Behind the Pretty Smile

Surely my heart **** was crafted from porcelain **** so finely glazed **** that the cracks are only visible **** when it is held up to the light.

Pushing Forward

Whenever I find myself ******* between a rock and a soft place ******* I give thanks for the opportunity ******* to shoulder into opposition ******* while braced by faith ******* and staying true to the path ******* created by love!!

Nothing New Under the Sun

It would appear that the enlightened have been enlightened for quite some time: The thought manifests as the word; the word manifests as the deed; the deed develops into habit; and habit hardens into character. So watch the thought and its ways with care, and let it spring from love, born out of concern for all beings. ~ Gautama Buddha

L*O*V*E !

Love is the energy currency of the universe; it always has been, and always will be. The sooner you realize this, the faster your understanding of everything grows.

CAUSE vs. EFFECT

Stopped at a red light the other morning, I watched a beetle scurrying across the road. He ran across three lanes of traffic, just in front of the tires of the momentarily stopped vehicles. He was only one lane away from freedom, and I smiled because I thought the little guy was going to make it...and then, un-explicably, he changed directions. The traffic light turned to green as the critter started his reverse trek and I knew he would never make it to the safety of the opposite side of the road. Why in the world did he change direction? I have no doubt that he met his demise because of that decision. Truth is, the script that comprises each of our lives is written by the ramifications of our decisions. Some choices you make provide an immediate result – like that experienced by the beetle. Other choices take time to bear fruit (or thorns?) Every choice has a consequence. Every action has a reaction. With that in mind, choose wisely, my friend.

Feed Your Soul Well

Your soul, your spiritual counterpart, develops by the positive choices and decisions you make from moment to moment. Our souls are shaped by each choice we make along the way, and at the end of the journey, nothing matters besides how well you choose to feed your soul.

Birds of a feather

There is a little bird that lives outside my front door. Every morning she greets me with a sweet song, and every evening she is the first thing I notice as I pull in the driveway to my house. I don’t know how long she has live there, for it is we who are new to the neighborhood. When we moved into the house, she was nesting in a bush, right outside the front door. Three little eggs were inside her nest, which she carefully protected and hid from view. The little eggs hatched, and the baby birds chirped and flapped their wings. Momma bird fed them and protected them…well as best as a bird can do. One night our cat discovered the nest, and did what cats do. The next morning the nest that the bird made was torn from the bush and laying on the walkway. It crushed me – in a way that only a parent can know. I was sad, not only for her and her loss, but for my loss as well. I presumed that momma bird would fly away from such an inhospitable place. I was pleasantly surprised the following morning to see her in her usual place, on top of the garage peek, singing away as sweetly as ever. The days to follow brought more of the same, and I understood that she did not have the capacity to be angry with us. She did not blame us for her loss. Her actions were not reliant upon ours. This was a lesson given to me by God, delivered to me on the wings of an angel. God loves me no matter what I do and he will never leave or foresake me.

Leaning Towards Love

Hello, Spirit of Love!

With you as my companion, I am never alone. With you to guide me, I will always find the right path. With you to feed me, I will never go hungry. With you as my confidant, every choice I make cannot fail.

Finding the Meaning

Several years ago I was sitting in my office at my computer, when a cardinal came calling to my window. He stared at me and I, too surprised to do much else, stared back at him. After our staring match, he flew off – and, poof, he was gone. I was puzzled by the experience. Surely it must have meant something….could it be a message from a higher power or another dimension? Time passed with no explanation as to the meaning of the visit by my red-winged friend and I chalked it up to happenstance. Then, recently, out of the blue, he surfaced again - first in my mind and then in the flesh. For no particular reason I relayed to Rick the details of the cardinal’s first visit to my office. Incredibly, a few days later, Rick had his own red bird encounter. While he was driving, a cardinal landed on his side mirror and rode along with him. He said it looked like the bird was talking to him. Since then, we have had numerous cardinal encounters. They seem to follow me everywhere. I now can distinguish their unique song, and my ears let me know that he is near those times when the flash of red is not visible to my eyes. I reasoned again that the cardinal must be attempting to deliver a message, the meaning of which I was not able to Google to my satisfaction. I have searched my mind and the internet attempting to uncover the mystery. Could it just be a coincidence? Is extreme good luck about to befall me? Am I standing too close to the Vatican? This morning it occurred to me that perhaps the cardinal has always been there, but I was not in sync enough to notice him before. Are his visits a reminder that if you open your eyes, you will see?

Listen ...

...to the making of a melody - rendered in the key of Sea.

No Worries Mon

When troubles are conceived in the mind, they are given life, and once they are projected, they might become actualities. Anxiety is a process of giving life to the things you fear instead of avoiding them. The spirit at rest is a condition of one who has gained a mature personality, and developed a level of real beauty and harmony in life. Being at rest is a result of being at peace with the self, others and the universe.

No Words

Savoring those moments
when emotions spill over,
yet words fail me;

Reminiscing over events
akin to the barren seeds
of an unwritten love song.

My eyes caress your skin,
admiring its sun-kissed contrast
against the white sheets;

and I trace the length of your torso –
pausing to appreciate the contours
of each muscle along the way.

Whispers of shallow breaths betray
the ache of my body’s anticipation
at the thought of yours next to mine.

Time holds no importance
as I languish over a moment,
where nothing else but you exists.

Feelings as deep as the ocean
trapped just below my skin,
simmer in defiance of description.

Fearing that were I remiss to acknowledge
the power of their existence,
they would be forever lost.

Cat-Colored Glasses

I try to think of people the same way I do of cats, because I never met a cat that I didn’t like. Maybe that is because I don’t have any expectations as to what constitutes a ‘good’ one – to me they are all cute, fuzzy, and soft bundles of fur with their own unique, individual personalities. What an accomplishment it would be to be able to look beyond my own expectations of people and just appreciate what they have to offer. Hmmm, seeing the world through cat-colored glasses?? I like it.