Feeling a Bit Quaker/Folk Tonight

One of my favorite songs by Hoosier &  Quaker, Singer/Songwriter Carrie Newcomer is Bare To the Bone. I couldn't find an embedable version,
but here are the lyrics. Enjoy!

Lyrics for:  Bare To The Bone
From the album:  Betty's Diner: The Best Of Carrie Newcomer
Songwriter:  Carrie Newcomer

Here I am without a message
Here I stand with empty hands
Just a spirit tired of wandering
Like a stranger in this land

Walking wide eyed through this world
Is the only way I've known
Wrapped in hope and good intentions
Bare to the bone

There is nothing I won't show you
Nothing I can hide
Risked it all and dreamt it all
And seldom questioned why

You took me in when I was hungry
When my spirit ached and groaned
Laid wide open and defenseless
And bear to the bone

So, when I rise, I rise in glory
If I do, I do by grace
Time will wash away these footprints
And we'll leave without a trace

Between here and now and forever
Is such precious little time?
What we do in love and kindness
Is all that we leave behind

When my lights are slowly fading
And my eyes is softly waning
And the evening sun is setting
And the world is barely breathing

Then your voice will call me
And your hands can lead me home
Like a newborn awed and naked
And bare to the bone

So, when I rise, I rise in glory
If I do, I do by grace
Time will wash away these footprints
And we'll leave without a trace

Between here and now and forever
Is such precious little time
What we do in love and kindness
Is all we ever leave behind

Here I am without a message
Here I stand with empty hands
Just a spirit tired of wandering
Like a stranger in this land

Walking wide eyed through this world
Is the only way I've known
Wrapped in hope and good intentions
Bare to the bone

Wrapped in hope and good intentions
Bare to the bone

© CARRIE NEWCOMER MUSIC

Completely unrelated except that it's also by Carrie is The Gathering of Spirits. Another of my favorites by her.

5 Pieces of Advice You Didn’t Ask For & Didn’t Know You Needed

1.  Never stop asking questions. Be curious, be amazed, daydream, get lost on purpose, and wonder “Why?” every chance you get.

2.  Live in love, not fear. Those are your only two choices. Hold onto someone’s hand during the scary parts, and respect rattlesnakes, angry people, and tornados. But don’t let anyone or anything make you so frightened that you live a half life.

3.  Look around right now. Now is where we live. Now is where we are breathing, sitting, and experiencing. You can throw Now away by regretting yesterday, or feeling anxious about tomorrow. Or you can be alive- right now. Now is the Main Thing. In a little while, it will be something else.

4.  Make your circles bigger. Discover that those people at the edges are really interesting!  Go out of your way to meet someone who is a different race, speaks a different language, who is lost, or afraid, is younger/older, richer/poorer, attractive/repulsive.  Then listen. Ask those questions! See the world in colors you haven’t seen yet!

5.  Realize- know, believe, understand, and accept- that YOU are a vital part of God’s Continuing Creation. We’re not here to take, we are here to give. Takers rarely experience happiness. Givers are swimming in it.

HOPE

 

The following was written by E.B. White; March 30, 1973

As long as there is one upright man, as long as there is one compassionate woman, the contagion may spread and the scene is not desolate. Hope is the thing that is left to us, in a bad time. I shall get up Sunday morning and wind the clock, as a contribution to order and steadfastness.

Sailors have an expression about the weather: they say, the weather is a great bluffer. I guess the same is true of our human society -- things can look dark, then a break shows in the clouds, and all is changed, sometimes rather suddenly. It is quite obvious that the human race has made a queer mess of life on this planet. But as a people we probably harbor seeds of goodness that have lain for a long time, waiting to sprout when the conditions are right. Man's curiosity, his relentlessness, his inventiveness, his ingenuity have led him into deep trouble. We can only hope that these same traits will enable him to claw his way out.

      Hang on to your hat. Hang on to your hope. And wind the clock, for tomorrow is another day.

where is matt harding

In 2007 - 08 video game developer Matt Harding went on a 14 month trip, dancing his way through 42 countries, inviting people to dance with him. Matt's trip around the world was sponsored by Stride Gum. Even though it's sponsored by a gum company, the video is inspired and an inspiring look at the unity of dance. Enjoy...

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.

Via: @laughingsquid on Twitter

Technorati Tags: Matt,Harding,dancing,where the hell is,stride gum,2008

searching for the light

Having a bit of a bad week here in the existence known as my life. I won't go into details unless someone asks.

I've just been handed several things that test me as a person, impact my income, my home, my children and my self-worth. All fairly totemic qualities, eh?

How do I handle it? So far with an appalling lack of sleep, teeth grinding (it's baaaaack) and hair falling.

*Warning: Spiritual stuff coming up! If ya don't like it then go read someone else.*

I've been a Christian a long time. All of my life. I even contemplated going to CTU and becoming a minister. I grew up in the Baptist Church. It's hypocrisy and narrowness caused me to loose a lot of faith, but not my belief. I've always been a seeker. I studied and devoured my comparative religions classes at IU. I've studied Zen much to my betterment as a person. I've been a Methodist. It was fine, with very good people (shout out Old Bethel) but when a sermon was preached on the evils of Evolution and nearly all the congregation agreed, I knew it was my time to go.

[Just a note on Evolution. I URGE you to go look it up!! The Theory of Evolution is not a theory in the sense, "I have a theory that my socks get sucked into a parallel dimension while in the dryer." It is a proven, quantifiable Scientific Theory. Which means a group of like or similarly known facts that are related or relatable to one-another. A group, a family, a pride, a Theory. Preaching on the wrongness of God's creation of Evolution makes about as much sense as preaching against the evils of the Theory of Gravity! It exists, deal wit it!]

Anyway, back to my subject... I was invited to go to a Quaker (Religious Society of Friends) meeting and found it was where I needed to be. Where I was supposed to be. I will write about that someday.

So to answer my earlier question, how do I handle it? I'm trying my best. I know several things about my God. God loves me un-conditionally, guides me and teaches me. I know God loves me. I'm convinced God has no commitment greater than love. The Bible doesn't say God can be loving or God is often loving or even God is usually loving. It says God IS love.

I don't believe God is testing me. I think God can help us through our tests and bad times, but doesn't initiate them to test us. That strikes me somewhat of a cat toying with a mouse till the mouse submits to it's fate as his lunch. My God is not willful or vindictive. Our path is our own, but He is there, if we care to call on him to help us down it.

Russian author, Vasily Grossman once wrote:

Human history is not the battle of good struggling to overcome evil. It is a battle fought by a great evil struggling to crush a small kernel of human kindness. But if what is human in human beings has not been destroyed even now, then evil will never conquer.

That kernel of human kindness is, I believe, what Quakers call the Inner Light. The guiding presence of God within us that can never be extinguished. Whether it's in an unprogrammed Meeting where one sits in silence the entire hour waiting for the Light to shine or for 15 mins of silent worship as we do in our Meeting led by a pastor, we wait patiently and silently till the message is received, if ever.

I've meditated on it and searched deeply for the Light. My life is in turmoil right now and it unnerves and distress me, but I know God's Light and Grace are in me. That Light shines on and on and on. Peace.