The Transformation

Day breaks
Barely awake
Not enough sleep
Must rise and go

Busy people
Several requests
Many demands
Everyone needs something

Some are different
Coming to give
Rather than to take
Very welcome

Lightening the load
Brightening the outlook
Sharing the burden
Very welcome

Roller coaster ride
Ups go high
Lows go deep
Emotional wreck

Must get back
Peace is calling
Looking for me
Persistently

At days end
All are fed
All is done
Exhaustion realized

Lie down
Asleep instantly
Breathing deeply
Resting

Another day breaks
Challenges come
What would have overtaken
No longer overwhelming

Settled into the quiet place
No struggling
Only resting
Transformation well underway

Having tasted
Peace realized
Beyond comprehension
Nothing else will satisfy

J/ 2008 (C)

The Path

Unsure
losing my footing
Gaining speed
toward the unknown future

Yet
somehow
Resting
Peaceful

Some approach
with sympathy
Others
with compassion

Still others
do not see
Perhaps
do not want to see

Could it be
a new symptom?
Invisibility?
Not likely

Have we so conditioned our hearts
to avoid the uncomfortable?
So much so that now
we convince ourselves we do not see?

And yet
in the most unlikely of places
In the busy, rushing city
A stranger approaches

He offers to hold a door
or steady a wheelchair
or assist in any way
that we would welcome

While in other places
more expected places
another unthinkingly - carelessly
drops a door on us

Long after these days
of difficulty are past
may we never forget
how to see, how to love

Compassion
coming from unexpected places
Provision
from friends we have yet to meet

Some sharing bread
others sharing themselves
Their time, treasure
Love immeasurable

Near or far
Reaching out with what each one has
The sum of the whole
so much more than the parts

Brothers, sisters
families filled with compassion
Moved - no compelled - to intervene
on our behalf

Gratitude beyond expression
Appreciation beyond words
Humbling and needy
Laying down pride, to receive

Entering into
a new place of brokenness
Old and new wounds
bound for healing

Thankful for experiences
that we would never wish on another
For this is OUR story
our path, and our life...

(c) J/ 2008