Seeing Beauty

You’ve given me the gift To see beauty in it all In the pain In the spiders In the passing things of this world Not a disconnected Cliche sight No But a feeling Empathetic Holy beauty That sees your intended hands At work I see the weaving of the cobwebs Which glisten when rain drops fall And has more detail and artistry Than most man made works I have felt the depth of…

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Navigator of my Heart

Written a couple of year ago: Oh navigator of my heart You know its paths You understand its knots and ties You find the hidden treasures and You know the dark places You do not fear them You seek them out and shine Your light making claim to those places of shame and pain You will leave no place untouched undiscovered unloved I do not know my own heart it is such a mystery too…

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Start with Love

Publishing some old writings, this one was written a couple of years ago: I have believed most of my life that my one purpose is to be used by God and often that meant being used by others. I did not know or feel or embody that my greatest purpose is to be loved by God. That is the place and space to start if you have been worn down by religion. Start by being loved by Him. Don’t worry about…

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Mother's Day Poem for All

To all the mothers By blood or not Here on earth Or up above To all those you have loved And tenderly cared for To those who were mothers To children not theirs Who kissed faces and dried up tears To new mothers on this day Experiencing the joy Of what they gave To bring a life into this world And to those waiting to be called that name Your heart has mother written on it And that…

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Carry Belonging

Seeking belonging in a place in a face in a job in a feeling Belonging is found in one place Within yourself When you find it there you carry it with you to every place face job feeling

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Hurt People Hurt People (Not an Excuse)

You broke my heart once and I turned away Now I see your heart was broken and breaking mine wasn’t about hurting me It was about you hurting I don’t regret walking away because your treatment of me was not okay but I wish I hadn’t let the hurt define me knowing now the way you hurt me had to do with you

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Our Contradictions

As I hold my own contradictory ways I grow to hold those contradictions in others not to give permission for bad behavior but to recognize the very humanity in me the messy ups and downs opening and closing not always available or happy imperfect messy beautiful raw Humanity in myself is also in you and to love forgive embrace allow hold loosely this humanity within is to…

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Healing Inside

I like to think that beaches and trees will heal me and though nature and place plays a part they aren’t the ultimate healer I often imagine the right friends people culture community will change my life and though I know these can make life more joyful they can’t change it all I have believed a certain job or salary will make me happier and I know these things can ease the…

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Universal Christ

Do You meet me in those notes of music that calm my soul? In the sounds of birds singing in the morning? Is Your love and grace expressed through humanity? Through connections with others and laughter and tears? I’ve sought You in the rescue, in the big, and miraculous. I’ve been told You are found in the reward or the trial. That You work in absolutes, not the greys. And if life is mostly…

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Perfect Jesus?

Was Jesus perfect in the sense that he never got angry, said the wrong things, never got sick or lost faith? OR was he perfect in that he relentlessly followed love, mercy, and justice? Because… Jesus got angry at his disciples and the pharisees. Jesus did not always respond in the perfect way. Jesus grew tired and probably sick. Jesus asked for the cup to be taken from him. AND He…

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Ordinary God

I was taught that God’s power would be found in miracles salvation answered prayers opened doors But that is not what God reveals to us Jesus did heal yet He spent His life working as a carpenter He slept He danced and He showed up in gentle ordinary ways He constantly told others that He was different and worked differently than they thought The disciples expected rescue…

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Vulnerable Courage

Maybe it’s not that courage fails but that courage hurts and once we’ve taken that step of faith we are left with so much emptiness We’ve laid our heart on the table and we are exposed It makes sense we would feel vulnerable, sad, exhausted Courage is not easy but those who choose it are truly alive

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Let Joy be Free

Like you can’t hold onto a butterfly without damaging it’s wings You can’t take advantage of Joy without losing the feeling What I mean is When those sun soaked moments come all you can do is enjoy them trying to make them last trying to grip them will only cause you to miss them

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The Other Face of Courage

The courageous are the ones who suffer most Their reward may be inner strength or wisdom gained but so often this world and others may admire courage but they do not accept it or show it love I have sat with people I do not know when I could have chosen comfort only to have those people leave the table I have spoken honestly about my feelings vulnerable and…

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Fear, Welcome

Fears, welcome you are safe here I understand you I even thank you for doing your very best to protect I will be here to listen to you Just listen It’s ok to be afraid it doesn’t mean you can’t It just means You’re human

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Unexpected Belonging

It’s hard to leave a place that has so changed you To say goodbye to something Like transformation Those left behind Will move on And I suppose I will too But right now It feels heavy I found belonging in this Odd little Billings Though I fought Loneliness And frustrations The entire year here Somehow Certain faces And trees And ponds And creatures Certain jokes And…

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Little Shell

I want to acknowledge that those who belong in the Little Shell nation call themselves Annishinabe or TodayA Little Shell manTold meHe listens to the landThe animalsThe skyThe windThe watersTo speak to himAn eagle flies byAnd he listensWhat story is she tellingWhat message is she sending himThisAwakens a part of meThat felt asleepSuddenlyMy world is not so smallEverywhereThe spirit…

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