The Invitation

Good evening folks,

One of my favorite author's of the inspirational prose-poem and international best-selling books is Oriah Mountain Dreamer. Her writing explores how to follow the thread of our deepest heart's longing into a life of meaning and purpose.

Blending ruthless honesty, humour, insight and compassion for our human struggle, Oriah seeks to inspire and challenge herself and others to live life fully. In addition to sharing stories of both her personal life and her years of training in an inter-tribal tradition of shamanic medicine, Oriah draws upon her years as a facilitator of spiritual retreats, as a social worker assisting women and families in crisis and as a student of philosophy in seeking to understand how we can be all that we truly are.

In 1994 she wrote a prose-poem that has traveled all over the world. "The Invitation" Please, the coffee is hot and the cookies just out of the oven. Enjoy this deep rooted, soul searching truth from one to another.

The Invitation

It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me how old you are.
I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow
if you have been opened by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine and still stand at the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you
from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone
with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

Just For The Asking

Good afternoon my friends,

We are having for lunch today a variety such as: Green pea salad, tomato sandwiches, fried chicken and banana pudding. Yes dear, all homemade. Please do make yourself at home as I have found a delightful topic. Of course your input will also be needed, so fill your plates and grab the lemonade.

My thoughts run high today as I think about all it is that I wish for my life or any ones life for that matter. Now, knowing that I'm not a bible thumper and would never throw it in any ones face, I do however believe in prayer and what then bible tells us all.

Prayer is one of the most reliable sources one can learn to do. It doesn't take a scientist to learn this. All it takes is a desire to be heard, to be understood, to expect a response back.

Ah, to expect a response back? Why wouldn't you? Why not ask from God all the blessings he has for you, what you desire, what you need, and expect for God to answer these request? Could it possibly be that we have been programed to believe that we are selfish people if we ask? That all we are to receive in this lifetime is only what fate brings us? Perhaps, we even believe that we are not worthy of such requests. I beg to differ.

Before you existed you were already known. Every avenue you would take in life was already known about, yet God still wanted you, needed you and created you. There are no mistakes in your existence.

With only ninety three pages, Bruce Wilkinson created a small book with a life- changing message. The Prayer of Jabez. One part of the story gives an example of a Mr. Jones dying and meeting Saint Peter at Heavens gate.

Mr Jones was so excited that he wanted to see all of heaven so Saint Peter gave him the tour. He was allowed to see all of heaven but one place. It was a storage building, as tall as the sky and as wide as one could see. Mr. Jones couldn't imagine God keeping any secrets away from him especially since this was heaven. Reluctantly, Saint Peter took him to the door of the building. He grabbed open the door and ran in but stopped suddenly. He looked around the walls and lined up were shelves with white boxes on them. Thousands and thousands of boxes lined the room with names on each one. Mr Jones asked if he too had a box there and Saint Peter said" Yes Sir, Mr. Jones, I'm afraid you do." Mr. Jones ran as hard as he could to search for his box, finding it and jerking off the lid. As he looked down into the box, he saw reflections of his life passing through the box. He turned around and ask Saint Peter what was all of this? He could remember those moments, yet he didn't understand. Saint Peter took Mr. Jones in his arms and he said to him, " Those Mr. Jones are all the blessings that God had for you on a daily basis that you Sir failed to ask for."

One doesn't receive because one doesn't ask.

As always,

passion

One And The Same

Good morning to all~

Please grab a chair and come on out on the porch where the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers in bloom.

It is a wonderful day to be able to reflect, share and move forward with life. Earlier this morning, I was reading from a site where I receive mail on a daily basis, kinda like support mail. The message was so clear, so vibrant that it needs to be shared among "us".

"You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of unmanufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive."--Dr. Thomas Arnold Bennett

Who among "us" doesn't need to be reminded of this occasionally? I for one, forget that when it is all said and done, it is I alone that must handle all of life's directions myself. Sometimes, like many, with assuming here, I feel like a yo-yo being pulled here and there. I imagine it is my nature that takes me to many various pleasures in life, along with the not so pleasant. Such is life.

Rarely will I open up and expound. However, I'm here this glorious morning to share and open my porch to all that might stumble upon the path and end up here. Welcome my dear. We are all one and the same.

As always,

passion

The Other End Of A Christmas Story

First Date

This story was told on the Tonight Show when Jay Leno went into the audience to find the most embarrassing first d ate that a woman ever had.

The winner described her worst first date experience. There was absolutely no question as to why her tale took the prize!

She said it was midwinter... Snowing and quite cold...and the guy had taken her skiing in the mountains outside Salt Lake City, Utah.

It was a day trip (no overnight). They were strangers, after all, and truly had never met before.

The outing was fun but relatively uneventful until they were headed home late that afternoon.

They were driving back down the mountain, when she gradually began to realize that she should not have had that extra latte.

They were about an hour away from anywhere with a rest room and in the middle of nowhere!

Her companion suggested she try to hold it, which she did for a while.

Unfortunately, because of the heavy snow and slow going, there came a point where she told him that he had better stop and let her go beside the road, or it would be in the front seat of his car. They stopped and she quickly crawled out beside the car, yanked her pants down and started. In the deep snow she didn't have good footing, so she let her butt rest against the rear fender to steady herself.

Her companion stood on the side of the car watching for traffic and indeed was a real gentleman and refrained from peeking. All she could think about was the relief she felt despite the rather embarrassing nature of the situation. Upon finishing however, she soon became aware of another sensation.

As she bent to pull up her pants, the young lady discovered her buttocks were firmly glued against the car's fender.

Thoughts of tongues frozen to poles immediately came to mind as she attempted to disengage her flesh from the icy metal. It was quickly apparent that she had a brand new problem due to the extreme cold.

Horrified by her plight and yet aware of the humor of the moment, she answered her date's concerns about "what is taking so long" with a reply that indeed, she was "freezing her butt off and in need of some assistance!"

He came around the car as she tried to cover herself with her sweater and then, as she looked imploringly into his eyes, he burst out laughing.

She too, got the giggles and when they finally managed to compose themselves, they assessed her dilemma.

Obviously, as hysterical as the situation was, they also were faced with a real problem. Both agreed it would take something hot to free her chilly cheeks from the grip of the icy metal!

Thinking about what had gotten her into the predicament in the first place, both quickly realized that there was only one way to get her free.

So, as she looked the other way, her first-time date proceeded to unzip his pants and pee her butt off the fender. As the audience screamed in laughter, she took the Tonight Show prize hands down.... or perhaps that should be "pants down." And you thought your first dat e was embarrassing.

Jay Leno's comment, "This gives a whole new meaning to being pissed off."

http://www.reflectionsallmine.net/archive/2006/1/68219.html

Recycling While Happy

I don't recommend this, but if you think about the figures and you like beer... well ya'll go figure.

If you had purchased $1000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000.00. With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left. If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left.

But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling refund, you would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It's called the 401-Keg Plan


Thanks to Richard for the forward.

Reflection Of The Soul

Welcome! Come on in. We'd certainly be sitting on the front porch had mother nature not decided that we needed a tad bit more cool weather here in North Carolina. Such as it is, we will just gather in the den, where the fire is already roaring and the coffee brewed. Please do make yourself at home and enjoy. We shall be talking about what tomorrow, Easter actually means.

As far back as I can remember, my mother always took all four of her children shopping for new clothes to attend church on Easter Sunday. The frilly dresses, white gloves, lacey socks and patten leather shoes were bought for my sister and I. My brothers always received a new tie, slacks, dress shirt and blazer if needed and shoes. It was common knowledge that Mother did this, installing this practice within each one of us.

Today, I took my son, all of twelve years of age shopping. Yes, of course for new clothes to wear to church tomorrow. It is Easter after all. During our drive to the mall, I informed my son that we needed to get him a shirt and tie to go with his slacks and blazer he already had. We got into a lengthy conversation about how we are to give God our very best and that meant wear our very best. This was respecting God in His house.

My son turned toward me and said " Jesus doesn't care what I wear to church mom, it's not about that." When we left the mall on our way back home he had purchased tennis shoes Etnies, a video game, and four polo shirts, one of which he will wear tomorrow to church with no tie. My mother called me tonight to ask if everyone was ready for Easter and I answered Yes Ma'am, we are.

Happy Easter to all. May you feel the spirit of our Lord, Jesus Christ and know that all who believe shall receive.

Passion ~

Driving In North Carolina

North Carolina

A man in North Carolina had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it. Then he got back in the car to wait.

A passerby studied the scene as he drove by and was so curious he turned around and went back. He asked the fellow what the problem was, and what was with the flowers.

The man with the flat tire replied, "In driving school they told me that when you break down to put flares in the front and flares in the back. I never did understand it but it does seem to work."

Thanks to the Lamplighter for passing this along.

A Southern Ladies Drink

The Mint Julep, a distinctive Southern drink, popular in the ante bellum South right up through modern times, is a mixture of water, sugar, mint leaves and, above all, bourbon whiskey. While it can be purchased today in modern drinking establishments in the South, those served there bear little resemblance to those served in the home.

The serving of this elixir to family and guests on a hot summer afternoon was, and is, accomplished with the greatest fanfare and flourish to show respect for those receiving it. It is as much of a ceremony as it is a drink. and taken seriously by their maker. Care and effort are demanded as the first ingredients of a Mint Julep... Silver mugs are often used for juleps, as some people think they frost better than glass. A glass mug with a handle may also be used so that the hands need not touch the frosted surface.

As nice as this drink is, it is best enjoyed on the front porch with good company on a lazy afternoon. So welcome to my front porch overlooking the information highway where one can relax, enjoy good company and hopefully smile a little. Hope ya'll enjoy and come back soon.