Letting Go of the Charade

You can't keep going like this.

Sooner or later something will have to give.

Go on, try and keep ignoring the voice deep within you.  It won't work; you can't keep this up.

Don't be too hard on yourself.  You've given the "supposed-to" life your best effort; you tried living it in front of others and in some ways began to believe it yourself. 

The charade is over and you know it.  There's only one thing left to do.

Let it go.

But don't worry, it was never your life anyway.

Good News of Great Joy

By the tender mercy of our God
the dawn from on high has broken upon us.

God has given light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Behold I bring you good news of great joy: for to you is born in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.

Authority rests upon his shoulder, and he is named:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


(Luke 1:78-79; 2:10-11; Isaiah 9:6)

Holy Night

O holy night! The stars are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth.

Long lay the world in sin and error pining,

'Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth.

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees! O hear the angel voices!

O night divine, O night when Christ was born;

O night divine, O night, O night Divine.

Led by the light of Faith serenely beaming,

With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.

So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,

Here come the wise men from Orient land.

The King of Kings lay thus in lowly manger;

In all our trials born to be our friend.

He knows our need, to our weakness is no stranger,

Behold your King! Before Him lowly bend!

Behold your King, Before Him lowly bend!

Truly He taught us to love one another;

His law is love and His gospel is peace.

Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother;

And in His name all oppression shall cease.

Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,

Let all within us praise His holy name.

Christ is the Lord! O praise His Name forever,

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

His power and glory evermore proclaim.

4th Sunday of Advent

The Lord will give you a sign.  The young woman will be with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel (God is with us).

Isaiah 7:14

Tired Old Constructs

When we learn to "live with" the constructs around us our creativity is sent to the back burner.  Our true self is overshadowed by the lesser self.  We can function this way for a while; we may even be productive.  But please don't be deceived...productivity does not equal life.

This is dangerous.  If you believe it you will pursue productivity over your calling every time, and in so doing your formation will come from the parameters around you and not from the God-breathed life within you.

And after a while?  You will find those parameters begin to fit like chains.  Continue on the imprisoned path long enough and you will find your world, your life, will get smaller; no room left for even your breath.

Instead of taking your cues from the constructs around you, begin listening to the voice deep within you.  Vocalize it, share it, act upon it.  There will be moments the art within you does not work with the constructs around you.

Don't worry.  Don't be afraid.

While this is a place of death it is not the death of your true self.  It is the place where the old order must pass away to make room for what is bursting forth.  This is a divine shedding of the old self; the warn out container discarded, and a new wineskin awaits.

Wild & Chaotic Creativity

"Tohu va Vohu" - wild and chaotic - is how the Hebrew Bible describes the world in the first moments of creation (Genesis 1:2).  Unlike other creation myths where chaos dies and order triumphs, Genesis leaves chaos intact.  This is the source of both suffering and creativity.  A completely ordered world would be like a paint-by-number landscape: everything is scripted and nothing new can happen.  Actual creation is like a Jackson Pollock painting where chance and chaos are part of the creative process.  Only in a world of "tohu va vohu" is there the possibility for new life, great art, innovative science, and ever-expanding wisdom.  If God is an artist, God is closer to Jackson Pollock than paint-by-number.

                                                - Rabbi Rami

Wholeness

Lord, I am fragmented.
Please make me whole.
Lord, there are parts of me that I don’t like and there are parts that I do.
Yet I am the sum of them.
Please make me whole.
Lord, I have gifts of creativity, emotion and logic;
Integrate my being, and make me whole, dear Lord.
Lord, I am spirit, soul and body and some of it is broken.

Dear, dear Lord: I cry to you to make me whole.
Mend me and integrate me afresh.
Things have got corrupted: re-program me, O Lord,
That I might be the human being you always wanted me to be.

Dear Lord, I am spirit, soul and body and I am not in balance.
Tune me so that I might harmonize with your Holy Spirit,
that he might lead me in all truth.
Help me hear the music of heaven, the songs of the angels;
The whisper of your command,
And grant me strength in soul and body to obey.

And dear Lord, I am one, just one, of your church on earth.
You called it your Body: you called it your Temple, with us as living stones.
Grant that I might be truly a part, truly a living stone
with a function, with a purpose,
giving and receiving
loving and caring
being loved and cared for
doing your will.

My Lord, I offer you all of me.
Make me beautiful,
make me whole, O Lord, I pray.

Michale Fulljames and Michael Harper, Prayers for Healing

3rd Sunday of Advent

The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.  Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.

Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful heats, "Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you."

Then the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.  Then will the lame leap like a deer, and the mute tongue shout for joy.  Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert.  The burning sand will become a pool, the thirsty ground bubbling springs.  In the haunts where jackals once lay, grass and reeds and papyrus grow. 

And a highway will be there;  it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way.  The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.  No lion will be there, nor any ravenous beast; they will not be found there.  But only the redeemed will walk there,

And those the Lord has rescued will return.  They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads.  Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Isaiah 35

Working Stiff

I have nothing to say of my working life,

only that a tie is a noose, and inverted though it is,

it will hang a man nonetheless if he's not careful.

                                                                 - Yann Martel, Life of Pi

Please don't forget what your real work is.  This world will try to convince you that your "job" is answering to others, doing tasks and fulfilling obligations.  You will certainly have responsibilities in this life, but the minute you believe the false notion that your responsibilities are your life, is the moment you become a working stiff.

Rigid, lifeless, a cog and a number.

If there is to be a "job" it is to keep focused on your art; that within you that only you have been gifted to give.  Be persistant in purusing it, be deliberate in displaying it, and never tie the tie too tightly.

Playing In the Mud

Don't blame others for your circumstance.  Don't blame the cosmos either.

You think this will help, but really it's just playing in the mud and pulling others in with you.

For a moment this will make you feel better about your situation but it will do nothing to change your perspective.  Instead of blaming others for your circumstance or shaking your fist at the heavens, try living into the opportunities that are placed before you each day.

It may not be what you wanted, but it is what you've got.

Getting out of bed means the day will have to begin.
Going to bed at night means having to relive this again soon.

Moving through the day in a sleep-haze gets it over quickly.
Insomnia at night buys more time until tomorrow's insanity arrives.

Longing not reached
Yearning not fulfilled
Passion not lived
Hope still elusive.

2nd Sunday of Advent

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.  The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him - the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord - and he will delight in the fear of the Lord. 

He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.  He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.  Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them.  The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  Infants will play near the hole of the cobra; young children will put their hands into the viper's nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.

Isaiah 11:1-10

In The Future...

Post-it Note Doodle of what awaits us in the future.  How awesome will it be to have ion-beam shooting robots?  (Unless they are evil ion-beam shooting robots; then that wouldn't be so good).

What is your future doodle?

The "Ah-ha!" Moment

The "Ah-ha!" moment.

The "Light bulb going off" moment.

The "It just clicked" moment.

These break-through moments of clarity are what many of us hope to see happen in our work.  We want the epiphany to come so we can finally have our success.  Jealousy may even set in when we see others come into their moment with relative ease.

But please don't be fooled.

The "Ah-ha" moments are actually few and far-between in life (the rarity is what makes it such a marvelous spectical).  If you keep waiting for the "light bulb to go off" before you to get to work, your art will never be realized.  The "Ah-ha!" is only possible because of all the preceeding grunt work; that's what gives birth to its brilliance.

The visionary artist isn't someone who lives in a continual state of brilliant epiphany, they are the ones who are trudging through the darkness because they can't escape the gnawing, haunting feeling that 'something' lies ahead.

Your real work doesn't begin after the "Light switch went off", it began long before it; when the room was dark and it was impossible to see.

1st Sunday of Advent

He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples.  They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.  Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.  Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Isaiah 2:4-5