A Questionable Thought From a Nobody

             Everyone knows or has heard the old saying “Nobody is perfect” or perhaps “nothing is perfect”, they’ve been around and repeated since the dinosaurs roamed the earth, perhaps even longer.

            Now in this world as it stands, many times I find myself thinking that I am just a nobody, a nothing, in the grand scheme of things, and I know that I am not alone in this pondering.

            Well, having cogitated on this until my brain hurts, I’ve come to realize that the only logical conclusion is that I AM PERFECT. And if, as a nobody or nothing I am perfect, then all the others in the world that think of themselves as a nobody or nothing, or are thought of as such, must also be perfect as well. 

A Voice in My Head

A voice in my head

said to me

early one morning.

It’s okay

if you don’t always understand

what you are hearing today.

If you have listened

carefully to what was said

in the past.

What you heard then

you’ll understand now

in the present.

Understand in the present

you will have revelation

in the future.

???

Here is a variation of an old question. If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there, does it make a sound?

If humanity no longer exists on earth to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch anything of the physical world, does the earth itself continue to exist or does it become non-existent because there is no one to see, hear, smell, taste, or touch anything of it?

Many say no but just as many say yes.

The ‘experts’ infer that the mind perceives matter and invests it with meaning, and that without the mind to observe it, matter has no meaning, and as a result, technically does not exist. Therefore what cannot be perceived by any of the five (or some say six) senses cannot exist.

What say you?

River Time

River Time

As the dawn rises early

A new day is born.

I creep slowly from bed

My night must be shed

I drag across floor

My hand is up, open the door

As I finally am able, to really stand up

I get to the kitchen, and grab my cup

Fill it full, all I can find

Now it awakens, awakens my mind

Now the time of waking is nearing an end

My River Time just round the bend

Departure from house

And out into flow

The River Time calls me

The River Time, I see

The River Time comes, that flowing stream

A wonderful place, just as in dream

This is my place, my special shrine

This is my place, my River Time.

Where there's smoke, is there fire?

Where there’s smoke, is there fire?

                Over the last several days I have been repeatedly been listening to and hearing references to fire and flame. Flames burning out, fire burning in. Flames burning up, fires burning down. Fire and flame everywhere but nothing actually scorched. Right now as I write this down I have the very distinct odor of something burning near me, like I have smoke in my nose, but I don’t, not now and not earlier. I’ve checked around me and there is no actual fire anywhere, I even checked outside…nothing, not a whiff of anything anywhere. So the fire I smell is not the fire of a physical destruction but maybe that of spiritual destruction or of spiritual renewal or growth, fire of comfort, not the fire of destruction, the fire of the spiritual nature that seems to mean so much to so many people.

Why am I experiencing this now, what’s new, what’s different. What does God mean with this? Listening to how He says something can be as important as listening to what is being said. And sometimes He sometimes has to repeat Himself for the message to be understood completely. Much like a child learning the lesson of the day.

God is showing me the lessons of the fires, the effects on the flames on myself as well as what they can do outside of me.

                The fire ‘burning in’ me/us is an all-consuming fire that ‘burns up’ what should not be there in the first place. The fire burning within is the spiritual fire that has been put there by God in the first place and added to at my request so that we might be able to see/understand Him and ourselves clearer and deeper than we would be able to without it. The fire within is meant to burn down anything that stands between ourselves and the heavenly father and his host, with the blockages gone, direct access is achievable through direct communication with God, us to Him and He to us. Unfortunately it is also possible that the fire within can burn down, through choice or indifference or lack of use. Anything can happen under the direction of the enemy. That’s why the fire inside must be fed, stoked as a real fire but not in the physical but spiritual ways. I/we have to ask for more to get more to keep this fire strong.

                Two different things have been put in my mind around this ‘fire’ that I ‘smell’ right now.

                The first one is for me or you as the case may be, something personal, spoken one to one.

My Fire is Your Fire

The light that I have put in you

is more than just light for others to see.

In that light is My fire,

My fire to set you ablaze,

to set the world ablaze.

My fire is your fire,

                                                                        use it in all things.

                The second message is something meant for the multitude, the church as a whole, although it can be something for an individual as well. Here the scale is of a much larger scale that is meant to encompass the entire globe if the fire remains true to its origins. The title simply means a great fire or a fire on a grand scale.

Conflagration

                I can see a great huge fire burning everything completely and utterly. We as Christians are both part of this fire and also igniters of this fire. The fire is all around us and more importantly, also within us. We should be burning with this fire, both for our spiritual selves and for God.

                As we burn, sparks are being released from us much like the sparks that come out of a natural wood fire. These sparks rise up from us and are moved away from us by God’s breath. A gentle breeze for some, or maybe a roaring wind for others.

                These sparks are sent out and allowed to settle wherever they will. Some will settle where there is nothing, nothing combustible, nothing to burn. But some of these sparks will come down into a place that is ready. A person or perhaps a group of people ready to burn, ready to catch fire for God and with God, and if the spark is strong enough the new fire will spread, turning into a new fire, burning with the power of the Lord. Spreading and becoming a new conflagration. Sending new sparks up and out to new places and new people. Repeating this cycle over and over until everything that is able to burn will be burning until the whole earth is alive in the fire of the Lord. And nothing else can survive but the fire and that which burns in it.

THINKING AGAIN

I think I thought a thought, but the thought I think I thought, wasn’t the thought I think I thought I think I thought. I think. I think that is a thought, I thought. Right? Please tell me what you think. Your thoughts about my thinking and my thinking about your thoughts would be thoughtful, don’t you think? Or am I just thinking in circles again…and again…and again… and…

UNLOCKING CREATIVITY

            Here’s something that might help you the next time you have a dry spell of creativity. It’s a simple solution that can lead to some interesting and creative art no matter what your medium.

I’ve done this many times over the years and it’s usually an easy and quick boost. I can also get some interesting results from people that I’m teaching no matter the age or skill level.

            First, go to your stash of favorite books, (not magazines not picture books or albums or comics) books that use ‘real’ words in ‘real’ sentences. Most people have at least one ‘real’ book in the house that can be used for this. No, graphic novels don’t count either.

            Second, take this book back to that place where you usually are most creative, your chair, or table, or studio room. Now find out how many pages are in the book. Got that? Now pick a number between 2 and whatever number is the last page of the book. Got that? Let’s say it’s 459. Remember it.

            Third, pick a number between 1 and 10. I’m going with 3. You pick your own, and remember it. Open the book to page 459 and find the third paragraph down on that page. Got it?

            Now I want you to make something based on what you have just read. I’m not expecting a masterpiece and not necessarily a whole and complete piece of finished art but something, a little sketch or painting based on the words that are on the paper at that point. If it helps, you can expand to utilize the second or fourth paragraph as well, but don’t get carried away.  

            Personally I utilize my bible for this exercise most often but have used J.R.R. Tolkien books and books by C. Cussler, as well as others. It’s really up to you and what you find. And I find that this exercise more often than not will flip the switch to your creativity and get things moving again. A long time ago I knew an artist that used this method exclusively for her creative endeavors. She would take her book out with her and have other people pick and choose the numbers that she would then go home and turn into art, sometimes good and sometimes not so good.

Try it, you might like it.

Thank You Father

Thank you Father

I wish I could put into words

everything that you have meant to me,

but I don’t have enough of them.

Thank you for always being around,

even when I forgot you were there.

Thank you for what you have given me,

now and throughout my life.

I wouldn’t ask for a better father.

You are the best.

I value you for creating me

and bringing me into this family

and into this world.

You have made me the person that I am,

you gave me life,

and taught me how to live it.

For everything,

I thank you in all things.

For who you were, who you are,

and who you always will be.

Thank you Dad.