we shall lead... Lend our voices only to sounds of freedom No longer lent out strength to that which we with to be free from Fill you lives with love and bravery And we shall lead a life uncommon
(it will take you 2 minutes to read it...please do)
It is a great moment
So glad she wrote it down to share.
Those words
"Learning to Live Along"
clung to me
I'm not going through what my friend
and the woman in her story are going through
and yet
I am.
I did not realize it
until I read those four words.
I emailed her this:this season has been a season of learning to live alone for me...not
utilizing the relationships around me that I put much of myself into
learning to depend more on the gifts and strengths within myself...
during my childhood I put a lot of value on my friendships...
which, at the time, was what got me through,
but now those needs have changed
and in order to move forward I have had to
transform these thoughts of needing others around me to feel
safe, validated, love, accepted
it has been a time of finding that fulfillment within
myself...learning to live alone
I would have never looked at it that way if I had not read your
words...they were a real message for me, so thank you
Learning to Live Alone
Learning to Live in Freedom
Learning to be Good, with Me
what do those words say to you?
Love and Light
"It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing. It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive. It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! "I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it." I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human. It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy. I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!" It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children. It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments"
Already Gone Songwriters: Kelly Clarkson, Ryan Tedder Remember all the things we wanted Now all our memories they're haunted We were always meant to say goodbye Even with our fists held high It never would've worked out right We were never meant for do or die I didn't want us to burn out I didn't come here to hold you, now I can't stop I want you to know that it doesn't matter Where we take this road someone's gotta go And I want you to know you couldn't have loved me better But I want you to move on so I'm already gone Looking at you makes it harder But I know that you'll find another That doesn't always make you want to cry Started with a perfect kiss then we could feel the poison set in Perfect couldn't keep this love alive You know that I love you so, I love you enough to let you go I want you to know that it doesn't matter Where we take this road someone's gotta go And I want you to know you couldn't have loved me better But I want you to move on so I'm already gone I'm already gone, already gone You can't make it feel right when you know that it's wrong I'm already gone, already gone There's no moving on so I'm already gone Already gone, already gone, already gone Already gone, already gone, already gone, yeah Remember all the things we wanted Now all our memories they're haunted We were always meant to say goodbye I want you to know that it doesn't matter Where we take this road someone's gotta go And I want you to know you couldn't have loved me better But I want you to move on so I'm already gone I'm already gone, already gone You can't make it feel right when you know that it's wrong I'm already gone, already gone There's no moving on so I'm already gone
*
I heard this song for the first time today. (mmmmm what does that say about me???)
I realize, in this song, the singer is specifically
speaking about a relationship
But as I listened deeper to the lyrics
it made me think about
how there are many different things
in my life
I have had to let go of.
Things I could not keep for myself
or
Things that were not meant for me to begin with or Things that were not for my higher good
Sometimes we don't get the choice to let go... but, OH!, how empowering is it when we do when we make the decision "This is no longer for me....I'm already gone"
I find the older I get the easier this becomes I feel the Freedom in making these decisions for myself knowing it is for my greater good and maybe it is for someone else's great good as well. It could be a simple as an article of clothing food that I eat a practice that no longer is necessary It could be as challenging as the inner speak I have for myself what I think when I look in the mirror what I say to myself when I make a mistake what I say about others to myself, when they make a mistake.
* Letting go does not always have to bring with it the pain of loosing Letting go can bring Release Truth Love Light
Letting go releases Trust Hope Joy Knowing Peace
It is amazing the thoughts that one song, in your day, can evoke.
