American tune

Today I was ministered to by the good people of the Asheville Buncombe Community Christian Ministry. Thank you for giving me hope . Thank you for being fully present to me in my time of medical need just because I am in need. Thank you for modeling what healing is all about, rather than what medicine has become. Thank you for treating me as a whole person in need of healing with compassion and mercy, rather than my body and illness as a commodity.
Thank you.


Many's the time I've been mistaken
And many times confused
Yes, and I've often felt forsaken
And certainly misused
Oh, but I'm all right, I'm all right
I'm just weary to my bones
Still, you don't expect to be
Bright and bon vivant
So far away from home, so far away from home

And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
or driven to its knees
but it's all right, it's all right
for we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what's gone wrong

And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me
Smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty
Sailing away to sea
And I dreamed I was crying

We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hours
and sing an American tune
Oh, and it's alright, it's all right, it's all right
You can't be forever blessed
Still, tomorrow's going to be another working day
And I'm trying to get some rest
That's all I'm trying to get some rest.

Words & music by Paul Simon

Our Fathers

I give thanks today to all my Fathers-regardless of gender-and all those who have served as mentors in my life. People who have believed and supported me no matter what.
I also give thanks to all who might be counting on my support and mentorship in this way.
Giving to others returns thanks and honors those who support and guide me.
I am grateful to be a giver and receiver of unconditional love and support.

Dear Father God,
"I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following our will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if i do this you will lead me by the right road through I may know nothing bout it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone."

Thomas Merton- Thoughts in Solitude

silent rant

I'm tired of talking about silence. I don't want to go to a workshop and talk about facilitating silent retreats. i don't want to talk about who's fault it is that we stabbed our mother in her heart and can't heal the wound as she bleeds to death.

I'm praying for equanimity of spirit and a cheerful heart in the midst of sadness.
Thank you trees for speaking to me in the language of compassion and comfort.

We are not powerless. We are powerful. Sending Love to our Ocean multiple times daily can shift the balance of destruction that is happening.

We don't have to know how......we just have to recognize that the power of love is greater than any power active in the Universe today.

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, "Stay awhile."
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, "It's simple," they say,
"and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine."

~ Mary Oliver ~