April 30, 2012

Light A Candle: http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=TWWTS

( All photos are mine unless otherwise noted. )

 The single twig of a beech tree which held last year's dead leaf all winter.

Now, after pushing that hanger on off to the ground

begins to send its spring growth out - new clothes for a new season.

There is a parallel to us who having shed the winter of our hearts,

begin to allow new growth to reveal itself for all to see.

The springtime of the heart is a joy to see and to nurture into its beginnings.

   As this new season arrives what has been dormant all Winter now arrives from the fertile soil of the heart to begin another cycle of growth as we move into the next year of our life here. My question today is, "Does Spring growth come alive this time of year, or does what has been dormant all Winter awaken?" The answer I am happy with is, "Yes... and no....." Both are part of the wondrous process that the Creator of the Seasons has had in mind since that first Spring was sent to the world for our enjoyment, and as a fulfillment of Winter's hope for another arrival of our real self. We to, sprout, in this time of warmth and all that comes to our growth cycle, ever as a new Grace, a new Gift. . 

   In the Fall of each year God takes out pruning shears and removes leaves and grass from the vehicles that fed life for most of the year, leaving the evergreens and firs as a sign of hope that not everything has been cut back. A necessary step for what is new. That which dies regularly offers its former life as mulch, food for what is to come. Nothing is wasted as no new life can arrive unless something old dies. This is the Way of God with life, and God's Way for all of us as we cannot safely stay stuck living with dead things all around us. We, like all living things, must die regularly to what is no longer useful for advancing the Kingdom of God within us, allowing Creation to continue with our cooperation in the Process. 

   So, welcome to Spring. Buy a new seat belt if you intend to travel this leg of the journey and be safe, free of fear, and willing to let God do the driving this time around. 

        'This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it !'

    A poem of mine on Winter and hope:

Garden Work

I was pale, without color as my connection to God died,

Leaving me ashen as all blood, pulled by the gravity of indifference,

Drained into my feet - my Journey came to a full stop.

Undernourished, these eyes and this soul, shut down -

Became unable to see a way, as I was blinded and deaf to all who would help.

God, still present, was only a distant veil, a wisp of cloud on the horizon.

Lady Wisdom, Love's Breath, as she waited unseen,

Whispered sweet callings that were barely audible to clogged ears;

“We love you.”

          “We will wait for you.”

          “We will stay faithful.”

          “We can still see.”

Never an admonishment was said.

No shoulds or should nots were ever spoken.

Love does not treat Her lovers with small manipulations.

This was the world of my winter, gray, overcast by unyielding cold.

“Let Us send a warm wind to this barren frozen land.” Creation spoke.

“Remind this thorn-filled stem of the pruning that was necessary -

     that a rose will soon emerge and bloom.”

How was I to know!  I chose not to hear The Gardener of my soul's landscape

Tell me about Love's Way with all that I would not take care of,

Never asking the withered flower of my Fall for approval.

Now, seeing the cycles of God's annual housecleaning,

Next year, after a full spring and summer of new life,

I will offer myself willingly to those wondrous shears.

The leaves of old life will always fall in season,

Our Ground will always offer the means

To turn what dies into food for the growth to come.

                                                                                        Bill Lagerstrom,  2007

                          -------------------------------

Links:

   A five minute meditation on Spring along with a chorus of bird sounds:

Click here:  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UtzD-I28qs&feature=related

    A long visual and musical meditation on a Japanese garden - well worth the time to see and listen - click here: 

     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVeCx0bM7Xg&feature=related

   Sharon Salzberg on the nature of change - a talk by a remarkable teacher - worth a careful listening. Click here:

       https://www.box.com/s/42cb363277f909a7d9e8

                           -------------------------------------------------------

  

   Last Summer we went on a day trip to Machias Seal Island to spend time  with the Puffin population that has in great numbers made a comeback here off the coast of Maine after almost being wiped out by hunters and fishermen who felt the birds were eating the fish that were their livelihood. It was a remarkable day as there were at least 8 to 10 thousand birds all over the place. we were given about an hour in a blind which is where I took the following two pictures. A wonderful day!

   I am including these photos as I am feeling a yearning to get out and see birds again, birds that are not freeloading from my backyard feeders. Memory is a great force to move outdoors again and enjoy the birds of Spring.

                  

   Puffins sound almost exactly like a herd of cows. Take a listen:
                           https://www.box.com/s/1ckxe2rk57i4gavtaa0a

                                         ----------------------------------------------

This week's laugh:

          Until next week,  Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

April 23, 2012

    Spend a few minutes with silence and light a candle at: http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=TWWTS


  ( All photos on the blog are mine unless otherwise noted )

This will be my tree this year, an oak tree seen from where I live.

I will post photos as it goes through the seasons, as will I for 2012.

As I enter the process of living and dying,

and then repeating the cycle all through this existence,

this year I will be mindful of what God puts in front of me as a reminder

to not forget where I have come from, and where I am going Home to.

   Do I write poems or simply receive them? The later, to be sure, is the only way unforced creativity can operate. If our creativity is linked to God's Creative Flow, and we can get on that ever present energy, then our hands and voices will have the words, and notes of song, that the Lover Of Creativity wants to bring to life along with our cooperation. 

   We can unfortunately corrupt and even halt the Flow that wants to come through us - God's Desire to be seen by what we create, music, painting, poetry, a helping hand to someone in need, a place of safety for all who come to us in any capacity needing what we can offer. Yet, if ego and self-will is allowed to block that which is rising from heart and soul, our ability to be useful to ourselves and others cannot find the vehicle for becoming known.

   I know that I do not create in a vacuum, nor am I a robot only saying what I am told to say. God does not operate that way as my preferences for meaning play a role as I exercise hard-won viewpoints for format, and to find a canvas for expression from my heart's desire to bring forth beauty. For me my poems seem to express themselves best in something akin to the structure that so many of my mentor Jalliudin Rumi's magnificent offerings have - four lines per stanza. This offers me an extraordinary means of expression around the spiritual themes of my life - dying to self so that new life can be brought into existence, along with  love and separation which comes from  all my heart and soul long for. 

   Letting space exist between my words and Love's Words rising is key to my creative process. It is the action of entering that space and allowing what is being formulated to see the light of day. (Or at the light reflecting from the blue-black ink set to paper by pen.) To do this I must continually work to honor the spaces within where I can meet God's Presence, and God's desire to use me somehow as an instrument for purposes not necessarily my own. My role is to allow these small poems and photographs a means of being seen, and in their own very small way be a voice to tell of the immense Love in this heart, and to proclaim that all Creative Love lives in every heart.  

A poem -

     

- First Thoughts -

To see one’s soul is to see God.

If the question is, “How do I get there?”

Do not bother to read on my brothers and sisters.

The invitation came, as usual, with no warning,

Our Lover, when delivering another kiss, never asks first.

Led quietly to a room deep in the back of my heart,

I saw the door, half off its hinges, old and unused –

Stepping across its threshold I entered the realm of my soul.

The rest, save the ending, I cannot tell as words are useless.

There, touching God’s muted form … touching God ….

I held, in this hand, a piece of All Creation.

From here, the Journey goes forward one more step,

No more, no less.

                                                     Bill Lagerstrom,  2012

                                     -------------------------------

In Spring the passion that is in everything yearning to grow and live,

can be seen if we look carefully enough with heart's eyes.

---------------------------------------

      Last week I offered a video by "Hillsong: and a suggestion to watch and enter into Christian prayer perhaps as you might not have ever experienced it. If you did not view it here is the link:

                                               http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bUZj1bkoE

   This week I offer another equally powerful prayer by Abida Parveen who is Pakastan's most prominent and loved singer of Ghazels -  love songs to God. It is ten minutes long and I only ask that you allow yourself to enter into it in its entirety. We are called to a love affair with God and it may seem strange to talk with God in this way but please know that this form of song has been around in the world's Islamic communities for almost thirteen hundred years. Here is the link and be sure to turn on the English translation which is in the red "CC" box on the bottom right:

                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaII05SfX9E

                                     ----------------------------------------------------

Another poem -

    - Heart Opener -   ( 2 Kings 2:11 )

In an instant, a flash of lightning broke open this heart,

The chariots and horses of fire arrived !

The shattering of these walls was painless,

Reducing to dust all the stone walls built to keep God out.

The Storm that caused this devastation,

Raged not outside, but within this badly defended heart;

A small crack in the mortar and Love’s sword swung –

Releasing the awesome power that is God’s First Kiss ….

That moment, I fell into Love’s embrace.

How many Angels are on the well honed the edges

Of that mighty weapon ?

Do all the Saints of Heaven arrive

As Grace and miracle open a hardened heart ?

Yet, Your Gift of this wound that will never heal

Is not without pain – as my longing aches for more of Your Presence –

More of the Love Affair I have been Called to embrace.

This is as Relationship must be – God’s decision, my choice.

Rebuilding is out of the question,

The stones of defense have gone stupid –

They have forgotten how to build the old structures.

The plans, the blue prints, destroyed in the carnage.

A songbird sits on a broken wall,

Singing Spirit’s message of freedom

From self-imposed bondage to the old ways,

As I too take flight in a landscape that is no longer mystery.

                                                                   Bill Lagerstrom  2010

                    -------------------------

   Several weeks ago Lee and I were in NYC for Bridget's wedding and we stopped by St. Francis Xavier church which was our home for almost twenty years. Since we talk a great deal about our ministry there I thought it would be nice to show a picture I took. When we were there the church had not been cleaned for almost 100 years - that changed after we moved to Maine and this is the result. The church brought back many wonderful nostalgic memories for the two of us as it was where a great deal of spiritual healing and experience took place, especially the ten years of being part of the Xavier Company Healing Ministry as a prayer and anointing team. 

   For our ministry, Lazarus Ministries, the groups we facilitated all those years took place in the former Grade School building two blocks from the church in a space we utilized every Monday night, a great number of Saturdays for workshops, and where we grew spiritually in the "work" God calls us to do. 

                    -----------------------------------------------------

And a cartoon:

                                  (A lesson in mindfulness?)

Until next week,  Peace,  Bill Lagerstrom

April 16, 2012

First, light a candle - http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=TWWTS


              - This week, Maps -

We take to the Ocean in the ship of the heart within us,

no other vehicle can take us in those not often traveled directions -

the sailing can be made with a good map and chart,

along with a willingness to go in stages, a short distance at a time.

   We wouldn't think of traveling say to South America without a map in hand, a GPS and a printed set of directions from Google. Yet we don't often consider that the journey of our life by way of spiritual development may require charts that will guide us over the vast stretches land and sea that we know the traveling to be. 

   I have found that religions leaders, often, cannot offer directions for the simple reason that many have not made the trip themselves and do not know the way clearly. I can tell you of the wonders of Victoria Falls in deepest Africa, and probably do a good job of it from having seen videos and many pictures of the magnificent sights there. But I cannot tell you how to get there from first hand experience, although I would probably say book the trip on Expedia online. But to have journeyed to the deepest parts of my Self several times in this span of years, I can tell you of the maps I followed over the course of decades - but you must travel to your own interior and follow your own map if you are to know what wonders you will find there. 

   Some of the maps I have used have been the Way Of Life that the Carmelites, Buddhism,The Jeusits, The Twelve Steps, along with the dialog with my mentors over the years who did cover the distances I wanted to transverse, and were willing to show me the way. Although the passage to our interior is a solo venture we cannot go without help from the wise people we seek out who are also willing to tell of some of many paths that lead to the One Path. 

   Words, however, are only words if I don't follow the roads they take me to. Maps are only print on paper if I do not start out on the journey. The world offers many who know The Way - these are the ones I seek out. 

             Here is a map of words describing Manhattan Island I saved as an example of why I need to travel myself, along with a good subway map, in order to get under the massive constructions above ground. A metaphor for my own constructions depicting what I see my life to be on the surface, and the means enabling me to go within. (Yes, I lived in NYC for a long time.) My own journey in words would look something like this, which is why I can only give details, short snippets of the enormity of distances covered that may have meaning for any listener.

- A small detail of the map above -

---------------------------------

               
      What do we need to exchange for the map to calm our busyness, our spinning wheels? 

                    ------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Music - Music is can also be a map to the Presence of God in the moment. Perhaps if we allow our heart to follow the music we will start to hear with the ears within that find the audible clues for the Journey that our external senses cannot hear and see. 


   I offer this video by Hillsong titled A Beautiful Exchange. (Hillsong is an Australian group that started with a youth ministry and grew in to one of the most listened to 
 contemporary christian music ensembles in the world.) 


   Click to view:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-bUZj1bkoE 


                     (There is an ad which you can skip in a few seconds.)


   If you wish to download the music or simply listen without the visuals click here:


                          http://www.box.com/s/22cf7704cc2506251c0f

    Here is a wonderful talk by Tara Brach called Listening Presence which fits in nicely to the topic of opening our inner senses.
                         http://www.box.com/s/246618fccb82b9d27a22  


                                     -----------------------------------------------------

The promise is just this - Spring is on the way

                                                    ------------------------------------

A little humor:

"That's what happens when you don't read the map - it said to jump over the spoon!"

   Peace until next week,  Bill Lagerstrom