Saturday, December 23, 2006

A Pre-Christmas Entry.

Welcome to my revised blog!!!

I am back in my beloved Minnesota, how I love thee! I am only here for about another month, and in that time I have a lot of nothing to do! How wonderful! Just time to SCRAPBOOK, spend time with friends, and get to know myself a some more. You can always get to know yourself better.

Are you ready for the holidays????

I love the holidays, full of family and just the whole spirit in general. I swear that love is not more present at any time of the year than over the holidays. I don't mean the gooey type of love you see in movies, people staring into each other's eyes, I mean the type of love that people have for the world. I guess you could call it compassion. It really is a beautiful time of the year though, espcially now that it has snowed! (I made a snowman the other night, or should i say snowWOMAN)

Welll please be safe! And Merry Christmas. Spread love this chrismas, spread it to your family and your friends, but more importantly to strangers and yourself.

MAY PEACE BE WITH YOU.




This christmas, my wishes and prayers will go to Charolette of Ghana, Africa. I met her almost a year and a half ago and she has continued to touch my heart. For this reason, I will send her my thoughts of love and safety and write a small financial contribution for her. Thank you Charolette, for helping me to see the beauty of the world and I hope to effect you as you have done for me.

PEACE.


"Amazing Peace" by Maya Angelou
(read in Washington, Christmas 2005)

Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Floodwaters await in our avenues.

Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to
avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and gray and threatening.

We question ourselves. What have we done to
so affront nature?
We interrogate and worry God.
Are you there? Are you there, really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?

Into this climate of fear and apprehension,
Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the
bright air.

The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
rancor,
Come the way of friendship.

It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps
quietly in the corner.
Floodwaters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we made our way to higher ground.

Hope is born again in the faces of children.
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they
walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth, brightening
all things,
Even hate, which crouches breeding in
dark corridors.

In our joy, we think we hear a whisper
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.

We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by
its presence
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.

We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas
We beckon this good season to wait awhile with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim
say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and
the Confucian,
Implore you to say awhile with us
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see
community.

It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.

On this platform of peace, we can create a
language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to
each other.

At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of
Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues the coming
of hope.
All the earth's tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.

We, Angels and Mortals, Believers and
Nonbelievers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. we llok at our world and speak the
word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into
ourselves,
And we say without shyness or apology or
hesitation:

Peace, My Brother.
Peace, My Sister.
Peace, My Soul.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What better poem is there to represent the passion that burns in you? Maybe I should make a blog again, but no one ever likes political rants... bah humbug! Merry Christmas to you and to all a good night!