Taking the Bow

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017 becomingandbeholding1 Comment

Like a flower,

I can take a bow at the end of the day

and rest when the sun rests.

Like a cat,

I can curl up on the couch

and tune out the world

until nourishment or play calls to me.

Like yeast,

stick me in a warm place for a spell

and cover me up

until my energy

rises again into beautiful form.

Even God took a day off.

The silliness of it all

makes me chuckle –

how I have bought into

constant striving

and pushing.

Humility is a gift

and a teacher.

I am finally learning

the wonder and intelligence

of rest.

Eyes of Love

December 2, 2017 becomingandbeholding1 Comment

You look so put together

with everything in place

and sparkly.

You are a treat for tired eyes.

But I know better

than to be fooled by the surface of things.

Sometimes what appears on the outside

is the opposite

of what is on the inside.

We are crafty in our hiding ways.

So I open myself up

to the depths of you.

My eyes look past the veneer.

We could pretend –

play a game of make believe

and pretend the surface

is all there is.

It is, after all,

how most of us operate.

We barely even look at each other.

But who wants to live like that?

It makes my heart ache

at the thought

that what we see

is all there is.

No.

“Go deep!”

This is the call of the heart

and the work of Love

in our midst.

I will always be willing

to pull back the pretty curtain

and dare to see

what is true within.

Otherwise,

what is the point?

I am here for you,

ready to see

and to listen.

Poem · Poetry

Not Up to Me

December 1, 2017December 1, 2017 becomingandbeholding2 Comments

Like gears that click into place,

making everything

smooth and running as it should,

the moment you arrive,

you get it.

You get everything.

The Bible calls it

“the secret place of the Most High.”

You deeply know when you are there –

because everything before you

disappears into peace, Love

and the amazing Presence –

including you.

Sounds scary but

it is actually beautiful.

This is true freedom,

the letting go

and letting God.

Don’t let your gears get stuck

by grasping too hard

onto your special brand

of misdirection.

There is nothing to do

or figure out.

Divine Design has it.

Simply trust.

And Love.

Release your grip –

and again,

and again.

Everything is in place

and all is well.

It is not up to you

to figure it out.

Poem · Poetry

Don’t Let Go

November 21, 2017November 21, 2017 becomingandbeholdingLeave a comment

Like a warm blanket

takes the chill away

from my weighted shoulders,

your Presence is sweet comfort.

When alert,

I catch glimpses of you,

and they are just enough

to enliven

that inner pilot light

you so gracefully set

to burn within me.

Sometimes it burns fiercely

and then I know –

that is what flames are meant to do.

You are with me all the time.

You are my inner light,

waiting to flame up

every time I dare

to share its healing energy.

I surrender to the flame,

to its powerful glow,

trusting that

when the chill dares to set in

from time to time –
when I manage to turn away

for a minute

or a month,

you will wrap me up in your

inviting Presence,

hold me close,

and re-light the flame.

Don’t let go.

Poem · Poetry

Grateful Heart

November 18, 2017March 10, 2018 becomingandbeholding7 Comments

There is a lifting above

and a grounding below,

a warming at the center –

when I remember.

It is like the unexpected gift

presented with love

and perfect timing.

Or the lightness of being

that comes

with surrender

and trust –

even in the midst of

struggle or pain.

I hold onto it

even as I let go,

allowing the divine

to move through,

heal me with its dawning.

“I was born with a grateful heart,”

says the patient

on her dying bed.

I marvel at the gift she has

and how it fills her up at the end,

easing the way.

And then I remember,

so was I.

Poem · Poetry

Under the Weather

November 11, 2017November 11, 2017 becomingandbeholdingLeave a comment

Nothing like a virus

to help you appreciate

normal breathing.

Wheeze, sputter

blow, cough.

Normal comes to a stop.

Voice exercises?

Ha!

Good luck with that.

My pipes are clogged –

making my voice

sound like a cat about

to hurl a hairball.

Hydrate, hydrate.

Rest and sleep –

Being sick sucks.

I am not good

at slowing down –

interrupting my patterns.

I prefer to stay on track

to be in my well-crafted groove.

Huh.

Damn.

Maybe that is the point.
More tea, Honey?

Poem · Poetry

Infant Poet

November 8, 2017 becomingandbeholding1 Comment

It is the strangest thing

when a poem takes over.

Kidnapped by it,

sometimes it lifts me above

to broaden my view –

or it can

lean me forward

with such focus,

everything else falls away

except the nub of it all.

Expanding and contracting,

I breathe the poem

and it breathes me.

We are one,

locked in a gentle tussle

until it is time

for the poem to be born.

I never thought of myself

as a poet.

It feels like a gift

given to an infant –

like a mobile hanging above a crib,

like a toy

to keep me busy

and broaden my senses –

to show me who I am

and help me

find my words.

There is an awkwardness –

but also,

deep joy

and a radiance that

nourishes.

I have come to rely

on my poems.

They are a gift

akin to the blessing

of having a loving parent

whose embrace

shows me the way.

Poem · Poetry

God in Me

November 7, 2017 becomingandbeholdingLeave a comment

Like the sun
waiting for the earth
to turn towards you,
you wait.

Like roots
thirsty for water,
you reach for me.

Like an audience,
waiting for the story to come together,
for that aha moment
as the meaning sets into mind
and heart,
you long to explode
into hearty applause.

You are the ultimate respecter
of my boundaries
and my journey.
I am amazed at your patience,
as I get so distracted.
Yet you remain,
loving me into
my own dawning.

I can sense your faith in me.
I know you long
for me to give birth to you
in my actions.
The moments when I get it right,
when I can step aside
and allow you through me,
enable you to be visible…
Well, those are the best!

I pray for more of them.
We are in this together.

Ayutthaya Historical Park , Ayutthaya , Thailand

Poem · Poetry

Still You

October 28, 2017 becomingandbeholding2 Comments

Oh, yes,

The seasons come and go,

bringing new ways

of being.

Sometimes you shine with new growth,

literally bursting at the seams –

brilliant in shiny young green.

And then there are the periods

when what is not needed

must fall away –

the colors indicating

how bold you are

to face the loss

of what is attached.

And yet,

through it all –

despite how the winds have shaken you,

or how crowded your field has become,

you remain.

Your roots run deep,

they grasp, expand,

and strengthen

as your rings widen.

Your center

is deeply connected to the eternal.

So, my friend,

the lesson here

is to understand at your core

that though the changes come –

whether welcomed,

or not,

you are not the changes.

You are

still you.

Image created by my sister, Martha Harris

Poem · Poetry

This Heart

October 24, 2017October 24, 2017 becomingandbeholdingLeave a comment

I suppose I am
one of the lucky ones.
I got a heart that was loved
from the beginning –
despite imperfect parents,
with broken hearts of their own.

I knew from the beginning
that I was loved.

That is huge.

My heart had a grounding –
an ontological gift,
an understanding that
no matter what,
it was worthy of affection.

That grounding
has been my strength.
It has lifted me above the long
and bumpy road by
connecting me
to the Divine.
A kind of safety ladder…

Through many seasons of lack
and longing
have I arrived
finally
to a place of fullness –
even bursting!
I have been filled up
and pried open
with the gentle tool
of growing awareness
of what a heart can be –
what a heart can do.

This is my heart:
open and ready –
stretching to you.
Free!

Take and seal it.