Amazing Grace - Best Version By Far!

Sometimes

 

Sometimes

When we’re lost

We have to light our own candle

And find our way

Through the loneliest of places

Through the darkest of places

And when we’ve learnt from those places

Only then

Do we find our way

Back home to ourselves

A little poem by Athey Thompson

Art by Iris Esther

Source: Facebook - Tales of the old forest faeries

Kory Caudill - Song For Appalachia (Official Music Video)

Dream, hope and love...

"Life ends when you stop dreaming.

Hope ends when you stop believing.

Love ends when you stop caring.

So, dream, hope and love..."

Source: Facebook - Life is foggy

PERHAPS

"PERHAPS" it is the most beautiful word, because it opens possibilities, not certainties ... Because it does not seek the end, but goes towards the infinite.

Source: Facebook - Life is foggy

I hope you will go out...

 

I hope you will go out and let stories happen to you, and that you will work them, water them with your blood and tears and your laughter till they bloom, till you yourself burst into bloom."

~ Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Source: Bolero on Facebook

Sabotage

 

Let me introduce you
To a woman that I know
She hears my every thought
And follows everywhere I go

She wakes me up abruptly sometimes
When I’m fast asleep
And keeps me up for hours
Whilst she taunts and laughs at me

She takes joy in convincing me
That I am hard to love
That if I’m less than perfect
Then I’ll never be enough

She shakes the ground I stand on
And talks down what I achieve
She highlights all my flaws to me
And tells me I’m naïve

She battles with my confidence
And wrestles with my pride
She’s like a double agent
But she’s never on my side

And she knows just how to sabotage
By sowing seeds of doubt
And arguing with logic
In a voice that likes to shout

And you’d think I wouldn’t listen
That I’d turn and walk away
But it’s so hard to ignore her
When she knows just what to say

In ways that make me question
Things I’ve thought and done and said
You see, she is an imposter
And she lives inside my head

******

'Sabotage' from What the Wild Replied: Poems from Human Nature by Becky Hemsley on Facebook

Deeper Healing

This photo was found at https://www.tourradar.com/t/148700 

The following is taken from Our Daily Bread email on Sunday, April 9, 2023

Deeper Healing

By his wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

READ Isaiah 53:4–6

On Easter Sunday 2020, the famous Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks Rio de Janeiro in Brazil was illuminated in a way that appeared to clothe Jesus in the attire of a physician. The poignant portrayal of Christ as a doctor was in tribute to the many frontline health-care workers battling the coronavirus pandemic. The imagery brings to life the common description of Jesus as our Great Physician (Mark 2:17).

Jesus healed many people of their physical afflictions during His earthly ministry: blind Bartimaeus (10:46–52), a leper (Luke 5:12–16), and a paralytic (Matthew 9:1–8), to name a few. His care for the health of those following Him was also demonstrated in providing for their hunger by multiplying a simple meal to feed the masses (John 6:1–13). Each of these miracles reveal both Jesus’ mighty power and His genuine love for people.

His greatest act of healing, however, came through His death and resurrection, as foretold by the prophet Isaiah. It is “by [Jesus’] wounds we are healed” of our worst affliction: our separation from God as a result of our sins (Isaiah 53:5). Though Jesus doesn’t heal all our health challenges, we can trust the cure for our deepest need: the healing He brings to our relationship with God.

By Kirsten Holmberg

REFLECT & PRAY

How have you experienced the miraculous spiritual healing of God? How does your healed relationship through Jesus’ sacrifice help you bear up under your physical ailments?

Jesus, thank You for Your sacrifice that brings healing to my spiritual sickness. Help me to trust You in my physical challenges.

SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

Isaiah 52:13–53:12 is called the “Suffering Servant” passage and is one of Isaiah’s best-known texts. In fact, The Bible Knowledge Commentary points out that this passage is repeatedly quoted in the New Testament, including Isaiah 52:15 in Romans 15:21; Isaiah 53:1 in John 12:38 and Romans 10:16; Isaiah 53:4 in Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:7–8 in Acts 8:32–33; Isaiah 53:9 in 1 Peter 2:22; and Isaiah 53:12 in Luke 22:37. The many citations from this text make sense when the “Suffering Servant” is seen as Jesus—whose great suffering would produce great glory. Others see the suffering servant as Isaiah himself, or perhaps Jeremiah. Jewish scholars often see the suffering servant as a picture of Israel. When matching up the descriptions of the sufferer in Isaiah’s text with the Gospels, it’s easy to see why so many believers in Jesus view this as a messianic prophecy.

Bill Crowder

Empathy is a strange and powerful thing. You’re not alone.

Empathy is a strange and powerful thing.

There is no script. There is no right way or wrong way to do it.

It’s simply listening, holding space, withholding judgment, emotionally connecting, and communicating that incredibly healing message of “You’re not alone.”

~ Brené Brown ~

Artist Credit : Bidje Hansje

Facebook: Seredipity Corner

Pink Floyd - Cluster One/Marooned

Of course, we can't visit every place or meet every person or do every job, yet most of what we'd feel in any life is still available. We don't have to play every game to know what winning feels like. We don't have to hear every piece of music in the world to understand music. We don't have to have tried every variety of grape from every vineyard to know the pleasure of wine. Love and laughter and fear and pain are universal currencies. We just have to close our eyes and savour the taste of the drink in front of us and listen to the song as it plays. We are as completely and utterly alive as we are in any other life and have access to the same emotional spectrum. ~Matt Haig

Book: The Midnight Library

Facebook: Philo Thoughts

Just a phase.

When you look up to the moon tonight, you may only see a small crescent of it. The shape a child draws when they add the moon to their pictures and paintings.

You will look up and see only a tiny part of the moon,
but you will not think less of it.

You will not think it isn’t trying hard enough.
You will not assume it is being lazy.
You will not find it any less beautiful.

You will know that it is simply going through a phase and that one day soon
it will be full again.

Well, sometimes we are like the moon.

Sometimes we go through phases where we are full.
And sometimes we go through phases where we can only give others
a tiny part of us.

And if that's you right now, remember...

You are not being lazy.
You are still beautiful.
You are enough.

This is just a phase you're going through,
that's all.

Just a phase.

*******
Becky Hemsley 2023
'Just a Phase' will be in her next collection

Facebook: Becky Hemsley - Talking to the Wild

Sabotage

Let me introduce you

To a woman that I know

She hears my every thought

And follows everywhere I go

She wakes me up abruptly sometimes

When I’m fast asleep

And keeps me up for hours

Whilst she taunts and laughs at me

She takes joy in convincing me

That I am hard to love

That if I’m less than perfect

Then I’ll never be enough

She shakes the ground I stand on

And talks down what I achieve

She highlights all my flaws to me

And tells me I’m naïve

She battles with my confidence

And wrestles with my pride

She’s like a double agent

But she’s never on my side

And she knows just how to sabotage

By sowing seeds of doubt

And arguing with logic

In a voice that likes to shout

And you’d think I wouldn’t listen

That I’d turn and walk away

But it’s so hard to ignore her

When she knows just what to say

In ways that make me question

Things I’ve thought and done and said

You see, she is an imposter

And she lives inside my head

******

Facebook: Becky Hemsley - Talking to the Wild

'Sabotage' is from Beck Hemsley's second collection:

TO THE WOMAN WHO IS SLOWLY FADING AWAY...

 

To the woman who has lost her spark.
To the woman whose get up and go, has well and truly gone.
This is for you.
This is to remind you whose daughter you are.
This is to remind you, that you don’t have to be everything to everyone, every day.
You didn’t sign up for that.
Remember when you used to laugh? Sing? Throw caution to the wind?
Remember when you used to forgive yourself more quickly for not always being perfect.
You can get that back again.
You really can.
And that doesn’t have to mean letting people down or walking away.
It just means being kinder to you, feeling brave enough to say no sometimes.
Being brave enough to stop sometimes.
And rest.
It starts the moment you realise that you’re not quite who you used to be.
Some of that is good, some of that is not.
There are parts of you that need to be brought back.
And if anyone in your life is not okay with that... they are not your people.
Your people will be glad to see that spark starting to light up again.
So, if you have been slowly fading away my friend, this is the time to start saying yes to things that bring you joy and no to things that don’t.

It’s really pretty simple.

Donna Ashworth / From ‘to the women’

Image by Kevin Carden 

YOU’RE NOT FOR EVERYONE

You’re not for everyone

but you are most definitely 

for someone

and when you find yourself caught

in the trap of ‘people-pleasing’

remind yourself quickly 

that you are ‘people’ too 

and further refresh your memory 

by recalling 

that pleasing everyone 

is not possible

it cannot be done 

just like the sun cannot shine 

on all faces at once

but when it does  

when you are for someone 

it is more than enough

you’re not for everyone 

but it’s the ‘someones’

who matter most 

the ‘someones’

who will breathe you new life 

when your lungs forget how

love your ‘someones’ 

they’re the only ones 

you need 

Donna Ashworth

You can find her books online ♥️

https://amzn.eu/d/9Y6E6kz

Art by ronaldwestart

Almost Home

For many long years
I've travelled this road
I'm weary and tired
of carrying this load
so often I'm tempted
with Satan to bow
but I'm too near Home
to turn back now
almost Home, I'm almost Home
almost Home, I'm almost Home
I know my race is nearly ran,
I know my race is nearly ran
Through trouble and sorrow
I've already come
Through troubles and sorrow
I've already come
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near home
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near home
As I stand by the river
that Homeland I see
that beautiful Mansion
that He built for me
just a few days to linger
and I'll move across
I know what awaits me
will be worth all the cost
almost Home,
I'm almost Home
almost Home,
I'm almost Home
I know my race is nearly ran,
I know my race is nearly ran
Through trouble and sorrow
I've already come,
Through troubles and sorrow
I've already come
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near Home,
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near Home
When my labour on earth
I must lay down,
I'll go to receive
my beautiful Crown
It's "goodbye" my friends
I've met on my way
I'll meet them again
on that Homecoming Day
Almost Home,
I'm almost Home
Almost Home,
I'm almost Home
I know my race is nearly ran,
I know my race is nearly ran
Through trouble and sorrow
I've already come,
through troubles and sorrow
I've already come
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near Home
I can't turn back now
for I'm too near Home...

Douglas Coupland

Remember: the time you feel lonely is the time you most need to be by yourself. Life's cruelest irony.

~ Douglas Coupland

Douglas Coupland OC OBC RCA (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, popularized the terms Generation X and McJob. He has published thirteen novels, two collections of short stories, seven non-fiction books, and a number of dramatic works and screenplays for film and television. He is a columnist for the Financial Times, as well as a frequent contributor to The New York Times, e-flux journal, DIS Magazine, and Vice. His art exhibits include Everywhere Is Anywhere Is Anything Is Everything, which was exhibited at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Royal Ontario Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, now the Museum of Contemporary Art Toronto Canada, and Bit Rot at Rotterdam's Witte de With Center for  Contemporary Art, as well as the Villa Stuck. Source: Wikipedia

There is little you can do to make everyone like you.

There is little you can do to make everyone like you.

Some people will see the real you, straight away. The you with the worries, the fears, the kind heart. 

Others will only see what you have that is not theirs. Or who you have. Or a life that sparkles a tad too brightly for their liking.

In Some People’s Story You’re An Angel, In Others You’re The Villain.

And that is pretty much that.

If you are spending any time worrying how others see you, or whether they think you are a good person or not, you are wasting precious time my friend.

Precious time that is much needed elsewhere.

Is is universal truth that you cannot please all of the people all of the time.

That in fact, the best way to get even close to this goal, is to stop trying and to just be your authentic self, with kindness.

Always with kindness.

So, if you have been hurt by an unjust representation of you in someone’s story, take comfort in the fact that it is not the truth.

And that the right people will see that.

Keep your sparkly little light shining and your people will find you.

And they will stay.

And you will never have to convince them of who you are.

Donna Ashworth / The Right Words: when you need them most 

Art by Ira Mitchell-Kirk

Hunter S. Thompson

Every man is the sum total of his reactions to experience. As your experiences differ and multiply, you become a different man, and hence your perspective changes. This goes on and on... So it would seem foolish, would it not, to adjust our lives to the demands of a goal we see from a different angle every day? How could we ever hope to accomplish anything... The answer, then, must not deal with goals at all... We do not strive to be firemen, we do not strive to be bankers, nor policemen, nor doctors. WE STRIVE TO BE OURSELVES. But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t mean that we can’t BE firemen, bankers, or doctors...but that we must make the goal conform to the individual, rather than make the individual conform to the goal... Beware of looking for goals: look for a way of life. Decide how you want to live and then see what you can do to make a living WITHIN that way of life. 

~Hunter S. Thompson 

Source: Philo Thoughts/Facebook

Hunter Stockton Thompson (July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005) was an American journalist and author who founded the gonzo journalism movement. He rose to prominence with the publication of Hell's Angels (1967), a book for which he spent a year living and riding with the Hells Angels motorcycle club to write a first-hand account of their lives and experiences.

William S. Burroughs

William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 – August 2, 1997) was an American writer and visual artist, widely considered a primary figure of the Beat Generation and a major postmodern author who influenced popular culture and literature. Burroughs wrote eighteen novels and novellas, six collections of short stories and four collections of essays, and five books have been published of his interviews and correspondences; he was initially briefly known by the pen name William Lee. He also collaborated on projects and recordings with numerous performers and musicians, made many appearances in films, and created and exhibited thousands of visual artworks, including his celebrated "Shotgun Art".

Source: wikipedia.org

Quote: Philo Thoughts on Facebook / Pic designed in Canva 

Life is a short journey.

You work 8 hours to live 4.

You work 6 days to enjoy 1.

You work 8 hours to eat in 15 minutes.

You work 8 hours to sleep 5.

You work all year just to take a week or two vacation.

You work all your life to retire in old age,

And contemplate only your last breaths.

Eventually you realize that life is nothing but a parody of yourself practicing for your own oblivion.

We have become so accustomed to material and social slavery that we no longer see the chains.

Life is a short journey, live it! Collect memories, not material things!

Facebook: Life is foggy

Kodaline - All I Want (Official Live Video)

All I want is nothing more
To hear you knocking at my door
'Cause if I could see your face once more
I could die as a happy man I'm sure

When you said your last goodbye
I died a little bit inside
I lay in tears in bed all night
Alone without you by my side

But if you loved me
Why did you leave me

Take my body
Take my body
All I want is
All I need is
To find somebody
I'll find somebody

Ooh oh
Ooh oh
Ooh oh
Ooh oh

'Cause you brought out the best of me
A part of me I'd never seen
You took my soul wiped it clean
Our love was made for movie screens

But if you loved me
Why did you leave me
Take my body
Take my body
All I want is
All I need is
To find somebody
I'll find somebody

Ooh oh
Ooh oh
Ooh oh
Ooh oh
Ooh ah
Ooh oh

Ooh, if you loved me
Why did you leave me
Take my body
Take my body
All I want is
All I need is
To find somebody
I'll find somebody

Like you, ooh

Alan Jackson - Sissy's Song (Official Music Video)

Lyrics

Why did she have to go

So young I just don't know why

Things happen half the time

Without reason, without rhyme

Lovely, sweet young woman

Daughter, wife and mother

Makes no sense to me

I just have to believe

She flew up to heaven on the wings of angels

By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees

And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waitin'

And I know she's smilin' sayin', don't worry 'bout me

Loved ones she left behind

Just tryin' to survive

And understand the why

Feelin' so lost inside

Anger shot straight at God

Then askin' for His love

Empty with disbelief

Just hopin' that maybe

She flew up to heaven on the wings of angels

By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees

And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waitin'

And I know she's smilin' sayin', don't worry 'bout me

It's hard to say goodbye

Her picture in my mind

Will always be of times I'll cherish

And I won't cry 'cause

She flew up to heaven on the wings of angels

By the clouds and stars and passed where no one sees

And she walks with Jesus and her loved ones waitin'

And I know she's smilin' sayin', don't worry 'bout me

Don't worry 'bout me

Don't worry 'bout me

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Alan Jackson

Played at my Mom's funeral 14 years ago...

Metallica: Nothing Else Matters (Official Music Video)

Coldplay - Yellow (Official Video)

The Chainsmokers & Coldplay - Something Just Like This (Live at the BRITs)

Lonely

 

You left a lesson here

A son took his father to a restaurant to enjoy a delicious dinner.His father is quite old and therefore ,a little weak too. While eating, food occasionally fell on his shirt and pants. The other guests watched the old man with their faces contorted in disgust,but his son remained calm.After they both finished eating,the son quietly helped his father and took him to the toilet. Cleaned food scraps from his crampled face and attempted to wash food stains on his clothes, graciously combed his gray hair and finally put on his glasses.

As they left the restroom, a deep silence reigned in the restaurant. The son paid their bill but just before they leave, a man, also old, got up and ask the old man’s son , “Don’t you think you left something here?”

The young man replied “I did not

leave anything.”

Then the stranger said to him,”You left a lesson here for every son and a hope for every father.”

The whole restaurant was so quiet, you could hear a pin drop!

One of the greatest honours that exist is being able to take care of those who have taken care of us too. Our parents and all those elders who sacrificed their lives with all their time, money and effort for us, deserve our utmost respect. 💜💛💚💙

Glimeringly beautiful network

If every single person who has liked you in your lifetime. were to light up on a map, it would create the most glimeringly beautiful network you could imagine.

Throw in the strangers you’ve been kind to, the people you’ve made laugh or inspired along the way and that bright network of YOU would be an impressive sight to behold.

You’re so much more than you think you are. You’ve done so much more than you realize. You’re trailing a bright pathway that you don’t even know about.

What a thing. What a thing indeed.

– by Donna Ashworth

Northern Lights / Aurora Borealis

Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down

Sunday Sermon

One day our lives here on this earth will end. And the meaning of Psalm 90:12 is a challenge to not just number our days but use them purposefully. 

Waves of Grief

I wish I could say you get used to people dying. But I never did. I don't want to. It tears a hole through me whenever somebody I love dies, no matter the circumstances. But I don't want it to "not matter". I don't want it to be something that just passes. My scars are a testament to the love and the relationship that I had for and with that person. And if the scar is deep, so was the love. So be it.

Scars are a testament to life. Scars are a testament that I can love deeply and live deeply and be cut, or even gouged, and that I can heal and continue to live and continue to love. And the scar tissue is stronger than the original flesh ever was. Scars are a testament to life. Scars are only ugly to people who can't see.

As for grief, you'll find it comes in waves. When the ship is first wrecked, you're drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more. And all you can do is float. You find some piece of the wreckage and you hang on for a while. Maybe it's some physical thing. Maybe it's a happy memory or a photograph. Maybe it's a person who is also floating. For a while, all you can do is float. Stay alive.

In the beginning, the waves are 100 feet tall and crash over you without mercy. They come 10 seconds apart and don't even give you time to catch your breath. All you can do is hang on and float. After a while, maybe weeks, maybe months, you'll find the waves are still 100 feet tall, but they come further apart. When they come, they still crash all over you and wipe you out. But in between, you can breathe, you can function. You never know what's going to trigger the grief. It might be a song, a picture, a street intersection, the smell of a cup of coffee. It can be just about anything...and the wave comes crashing. But in between waves, there is life.

Somewhere down the line, and it's different for everybody, you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming. An anniversary, a birthday, or Christmas, or landing at O'Hare. You can see it coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself. And when it washes over you, you know that somehow you will, again, come out the other side. Soaking wet, sputtering, still hanging on to some tiny piece of the wreckage, but you'll come out.

Take it from an old guy. The waves never stop coming, and somehow you don't really want them to. But you learn that you'll survive them. And other waves will come. And you'll survive them too.

If you're lucky, you'll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks. 

https://thelossfoundation.org/grief-comes-in-waves/