Sunday, May 13, 2007

Young Peace

A child's peace in an aging body
Is beauty unfolding in grace;












After deadlines and obligations have worn;
After storms and losses have raged;
After the violence of fears
And oceans of tears
Take their toll in what we call age;

After drooping and sagging sets in;
After creaking and catching begins;
After the body of aches
And limbs full of shakes
Send wrinkles all over the skin;

If anything remains in the soul;
If anything fills the Hole;
If there's meaning in old bones
And slow flesh that groans
It's peace that does not grow old.

Monday, May 07, 2007

Story Yourself


Almost every story ever known was lived but once and forgotten forever. Most stories are never recorded, never retold. Most stories are not thought of for one single moment after they were lived.
Stories are the social memory of a family, a group, a nation. Stories are meant to be lived once, but told many times. Stories can be entertaining, but to degrade a story to entertainment is to miss the meaning stories bring to our lives. We are our stories.

There is no meaning to our lives without a story to fill the flesh. If we forget our stories, we forget ourselves. When our story is forgotten, or worse, when a story is forced on us and we accept it, we have failed to fulfill the one goal in life we were meant to accomplish - to be human.

Without stories of healing, we will be sick. Without stories of redemption, we will be lost. Without stories of love, we will be meaningless. Without stories of forgiveness, we will be unreconciled. Without stories of faith, we will be hopeless. Without stories of courage, we will exist in fear.

We must nurture our stories and find a way to tell, write, paint, and dance their meaning so we do not forget whatever it was that was important enough to live in the first place.

We must story our greatest moments. We must story our greatest humiliations. We must story all that matters. We must gather this memory and pass it on to generations who have yet to remember anything. Our stories are our greatest gift to give. They are our truth.