Seasonings
Versings and Conversings
Lion and Lamb
Wandering in the Wilderness
- God-Singing Genes
- Use Your Gift To Heal
- Ordination
- The Controllers
- The Renewal Song of the Spheres
- Trusting God's Wisdom
- To Be Like God
- The Need for Men
- Holy Creations
- Non Citizens
- A Legal Inconsistency
- A Further Inconsistency
- Mediation As A Tool in the Abortion Dilemma
- Rachel Weeping
- The Broad View
In the Footsteps of Teilhard
The Road to the Kingdom
Published by Kim Pathways, bcypser@bestweb.net
What can words do
frail, structured letters
marching in a line
drawn from an eager soul?
I wish
that in each poem
I have written
there were words
that could give peace
and healthiness
and understanding
as some with skill
sketch out a flower
or craft a scene.
Would that I
could write love.
I wish
that as our spirits touch
you would receive
great gifts
that only God can give
that make the human
a true child of God.
You are lovely.
Every time you turn
gracefully by me
you reveal some new beauty
so that I forget
you take as well as give.
You are my friend
holder of my mortgage on life
who has loaned me days
that may be transformed to service
which in turn may be traded for love.
Should I fear you
as I feel your loving fingers
running through my hag-gray hair?
Where can I run today?
Back to the old dreams?
They are all bruised
and broken and buried.
Back to the protecting arms
when I know now
how much they needed protection?
Back to the spring on the hillside?
They have ploughed the whole hill
and backed the spring into a swamp.
Must I stand here before you and weep
with no place to hide my humanity?
Imagine that! The power
and the glory and the splendor
somehow in us!
We are a vital part of all
that makes the world run.
We have a secret thing deep in
that lets us contact God
a spot God formed in us
to keep an open line with love.
That means the little soul in me
so tiny, precious, delicate
can tune in to the knowledge
of all that's great in God.
God didn't make this wonder-part
to thrive and then decay.
It's meant to know God's love-
to ponder and perceive
and to somehow fit intricately
into God's being.
I have a pink Wegelia bush.
Oh, it's a beauty.
It's arms are flung wide open
with its heavy blooms.
It gathers the bees to its flowery bosom
like a welcoming mother.
I admired it Tuesday in the sun
and thought a little thought
a little quiet thought
so small that almost
I forgot I thought it.
I thought,"Oh, God, these bumble bees are nice
but if you really wished to please me
you'd send a hummingbird."
I thought it and forgot it.
There are no hummingbirds around.
The cats have frightened all the birds away
except some wary, hardy little sparrows.
Thursday again I sat near my Wegelia
and then the hummingbird!
The blueness, quickness, smallness of him!
I thought, "Oh, God, you really know
what pleases me!"
Then I remembered my poor quiet thought
my Tuesday tiny half-forgotten thought.
God really knows our every thought.
You had better believe it.
I'm half afraid to think now.
For diseases of the flesh
we train skillful hands
send them to many lands
to bind up wounds.
Hospitals would be incongruous
if what they did
was dole out deeper hurts.
The broken, wounded, warped
vicious, addicted
end up in prisons
needing plenteous mercy
mercy like to God's.
Why can't we make
our prisons into schools
and teach love there?
Let prison's purpose be to heal
rather than to punish.
Mystery has set the earth within the heavens-
poured justice there
inundated earth with wisdom
loved the creation with a mother's love.
Surely, the earth will always be a holy place.
The Good News is
we can forgive ourselves
because the Christ
takes on our human flesh
to ratify the covenant
of mercy.
"Surely he'll wince to see this mangled limb,"
I thought. But, no
there was no horror in his glance
like other folk cast constantly my way.
"Now use that arm to aid your fellow man,"
he gave command.
I hardly heard him for the joy
that surged all through me
like crashing cymbals.
When I brought you into my dream
it became reality.
Now all these people
are dreaming my dream with me
so it becomes truth.
I have God-singing genes
and I must shout out
that I know about God.
I am cognizant of the Spirit
hovering over the water
eons back.
I have God-singing genes
from some disruptive ancestor
who was blessed
with a shower of Spirit
that sent a voltage through his make-up
which changed all his descendants
from henceforth
to God-singers.
I have this gift.
You have this gift
but we are shy
and do not want
to force ourselves on others.
We think that we may fail
that we may pray
for peace and healing
and they will not come.
Then how embarassed we will be!
Better that we would be fools
and take the chance to bless!
A society where the majority of leaders are men
is liable to be more willing to draw swords
than to sheathe them.
Men are more comfortable working with men
and will appoint and ordain other men
to assist in trade and governance.
Women are called by the inner voice
rather than by some proclamation
to help the needy and the children.
Those ordained by the voice within
are called for special service
not for privilege and title.
Those ordained by men
reflect the hands that send them.
Romans bound slaves with chains
and stood over the enchained with whips
to encourage them to row boats
or break rocks
or till fields.
Today, a male dominated society
continues to bind women and blacks
with constrictions.
They are hampered with low pay and menial jobs.
There are regulations and restrictions
on their conduct before they are given necessities
with which to feed their children.
Bureaucrats, popes, prelates, and presidents
supposing they have superior wisdom
lean over God's ordinary people
doling out mental lashes
complaining of sin and addiction
as they plan for their own retirement benefits.
This stimulus is part of the gift
the start of song
a new beginning
with possibilities
of further praise
for the Creator.
We assume that God's wisdom is cognizant
of who will make a good mother
and who will make a good father
that there are times
when a woman cannot handle motherhood
or her body cannot handle pregnancy.
There are times when the male of the species
has not matured to be responsible.
In our growing
we must strive to imitate God.
To be like God
we should give each other freedom.
We should respect one another
the homosexual, the elderly
those of other races and creeds
the person in the womb.
If there were no men
we would not have a future.
This world needs both men and women.
It has been shaped by both men and women
by men who valued life above a thrill
by women who respected both the men
and their own selves and also life within.
Early Jewish teachings taught respect for semen.
One of the male human's responsibilities
was to guard this privilege to produce the life
that formed in the female body.
We must respect both the semen and the egg
and act responsibly where they are involved.
Both the semen and the egg are holy quantities;
they are God's means to increase humanity
and thus to accomplish God's good purposes
for the earth and the universe.
When thinking about unborn babies
some people might be inclined to say
that they haven't entered the country yet
so they have no rights
and can be removed or aborted.
Those who propose these exclusions
are not accepting reality.
We cannot kill illegal immigrants
just because they are not legal residents.
For similar and ethical reasons
we also should not kill unborn babies.
This legislation implies
that there is a citizen human being in the womb
whose health is being legally considered.
It is incongruous to allow the killing
of a human being with one law
and look after its health with another law.
There is something frighteningly self-righteous
about those who march against abortion clinics
and are content to let the full grown fetus
rot in a jail cell.
What should we do as a responsible people
when a conception is unwanted?
All unwanted pregnancies should be mediated.
All concerned should be present.
There should even be someone
speaking for the unborn
stating whether she chooses to be born
of such parents.
For lives denied the name of human, she groans
weeps for the most innocent, killed by the ones
who would protect them if they breathed a breath.
What thoughtlessness has urged these laws of death?
Those blinded cannot see when life is fact.
They sense no sacredness to the creative act
no wonder at our genes and chromosomes.
As politicians deny life, sad Rachel moans
as doctors ply their knives, but not to heal
as truth waits for such calloused hearts to feel.
A broad viewpoint is difficult to maintain.
We must try to look at everything
including such guarded topics
as our sexual urge
from a broad viewpoint.
This urge is given to us
so that the whole human race
might come to fruition.
This purpose further emphasizes
the need for a responsible sex act.
People must not over populate
and hence cause world starvation.
We must view each sexual act
against the backdrop
of the fulfillment of the human race.
We came here through mud
and somehow mud is clean.
It makes the grass grow green.
Yes, mud is good for life.
We do not grow without it.
There was no way but mud.
We penetrated murk
and dead men's bones
and nightmare worms
that nibbled our sweet flesh
up, up, past horrors lurking in the mud
up, up to taste the sun.
How we have grown in mud!
The time has come to flower.When you see golden blooms
against the applauding sky
remember that we came
from mud.
Does God create this evil?
Do fig trees put forth grapes?
Evil is the shadow to God's sun.
Put a creation in the sunlight
and it makes a shadow.
I know it's wrong to hate,
because while I hated you,
I lost my sanity.
I know it's wrong to hate, because while I hated you,
I stayed confused and hostile.
I know it's wrong to hate,
because while I hated you,
I was destroying my inner me,
and I was rotten to the core.
I know it's wrong to hate,
because hate in itself is self-defeating.
It dissipates one's vital forces.
I know it's wrong to hate,
because Jesus said it,
Gandhi said it,
and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it,
and I know that
they were the spirits of truth
for out of them
came virtues that heal nations of people.
He asked a few casual questions, like,
"Was I keeping the faith?
Was I fighting a good fight?"
and "Was I finishing my courses?"
Then Martin said,
"There is a place called Heaven,
the City of Forgiveness.
In that City, joy is uncontrollable,
but to gain entrance, one must be merciful."
Then he paused for a moment
(as if to give his words a chance to sink in).
Then Martin asked me, was I merciful.
Shock waves of ambivalent thoughts went through my mind.
I thought to myself, "How can I answer his question
without appearing too vain or too modest?"
Then I said to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
"Please permit me to express my heartfelt, soul-sincere desire,
which is that every man, woman, and child in America
may get to know your spirit as I have,
for truly, Dr. King, your spirit is, the spirit of truth."
"It was you, Dr. King, who taught me how to love
and not demand love in return.
It was you, Dr. King, who taught me
that it is not important what others think about me,
but what I think about them.
It was you, Dr. King, who taught me how to strip myself
of all the self-defeating hostilities that I had within me,
and, because of you, Dr. King,
America is not yet what She is going to be,
but we thank God Almighty, She ain't what she used to be!"
He considers the less fortunate, the poor and the needy.
A friend is one who believes that action speaks louder than words.
He has an inexhaustible amount of vitality. He is dependable.
A friend is one who is gentle with himself.
He is kind to others.
He exercises self-control and good temperament.
A friend is one who is eager to uplift, ready to encourage.
He is never a put-down.
A friend is one who has a positive mental attitude.
He is ever growing, continuously learning.
He knows that "A mind is a terrible thing to waste."
A friend is one who seeks diligently to develop
the Christ consciousness.
He practices the presence of God.
He always salutes the divinity in others.
It all happened when I reached perfection.
I saw all the petty things that people do.
Nothing escaped my all-seeing eyes.
No man was without sin, only I.
I offered advice freely. My name changed
from "Mr. Nice Guy" to "Mr. Know-it-all."
Soon I had no friends. No one loved me
and I loved no one. I was without love.
Now I know what St. Paul meant when he said,
"Though I speak with tongue of men and angels
and if I have not love,
I become as sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy
and understand all mysteries and all knowledge
and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor
and though I give my body to be burned
and if I have not love, I am nothing."
The world stopped and I got back on.
I became single-eyed, seeing only the good that people do.
I stopped measuring them by my own yardstick.
Then I thought to myself how good it was
to have both feet back on Earth.
Then, again, like all men, I too was tempted
and I was glad to know that I was not above reproach.
Comments:
In self-discovery, the individual sometimes forgets it is his own personal quest for truth and that he should refrain from becoming judgmental, measuring others by his level of consciousness. Again, I recognize the words of Solomon, "I gave my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this is also vexation of Spirit. He that increaseth in knowledge increaseth also in sorrow" (Eccl. 1:17,18). I was not deterred; my eyes were "on the prize."
The Road to the Kingdom is the road least travelled. Therefore, at times, it becomes very lonely. I learned that removing the lid from the repressor and taking a tour of the subconscious mind can be hell. Therefore, I suggest that if the traveller is not sincere, he should detour, for on this road, you will know wisdom. Sometimes you will become too wise for your own good, i.e., an "ego trip." You will know madness, so much that you may say, "Stop the world, I want to get off!" Many get off- but few ever get back on. You will know folly, a visit to the City of Sodom and Gomorrah (lust and desire, the libido). But he that overcometh is likened unto "a woman when she is in travail, she has great sorrow because her hour is come- but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world" (John 16:21). Here I used quotes from St. Paul's letter to the church of the Corinthians (I Corinthians 13:4,7,8).]
I am the perfectionist,
glorifying God within my own body.
I know that God is love
and that love increases with use.
Therefore, Love is within me,
quietly directing the course of my life.
I strive for beauty and moral excellence.
Yet I stay in touch with reality.
For all that I do, I do at my own expense,
and I have no regrets.
As I lay there pondering my awakeness,
I heard a voice calling my name.
It came from the direction of my living room.
I lay still for a few minutes.
I wasn't sure what my ears had heard.
Then I was called again.
This time it was much louder.
Surprisingly, my wife, a light sleeper, was not disturbed.
I fastened my robe around my waist,
slid my feet into my slippers
and made haste to the living room.
Upon my arrival, I saw a man.
He had his back turned toward me.
And, when he turned around, I recognized him;
but, I knew him not.
He said his name was "Reality."
I asked him to have a seat
and as I sat face-to-face with Reality,
he asked me this question:
"Do you know Arrogant?"
I felt a shudder in my soul. I almost shouted
"Arrogant!"
I regained control of myself and answered the question.
I said "I know Arrogant, alright!
I met him about five years
after I became a born again Christian."
I got tired of turning the other cheek.
Tired of being abused and intimidated.
That's when I started to pal around with Arrogant.
It wasn't long before we became the best of friends.
Why, Arrogant took away all of my inferiorities
and handed me an inflated ego second-to-none.
We could still be friends today, but I found out
what Arrogant was doing to me.
Arrogant pulled the wool right over my eyes.
He was poisoning my whole system
with vainglory, self love and pride.
Had it not been for Sincerity,
I would have been lost in the Land of Nod,
the State of Confusion
forever!
Let your voice be heard. See the Action Page
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