["Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."]

It really dawned to me this morning, perhaps the most deathly of all sins is pride. I've been reading the Gospels from the Message translation and enjoying the joy, revelation and power of words Jesus speaks. Words of life, words of freedom, words of transformation. Strict words against self-righteousness and religious systems, obligation, control or isolation.

Jesus resumed talking to the people, but now tenderly. "The Father has given me all these things to do and say. This is a unique Father-Son operation, coming out of Father and Son intimacies and knowledge. No one knows the Son the way the Father does, nor the Father the way the Son does. But I'm not keeping it to myself; I'm ready to go over it line by line with anyone willing to listen.
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Matt. 11:27-30

[7. The Sun And The Moon]

Daniel broke the king's decree,
Peter stepped from the ship to the sea
there was hope for Job like a cut down tree,
I hope that there's such hope for me
dust be on my mind's conceptions
and anything I thought I knew
each word of my lips' description,
and on all that I compare to You
the preference of the sun was
to the south side of the farm
I planted to the north in a terra-cotta pot
blind as I'd become, I used to wonder where you are-
these days I can't find where you're not!

mine's been a yard carefully surgace level tended
foxes burrowed underground
my gardening so highly self-recommended,
what could I have done but let you down?

the sun and the moon,
I want to see both worlds as One!

mine's been a vivid story, dimly remembered
and by the hundredth time it's told, halfway true
of bad behavior well engendered
what good is each good thing we think we do?

find a friend and stay close and with a melting heart
tell them whatever you're most ashamed of-
our parents have made so many mistakes,
but may we forgive them and forgive ourselves

the sun and the moon are my Father's eyes


                   -mewithoutyou

[sometimes when the morning comes]

“People say that I’m amazing, never face defeat, but they don’t see the enemies that lay me at Your feet. They don’t know that I go running home when I fall down, they don’t know who picks me up when no one is around. I drop my sword & look up for a smile, cause deep inside this armor, the warrior is a child.”
- Twila Paris


When I wake up I need to fight of this heavy
conviction of feeling of failing
not measuring up
and having no one to blame


Like of what I look from the outside and inside of me
don't match
And there isn't even one who wants to see in


But I can't dwell there or it kills me soon
kills the soul, kills hope, kills faith
kills grace, kills rather rapidly,
a murder in a minute


I'm not a stand alone player,
it's harder to remember the truth 
when there is no one to bounce it of
but I somehow feel I should learn
If not willing to let foothold for someone
in this territory
YOU have seen me 
before and beyond and after
YOU rescue me
YOU are not ashamed
YOU see and still and yet and even though
and 
YOU want me

[Thanks Mr Jobs, for inspiration]

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesise new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
- Steve Jobs on Creativity


“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

“Some people are saying that we ought to put an IBM PC on every desk in America to improve productivity. It won’t work. The special incantations you have to learn this time are the “slash q-zs” and things like that. The manual for WordStar, the most popular word-processing program, is 400 pages thick. To write a novel, you have to read a novel––one that reads like a mystery to most people. They’re not going to learn slash q-z any more than they’re going to learn Morse code. That is what Macintosh is all about.” [Playboy, Feb. 1, 1985]

***

“The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste. They have absolutely no taste. And I don’t mean that in a small way, I mean that in a big way, in the sense that they don’t think of original ideas, and they don’t bring much culture into their products.”

“I am saddened, not by Microsoft’s success — I have no problem with their success. They’ve earned their success, for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third-rate products.” [Triumph of the Nerds, 1996]

“When I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.

“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

***

“I think if you do something and it turns out pretty good, then you should go do something else wonderful, not dwell on it for too long. Just figure out what’s next.” [NBC Nightly News, May 2006]

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

[right here]

My beloved is mine, and I am his.
   Nightly he strolls in our garden,
Delighting in the flowers
   until dawn breathes its light and night slips away.

["Down the street we would run"]

Hey God,
What's up with this?

Continuously you walk in
from somewhere outside of my little logic
Very healing it is
and refreshingly leaves me puzzled
and smiling inside
utterly furious
Can't help but agree
when you keep me on my toes
Can't keep my guard up
Hush you off
Why do you have to
and how do you make me feel so
alive in myself?

"You took me in gave me something to believe in
That big old smile is all you wore"

[walk into]

Chasing dreams somewhere along goes the path