The Soul and the State

What will it cost for each of us to sell our souls?
What are our priorities when we set our relationship goals?
Do we want to be the ruling class, no matter the moral cost,
Or do we want to attempt to reclaim the paradise humanity lost?
The old rules of fear that permeated patriarchal rule
Have been shown to be the province of jealous frightened fools.

We now know that thinking and informed decision making
Is within the province of each whole human's undertaking,
Except perhaps for those who have been mentally handicapped;
For those we still have boundaries that hypocrisy has collapsed.
We have begun to pretend that our Creative Energy
Shows distinct preferences for the groups of you and me.

I believe that each of us chooses a group with which to travel;
The denial of this has caused our society to unravel.
Nobody should not be forced by any ruler or by any nation
To support that which they believe works against the balance of creation.
The United States of America claims separation of church and state,
But until we stop attempting to force to Judeo-Christianity, we wait.

Chiding Our Children

A child feels bad when parents aren't glad,
But so often they don't know how to correct it.
Angy and fearful looks and scary books
Only take away their power to use their wits.
A sense of honesty, humility, and humor
Are the very best things I've found
For keeping relationships with our
Children and others on solid ground.
My children were told I'm not perfect,
And that I don't know many things,
That I want them to learn from every
Situation that their lives bring.
I gave them encouragement and affection
I confess I also gave them
Fearful, angry, and harsh correction.
The best gift I think I gave my progeny
Was the frequently voiced confession
And my no-excuse, sincerest apologies.

Watching and Waiting

My friend who writes a blog about her spiritual journey wrote today about how all the great spiritual leaders had a long period of waiting and listening before they began their public ministries. Christian women have waited for two thousand years, and now it may be time for them to begin their public ministries.

Woman have consistently been handed the children for purposes of nurture, but we were deemed too weak minded to teach the older males. It is time that men listen to the voices and hearts of their women and honor them as leaders instead of walking away when women speak. How else can they know what messages are being handed down to their offspring?

Where traditional men seem to want to force change on their own time lines, traditional women are taught to wait. We accept that change is a gradual process, and that forced pledges of allegiance don't build team spirit. It is careful teaching by bonding and by example that bears the fruits of The Spirit.

A great gift that motherhood has given me is the ability to watch and wait, being ever vigilant for "teaching moments" and learning moments. I never cease to be amazed at how competent my children are as parents. The lessons learned while watching them certainly would have come in handy when I was in their shoes.

Hearing Holiness

How foolish we are in believing that only those who attend church are spoken to by The Spirit. Every time a voice whispers to us that we are to help someone, even at great cost to ourselves, that is the voice of The Spirit of Holiness that endows our animal natures with the fullness of our humanity. Nobody else can hear the exact same message that is being whispered into my ear.

It is helpful to keep our minds open to correction, as was Abraham. What if he had closed his ears to the correction that he was not to offer blood sacrifice to his god by killing his son, but was to offer his own live flesh and blood and that of his son in service to his god? We may never have moved on to understanding that it is our lives that we must offer, not merely the deaths of someone or something special to us.

Often I get to quaking and shaking when I feel that I'm being sent on a mission for which I don't feel prepared. It's like the old hymn, "Every time I feel The Spirit moving in me, I'm afraid." Somehow, when what I hear is right, I'm given strength and knowledge that I had no idea I possessed. Other times, when I'm gearing up for action, something or someone will put roadblocks in my way, or lift the burden off my shoulders.

This happened when a dear friend was diagnosed with cancer. Her children, whom I had always felt were part mine, and I had little contact as they became adults. Several months before my friends surgery, her older daughter began a correspondence with me that reminded us how much we meant to each other.

My friend, who was quite convinced she would not survive, was in total peace with her impending death. She asked me to be available after her surgery so that her family could continue their busy lives uninterrupted. I was more than happy to agree. Her children then began to turn to me for adult information regarding their mother's condition. I remained open to their Spirits which were leading them to support each other, their steadfast father, and their mother's Spirit. I, against their parents wishes, encouraged them to do what their Spirits told them to do.

It was so beautiful seeing them all together, all at peace with the parts they were playing in dealing with their precious mother's impending death, even though it left me feeling very lonesome because I was not in the inner circle once they came together. I now realize that I was sent into the situation to broker their trust in their whispered voices of The Spirit. Some are meant to serve, not by action, but by listening. I may never be considered a Christian or a hero, but I like to believe I can be a good sister and friend.

Wonder as Worship

When I was a little girl I thought that rain was God crying
But the world is full of those who spend their lives, children's visions, denying.
I also thought the rays of evening light filtering through the clouds
Came off of God's fingers to touch each man, woman, and child.
This, too, was ridiculed as not in keeping with the Bible,
So I learned to keep to myself the visions with which my mind was full.

I am now sixty years old and my mind has fairly exploded
From trying to hide the visions with which my mind is loaded.
The mother of a friend of mine who starved herself to death
Had a favorite song that, I thought, her faith expressed.
She was told by the church people that her visions didn't fit in,
And that to question the authorities was a grievous sin.

What is left to those who want to shout out what they see:
The holiness in every person, animal, plant, you, and me?
Are we to take our visions and talents and take to our beds
Because the rejection of "those who know" is that which we dread?
Will we ever be allowed to sing out our child's faith praises
Without condemnation by those we are told are religion's sages?

Scapegoating and Salvation

As a child I was taught to avoid occasions of sin;
Anyone with different beliefs should not be let in.
I knew there were hypocrites who espoused beliefs
That they didn't practice; my distrust increased.
But the great WASP male powers that then ruled our world
Put not a whit of value on the questions of a girl.

Scapegoating is as old as the story of Adam and Eve;
It is easier to be angry than it is for us to grieve.
There are many things in life we don't understand;
This seems to be the biggest frustration of humans.
We'd rather destroy everything than to continue
Accepting things, about which, there's nothing we can do.

And then, there are those among us who feel very human
Because they won't eat animals, be they fish or ham.
Many of these same people have no problem refusing to see
The Jews, Muslims, Blacks and the poor closely resemble we.
I feel like an outsider because I can't come to terms
With the hatred that I see, in our nation, still burns.

I see people who treat their family's dogs and their cats
With more respect than they exhibit in human chats.
How we define humanity is still very important;
If I don't agree with you, doesn't mean you're hell bent.
If there's not enough space in heaven for all creation,
What is the point in all of our godly adoration?

We must be willing to respect each other's space;
Finding the path to salvation shouldn't be a race.
It seems to me that a Supreme Being wouldn't continue to create
Millennia of people who, to The Divine, can't relate.
I believe that we each are offered a suitable path;
That path, pursued with faith, won't incur The Almighty's wrath.

I also think that, in the final analysis of life,
Our salvation is in how we handle our and others' strife.
Those who think that they can hoard and leave others to suffer,
May be surprised to find they have only created a buffer
From the eventual balancing of all Creation's resources;
None of us are stronger than The Almighty Nature's Forces.

I was so proud when a black president was elected
I thought our nation, had prejudices, finally rejected.
All genders, races, creeds would have intelligent discourse;
This turned out to be such naivete, of course.
I pray every day for us to finally see that people,
No matter their color or gender, will one day, be seen as equal.

Willing Women

I think I may be a Jewish woman
Covered thinly by Gentile skin.
Those matriarchs of the Old Testament
Knew how to handle the strongest men.

There were women who led battles,
And women who used their feminine ways
To keep their people on the right path
To being eternally saved.

I'm tired of wimpy women
Whose husbands bully their young;
They hold their children hostage
To stay on society's higher rung.

A woman who uses her power for good,
I think is a pure delight;
To protect vulnerable people,
She's always willing to fight.

But there are so many women
Who have given away their power
Preferring to stand behind
The security or pleasure of the hour.

Religion is meant to tame humans
And temper our animal natures.
Those who back down to bullies
Will always live in their fears.