Monday, March 18, 2013

Home as Safe Harbor

If today, I can be of service to one person's life in filling a human need,
If today I can lighten the soul of just one, have I paid for the air that I breathe?
Many lives are lived in tiny steps, not in grand gestures and accomplishments;
Keeping positive air under others' sails is sometimes why we are sent.

There are so many who refuse to celebrate, choosing fear instead;
Faith is not the same as fear of the punishments that we dread.
Faith is absolute assurance that we'll never stand on our own
Without loving hearts, hands, and souls beaconing us home.

The greatest gift I was given from grandchildren to grandmother
Was their belief that I'd step in if they lost father and mother.
From the strong bonding to my children and to their young,
This absolute trust in my continued care had naturally sprung.

My husband and I created a home where we honored every spirit;
When defeatist thoughts were proposed, we didn't want to hear it.
We believed in building competent empowerment of each;
It continues to be our joy that we were allowed to, these souls, teach.

We've spent our lives attempting to protect childhood innocence;
Once innocence is destroyed, there can be no recompense.
We see the dangers outside our homes and hold them at bay
This is the only method by which The Sacred Spirit will stay.

We do not judge the right or wrong of what others do,
But we insist, in our homes, on values we hold as true.
Each person has a place in his or her own journey;
We provide a place where, our values, others can see.

I miss the days of little feet and innocent children's laughter;
Circumstances beyond our control, this life shattered.
I hope that we made some positive difference in the universe
Before our attempts at sharing our fortunes were reversed.

We had no children of our loins and love, but we were parents
To every child that, for any amount of time, we were sent.
We have lost touch with most of these, the children of our souls,
But their innocence that blessed our lives continues to make us whole.