First, Before All Else

 First,

before all else,

you must love her like your

mother.  Even, and especially,

before you try

to save her.

#nosecondearth #posterseries

The Holy Fire

The path unfolds
before me,
the journey lies ahead.

I cannot see the
turns and hills, but
I know the road
will not be easy.

This time,
this dark joy,
is the cassock
of my faith.

Look upon
the suffering we
imagine
and find within the
door onto paradise.

It is here,
on this lonely
road of Lent
we travel to the
inexpressible LIGHT.

We uncover the pieces
of our ash just as
the phoenix climbs
out renewed.

We step back for
a season -
to venture a gaze into
all that we feel is
human,

is heavy and
burdensome to carry,

namely our separation
and we rise up
triumphant

realizing that we
are not two

but one,

if only we would -

if we only would.

Heaven comes to earth,
earth is raised to heaven
and when they meet - then -
only then
can we see that they have
never been two.

Open our eyes to
see the marriage in
your Kingdom;

open our hearts to
sense that
God is with us.

As we bow down
in humility and ash,

raise us up
to burn
with the HOLY FIRE -

aflame with love.

_____

Peace,

Tom +

I Know

I know what is
written on the underside
of the rocks.

The rocks that sit
on the bottom of the lakes,
that lay scattered
throughout the creekbeds
on all the earth.

It is stillness.
It is love.

Quietly clinging
to the surface of
the stones
stillness and love
call out to us

asking us to
take them in
make them a home
shelter them.

Can I find the
space in my ladened
heart to hold two
more things -

two things that will
set me free.

I reach into the
pool of life's
waters and I
gaze on the gifts
of the deep.

Today they are
mine.

_____

Peace,

Tom +

image from Sturgis Creekbeds