Faith

You’re staying home.
You’re washing hands.
You’re drinking water.

Now what?
Are you still anxious?

Do you realize the entire world is now focusing single-pointedly on well-being?
Everyone in their own way.
Vast numbers, hidden, like stars in the sky in the daylight.

The doctors and nurses and researchers in their way.
The caregivers in their way.
The people of all religions in their way.
The light-workers in their way.

I feel there is lightning in words, a power way beyond just casually talking.

I feel words with intent can crumble stone.

I’m not saying it’s easy.

You have to be in the mood, the frame of mind, to do this, to speak the words as part of an inner chant, so they pull upon another realm, and weave it here.

I feel words are sacred, like rays of light from the soul, when spoken with knowing their deeper power.

Hello everybody. This is something that I think everybody knows is a problem.

When you have your grandchildren come over and visit, before they really start wanting to play, or talk and say what they’ve been doing, they like to get on their devices.

Now, I have a 13 year old granddaughter. She’s a real techie. She knows a lot more than her old grandfather. We’re guilty too, so maybe we should set an example, you know, Facebook and Wikipedia and internet and emails. I mean everybody is always doing things. But you have to set that aside.

(singing) “Christ is risen from the dead. Trampling down death by death, and to those in the tombs bestowing life.”

I love that chant, the Paschal Troparion chant about Christ being risen from the dead.

And sometimes I feel like I need to be risen from the dead. And to be mindful of the gift of life.

Do you recognize that sound?
Can you hear it?
Listen
The sounds of nature
There all around us
Can you figure it out?
It’s like life
Can you figure it out at times?
When you don’t understand
Can you trust?
Do you have faith?
Do you have the faith enough to know all is well?
To embrace each day, the gift of your life
To find the joy, happiness and the peace in solitude
Or out there amongst others
I hope you can hear the sound and recognize it
It’s all around us all the time

What’s that sound
The sound of my dog
Missy as she is howling and growling away
playing with her toy
Having such joy with this stuffed animal
Is the sound ferocious?
is the sound she is making an expressing
Delight
Frustration
fun
there are so many sounds we hear in life
And the meaning we put behind the sound
And the expression of the sound
I can tell she is having a lot of fun
Running around
Enjoying this toy of hers
Just having a really good time
Getting up in the day

Sometimes it is so hard to believe
There will be I time I am not going to be here on planet earth
There will be a time I’ll expire my life will come to an end
Then I will begin a new beginning in Heaven
I believe in God
The afterlife
That we do go on
Sometimes I get so distracted by today
Not really realizing I am here for a limited amount of time
Even if I live to 150
There is a time I will not be here
That takes a lot of mindfulness for me
To hold on to that
I really want to hold on to that

On my walk, I met a neighbor who told me this story. He had an ulcer, and so his stomach had been hurting him. Some of his friends convinced him to go on a men’s retreat with his church.

He reluctantly went, even more reluctantly because they were serving pizza, which would not agree with his stomach. Near the end of the retreat, he was surprised because the leader said, “Let’s pray for Donald.” So everyone laid their hands on Donald and prayed for him.

Afterwards, there was no longer a burning in his stomach. He was completely cured during those few minutes that day.

Pedro was a 97 year old man from Cuba who was always at the Senior Center where my wife goes.

She really liked him and would often talk with him.

He was funny, upbeat, and filled with life, dancing even into his late 90’s.

He died. That day our grandfather clock stopped. The grandfather clock had been running continuously for over a year. A few days later, when I opened it to see what had happened, I saw the chime mechanism was incredibly stuck. I needed a force of about 5 pounds to unstick it. This had never happened before.

Let me call upon you now.

Every thought calls you.

Every breath calls you.

As the waves come upon the shore, so do I call you.

Let me feel you press upon me.

Do you stare upon me as I look to see you?

So much is unseen, unheard, unknown, yet surely there.

Lift my senses into the higher realms.

The waiting is over.

I ask for a drop, and you give me buckets, oceans.

Light my way.

Let it be easy and sure and powerful.

You all seem to talk in one voice.