November 28th 2008

Show Your Wound

Photograph by: K. Alan Lewis

Show your wound with your own tenderness
Know that tossed aside decay will rot in dark seclusion.
Fear must no longer be the guest that hides within
Healing’s desire is gently knocking on your door.

Show your wound oh lovely soul
Not to me and not to them.
But show it now to your own kind beholding
That the light of love can mend its broken wings.

Your kindly benevolence toward your own humanity
Will bring a sudden transformation to that lacerated heart.
All are broken, deeply wounded, grieving in their beds.
May your own kind beholding come to change all that.

~Viola M. Jaynes




February 29th 2008

Love’s Gift Through Pain

Love cannot exist without pain. ~The Anchoress

The Anchoress wrote a post that so deeply moved me and it spurred me on to write on this topic myself.

This time of the year, one cannot help but reflect again on the most profound love-gift that has ever been given to man-kind. It is a gift, so precious, so valuable and so indescribable, that all there is left to do is to grasp it firmly into our bosom and try to comprehend, on some level - with our finite minds, the mystery which it holds.

Never before has there been one who descended from heaven and gave himself for man-kind. Only Jesus Christ, the Anointed One, was able to do that because He was commissioned by God, by Himself, to pierce through darkness and enter this linear world of ours. A world, so limited in its understanding, so ignorant of truth, and so sinful of its own making.

He stood among us, this God, this Holy God, and through His son, Jesus Christ, He showed us His heart. With a passion so fierce, He did His work. All that He did was driven by only one prevailing power and that power is Love.

Jesus the Christ displayed compassion, kindness and mercy as no one ever could. There were no formulas to go by. There were no rules to remember. Love operates from the heart and it is reckless in its giving. Love was the only means in which to bring humanity into a life of meaning, of purpose, and of abundance.

God withheld nothing from us!

He knew before He descended from heaven, the pain that He would endure….and conquer. He knew what we, with our finite human mind , could never comprehend. Thus, He spoke in the only language that we could understand. Pain

Jesus cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” as He hung suspended between heaven and earth, because of the raw, primitive emotions of hate and envy that men everywhere are capable of at their worst. (Luke 23:34)

His love penetrated though the darkest of dark. All the universe became silent, if even just for a moment, to witness Love in its purest form. To understand once and for all that healing of our broken humanity comes only through the redeeming power of Love.

Love cannot exist without pain.

Those who embrace this understanding, will lay aside formulas and rules to go by. They will, through their own devotion and love for God, reach out to humanity recklessly and unconditionally…with a passionate desire to love. It is in this abandonment to love that transformations will take place right before their eyes. Salvation and healing will be the natural by-product as love pierces through the heart and heals. Love itself can and will heal and make whole the body, mind and spirit.

As we embrace each other with this understanding, let us pray that God will raise up a people in this hour, who know how to love. All of creation groans and travails for such a people to arise. (Rom.8) It is only as we abide in Him, that this will become a possibility. God IS Love and in this Love, Light is manifested. As this pure Light of love is manifested, Truth will stand on its own. Thus, all ignorance and darkness will be no more. (I John 1:5)

It is at this juncture that all tears will be wiped away and pain will no longer have a place in the hearts of men.

Let us never fear to step out to love and to be love. This must be done intelligently, compassionately, and genuinely. Pain exists everywhere without love…but love can never exist without pain…until that final moment of complete understanding, complete enlightenment. This holy sacrifice was given once and for all. The pain of ignorance was beyond human comprehension. It was agony at its worst. Mankind has, at last, been freed from a life of misery and futility. We have been freed into a life of certainty - a life of communion with our Creator.

Yes, indeed, we have been freed into a life without pain - if we can truly comprehend and accept this truth.




December 31st 2007

A Time To Reflect

Some things do matter. Every year gives birth to blessings, little acts of thoughtfulness, devotion, courage and self-sacrifice. Smiles unexpected and unmasked for. Silent hard-won victories over evil… Such blessings change lives, and one generation passes them along to the next. On this final day of the year, why not leave some small blessings for those who will follow you?” ~Anonymous author

As the year comes to a close, I reflect deeply on all that has been learned and gained this year. Personally we have seen many changes, much growth, and a heart recognition for the deeper realization of the potential that lies within each human life as one is willing to look within. We have seen how human beings fall short through their own fears and yet rise to greater heights as love and forgiveness embraces all. I am convinced again and again that there is simply nothing impossible!

As the New Year starts, I wish each of my readers a year filled with meaning and purpose. I wish each of you the reality that lies beyond what we see with our eyes, or that which we touch with our hands. My hope is for all of us to experience a greater hunger and desire to know God to such an extent that unnecessary worry and fear will cease. As political situations continue to be precarious, may you enter a place of calmness and assuredness that, no matter what happens, the Light and Peace of God is yours always. May you become prayer in this world as you realize that the spiritual growth that you experience makes a difference to many people around you. May you cultivate a sensitive, loving and kind heart for all living things, and a passionate soul to never be satisfied with the temporal things of this world. May you realize that each kind word and deed that you do and say will be forever recorded in eternal history.

Above all, I wish for each of us the courage to always be honest with ourselves and the ability to recognize the Divinity that abides within each of us. It is through that recognition that the passionate and loving heart of God will touch and heal many.

*The quote above came from a wonderful article I found that Colbert I. King wrote in the Washington Post.