Happy New Year

   Happy new possibilities

      Filled with God’s Miracle Power

The computer screen is wiped clean

   It awaits the words of life we will write

      In the yes and no to the invitation to Be 

But lets not jump ahead of ourselves

   Lets take it one moment at a time

      For that is all we have

What is a moment in time like

   It has no lingering past

      Or impinging future

It just is what it is

   Waiting to be lived

      Waiting to be embraced with what we bring to it

Each moment has no expectation

   We do not have to live up to what it wants

   We do not have to live up to what God wants

      Because God wants nothing

There is the secret to a Happy New Year

   The realization God wants nothing

      For in God’s no thing

      We will discover our some thing

The future is not all planned out

   It just awaits the paint brush

      Found in our life lived fully

The spiritual painting is only done

   By living in themoment

      Which creates a Happy New Year

Connected

   Spirit to spirit

   Friend to friend

   Even enemy to enemy

What is the tie that binds 

   Is it Institutions

   Is it ideas

   Is it beliefs

Not been my experience

   For Instuitutions are into survival

   Ideas are into more ideas

   Beliefs are into being right

So what is the tie that binds

   Going along for the ride

   Letting go of expectations

   Realizing life’s stillness

Freedom is truly scary

   For there is no right way

   For there is no wrong way

Life simply is what it is

   No escaping this fact

      For it is what connects us

Symbols

   Things that stand for something

What is symbolic

   The Bible

   Statues

   Images

But how can this be

   The Bible contains the truth

   Statues are not meant to be worshiped

   Images get in the way of the Image of God

Not necessarily so

   Especially if they are symbolic of more

But how can this be

   If the Bible stories reveal God

   If the statues reveal those who served God

   If the images we encounter lead to the Image of God

So maybe life is symbolic

   Of how to discover how we are like

      Certain characters in the stories in the Bible

  Of how a statue represents a person

      Who struggled with what we struggle with

   Of how we have our images enhanced

      By a new Image of God

Symbols

   Things not to be afraid of

      But to be embraced

Toward a common goal

But what does it mean to work together

   Knowing there are many ways

      To meet a common goal

   Leaving behind the only way

      To embrace many ways

   Listening

      When it is so tempting to speak

   Speaking

      When it is so tempting to with hold

   Being frustrated

      When that is the way you feel

   Taking one self more lightly

      When the discussion seems so heavy

   Breathing

      When there doesn’t seem to be any air

   Praying

      When everything we have tried has failed

Maybe the common goal isn’t what we thought it was

   Maybe it isn’t in some solution

      Or direction

Maybe it is learning how to be a team

   Leaving behind our way

      To embrace God’s Way

To be or not to be

   Someone wrote so long ago

Six words

   Thirteen letters

But so much more if you look with your heart

   Now we see an invitation

To be who we are

   Or not to be who we are

What does it mean to me

   It isn’t our doing

      Althoughthat is part of it

   It isn’t our not doing

      Although that is part of it

   It is our identity

      Defined in the moments we are still

Now we are listening

   To the actions we are or aren’t doing

      What feels right to our spirit

      What lifts us

      What brings joy through tears

      What makes suffering all worth while

      What fills us with peace

As we listen in the stillness

   We find our God asking us

      To be or not to be

         But now with less of a question