Laying On of Hands is What Love Demands

Compassion is not feeling for sisters and brothers;
It is sharing in the passions of others.
We must be mindful of with whom we bond;
There are pieces of us that will forever be gone.

The trade-off is a piece of our fellow humans,
With whom the pieces of us will blend.
Do we ask ourselves when choosing soul mates
What kind of blend will we, together, create?

Even my friends with the greatest faith
Need to be loved by the human race.
We hear much of the laying on of hands;
Human touch is what love demands.

Will loving The Lord take away all pain
And make my world all smiles again?
Or are the people who reach out to me
In whom the face of salvation I'll see?

We cannot be fully human by ourselves;
It is in mutual need that The Spirit indwells.
But the fear of our own vulnerability
Causes us to attempt to live love free.

A heart closed to love will still be filled
By fear and anger, into hatred, distilled.
All our energy will go into protection,
Rather than face our fear of rejection.

It sometimes seems easier to live alone,
But we'll never have a sense of home
Without taking the risks of letting others in.
Vulnerability is where compassion begins.

Tempted or Exempted?

It is common and easy for any of us to see
Sin in temptations from which we are free.
This may be why Jesus was said to intone,
"Let those without sin, cast the first stone."
 
I may never have been tempted to kill another,
But I have disallowed some as sister or brother
Perhaps I'm  less prone to murderous temptation
Than those who kill parts of human creation.

If I have no weakness for recreational sex,
Does this make me better than those who expect
Immediate sexual gratification whenever tempted?
Or am I simply, from this weakness, exempted?
 
Jesus didn't limit his words to the sin of the persecuted;
He simply implied, from sin, nobody is excluded.
I am grateful I have loved ones who are strong
In areas where I seem prone to do wrong.

Is this coupling to be considered co-dependency,
Or a way for me, from my temptation, to break free?
I believe we must bond to others for balance;
This seems the human condition's only chance.

Rather than looking for others to castigate,
Our lack of their temptations we should celebrate.
Or do I find grievous fault with what I see
Because I wish the sin was being committed by me?

Abandonment and Acceptance

It is a mixed blessing (or curse) to have parents who abandon their children;
Those who accept that they are not competent may actually be doing a service.
At least jealousy doesn't prohibit their progeny from seeking parental guidance,
And motherhood is not defined by those who have opened a cervix.

We have created many opportunities for procreation and parenting
In our generations that have succeeded in creating life in test tubes,
But we have also created many questions about who creates new life;
This has lead to conclusions that fuel many pro-life, pro-choice feuds.

Many people have suffered the consequences of neglect
By those of us born to parents who continued to procreate,
And continued to deny their limitations and boundaries
Because they were taught that contraception would doom their fate.

Isn't it so much better to be destroyed before exiting the womb
And sent back to the arms of the Universal Energy of Life,
Than to be set on a continued  course of self-loathing and anger
That results in the propagation of the earliest recorded strife?

From the biblical story of Adam and Eve, their seed
Has been cursed by their story of jealousy and greed.
Is it possible that abortion is something God allows
So that we will only have the children we want to breed?

We want it both ways; it is sacred to create
The babies that are wanted, even though we generate
The zygotes that get destroyed or frozen for eternity
Without anyone having to commit to life's mates.

We have become society that acts as gods;
Denying there is a reason for the eternal plan:
That not one of us is able to create a baby alone.
A baby takes the seed of a woman and a man.

We all need energy from both our yin and our yang;
We exist on the cosmic and concrete levels.
How we become the most balanced we can be
Depends on the forces in which our spirit revels.

There are many I know who have conceived
In their need to be needed and loved by others.
Their casual sexual union resulted in animal life;
But becoming pregnant didn't make them mothers.

At the time of conception we have human potential;
Becoming higher than other animals takes responsibility
Parents who are led by only their animal instincts
Can't nurture that which makes us human, the spark of Divinity.

My People and My Path

One of the hardest things a parent can do is not to impose our own dreams
On what our children choose to pursue, no matter how futile it seems.
As long as they have a plan that doesn't necessitate our giving,
We must let them define their own ways of making peace with living.

This doesn't mean that we must celebrate every step upon their paths,
But it probably means we shouldn't give our advice unless asked.
I, many times, have had to limit my time and my exposure
When the actions of others brought up issues in which I have no closure.

I have many people in my life; old relationships are most important,
Because they seem to be part of the mission for which I was sent.
Those who have recently come to know me, can't follow the pattern;
They have no way of incorporating the many lessons I have learned.

As a nephew once told me, it is wrong to judge where we are,
Without also knowing the trials we have overcome, so far.
Everything and person that has touched my life is part of who I am;
It is not for me or others to know how we fit into the eternal plan.

Suffering and Salvation

There seems to be basic disagreement on what constitutes salvation.
Is the proof of faith the way we act or simply spiritual contemplation?
Is feeling guilty for harming others enough to cleanse one's soul,
Or do we have an obligation to attempt to make relationships whole?

I believe it is a misunderstanding of suffering as cleansing;
It is only through celebration that we help the earth's mending.
This means sharing other's joys as well as sometimes their pain,
But only sharing in the hurts that will lead to fruitful  gains.

Suffering may look like sacrifice to the casual observer,
But many use it to their own manipulative agendas further.
Parents complain about their progeny like the children chose life,
Acting as if parental actions didn't cause their parental strife.

Some people embrace their weaknesses with obvious elation,
Expecting that their suffering deserves others ministrations.
Sharing the good in life seems a greater responsibility;
Taking on the weaknesses of others won't make them pain free.

A Friend From My Youth

A friend from my youth was set up for sin
Before her life on earth could even begin.
Her parents had already grown to scorn;
Their children were recipients of this harm.

They set all manner of horrid example;
Their parenting wasn't nearly ample.
They were consumed with punishing the other;
It finally completely crushed her mother.

My friend then received her father's rage,
As was accepted in that day in age.
She became a pseudo mother and martyr,
As was the place of the oldest daughter.

I do not know how she has become
The person to whom her parents can run.
And she, with love, carries their load
Along her parent's last earthly road.

With good humor and determination
She sets to right her parents' creation.
She has no religion, but has such Spirit;
Surely all earth and heaven can hear it.

Spiritual Similes

The humidity is so thick, we'd have trouble sucking it through a straw;
Not like a too-cold milkshake,  like cream pie our breath tries to draw.
Clouds are accumulated and ominous; is this why they're called cumulus clouds?
Thunder rolls like a freight train, coming from a far-away, too-full shroud.
Ah, the wonders of nature that science and religions seek to explain;
I am most comfortable knowing that mystery is meant to ever remain.

Seagulls are the only birds not running for shelter from the storm gods,
And scientists who live by statistics, into the storms continue to trod.
There are those who accept their positions as the gods' chosen ones,
Who do not feel the need, from the great powers of nature, to run.
I am most comfortable observing from my safe upstairs window,
Confident that the sound, sights, and fury are only meant for show.

This is probably why we lost our home in the power of a hurricane;
As long as the power was only for show, I felt we could remain.
My scientist husband talked for a year about the dangers of global warming,
But he failed to mention it was time to move away from the storming.
I was more comfortable living in my safe, happy world of denial,
Than I was attempting to run away from the pain of the next trials.

It is better, by far, for us to face the realities with our best friends,
Than to run away alone to wherever our safety seems to depend.
I would rather die laughing at the capriciousness of the gods and fate,
Than to live solely in the world of statistics, which scientists overrate.
Because something isn't statistically significant to the scientific mind
Only means that, to the truths in serendipity, that scientist is blind.

I don't think anyone has seen the face or heard the voice of the one, true god;
I accept that many have imagined a face and voice on what they could not.
Our humanity we project on nature and the gods from whom we want favor,
But I reject that any person can fully explain the mysteries of all of nature.
Our similes and metaphors are part of our feeble attempts to relate
To the powers of the universe that rule our lives and our children's fates.