BE quick* - “jump in” listening!

(like God*!)

---

If I will not be quick to listen then,

and now as well, I'll turn into A.I. - 

dispensing facts and stories in a blend 

to keep attention on me as I try

to not bore people, yet they’ll fall asleep,

or walk away, from boredom or disgust

at lack of listening and hearing deep-

-ly those around me, brought by God, from dust

but breathed into by YaHWeH God himself..

the spirit of an oversee-er who

can influence for more disease or health 

within this world around, and Others too.

And what’s the thing that stands out in YaHWeH*?

I think it was “he IS, he IS*” - not “WAS”,

although he was as well, as people say

and always will be*. And that’s just be’coz..

He didn’t just create, he keeps it here, 

within his mind and purposes: he keeps

his word once he has given it. It’s queer, 

he binds himself, is faithful. Yet still weeps

or deeply grieves, when children go off track, 

and doesn’t just unwind it all while one

of them remains who would perceive a lack

of faithfulness in father (or in son).

He’s bound to his own children such that he

is quick to listen, to expend himself.

And slow to speak, and “slow to anger”. We,

in growing up like him, come to our health..

---

Footnotes:

k* - “In view of what he has made us then, dear brothers, let every man be quick to listen but slow to use his tongue, and slow to lose his temper. For man’s temper is never the means of achieving God’s true goodness.

21-25 Have done, then, with impurity and every other evil which touches the lives of others, and humbly accept the message that God has sown in your hearts, and which can save your souls. Don’t I beg you, only hear the message, but put it into practice; otherwise you are merely deluding yourselves. The man who simply hears and does nothing about it is like a man catching the reflection of his own face in a mirror. He sees himself, it is true, but he goes on with whatever he was doing without the slightest recollection of what sort of person he saw in the mirror. But the man who looks into the perfect mirror of God’s law, the law of liberty (or freedom), and makes a habit of so doing, is not the man who sees and forgets. He puts that law into practice and he wins true happiness.

26 If anyone appears to be “religious” but cannot control his tongue, he deceives himself and we may be sure that his religion is useless.

27 Religion that is pure and genuine in the sight of God the Father will show itself by such things as visiting orphans and widows in their distress and keeping oneself uncontaminated by the world” (James 1:19-27)

H*  - “God said to Moses, “I am that I am.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” [15]  God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The LORD – the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob – has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’ [16]  “Go and bring together the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, appeared to me – the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – saying, “I have attended carefully to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt, [17]  and I have promised that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ (Exodus 3:14-17 see especially the footnotes (a) in vs 14 of the NET version)

d* - God’s message to his people in their suffering: “ The Lord said, “I have surely seen[a] the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.[b] 8 I have come down[c] to deliver them[d] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and spacious …” (Exodus 3:7-8)

S* & r* - An in-family announcement given to Moses: “The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the LORD by name. [6]  The LORD passed by before him and proclaimed: “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, [7]  keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children and children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:5-7 NET etc)

---

kids camping at our place

Please God help us to see the stables that 

you have prepared for your kids to stay in

with animals of yours whose king laid/ sat

in Mary's arms and manger with hay in..

 

My son ...

...dispise not the Lord’s discipline*

---

As “of the earth”, and also “of the wind, 

the breath or spirit of the very God”, 

amphibious, or hybrid is not sin

depending on relationships we’ve got

with both the heavens* and the Earth beneath 

our feet. For we could walk bowed down*, or crawl,

or lower still, could slither underneath

the legs of all, but we’re made to stand tall: 

we walk, skip, jog, dance, even run erect, 

yet need to bend our knees to move ahead. 

These oft repeated practices* help set

our whole selves to the right  spirit, as said

or maybe intimated, just before, 

we didn’t make ourselves (nor all the Earth).

We are not over all, we’re under more

than just the God who gives us breath since birth..

the other sons of God, not of the Earth,

right now are ruling us, until we grow

up big enough to come out* (a new birth?)

and then be ruling/ judging them; or so

we’re told in bits that slip out now & then*.

But habits* where we prostrate ourselves here

before the only wise God, help defend

us from that kind of pride that has no fear,

respect of God’s word to declare his will;

and listen carefully, to understand

but going that much more, & further still,

to act it out on Earth* - as is the plan*.

---

Footnotes

ne* - my son despise not the Lord's (your father’s) discipline, (fitness-regime, teaching, training)... (Proverbs 3:1-17 ff) and “Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts. [24] Never say anything that isn't true. Have nothing to do with lies and misleading words. [25] Look straight ahead with honest confidence; don't hang your head in shame. [26] Plan carefully what you do, and whatever you do will turn out right. [27] Avoid evil and walk straight ahead. Don't go one step off the right way.”  (Proverbs 4:23-27 GNBUK)

ns* - “the heavens” seem to be the seed dimension where core attitudes and models hover, not (fully) embodied yet on Earth… but the plan is “as in heaven, so on Earth” and we are portals meant to carry out and help bring about that will, in that way (of HESED love).

wn* - remember that lady who walked bent over who came into the Synagogue in front of Jesus, and what he did for her, and said about her? (Luke 13:10-17)

es* - it appears to me that oft repeated practices, become habits, of our whole selves (heart, soul, mind, and strength), trained body, trained emotions and thus trained mind… or in the words of a wiser one: “Without the aid of trained emotions the intellect is powerless against the animal organism.” C.S. Lewis in The Abolition of Man.

us* - Psalm 8; plus “the law” “given by angels” Acts 7:53), being a tutor to bring us to (and then help us to grow up to become like, the) Christ (Gal 3:23-4:11).

ut* - as in Romans 8:17-27 

en* - “we will judge the angels” (Paul to early Christians - 1 Cor 6:2-3)

ts* - like those spoken of by Jesus (or by God, or by Jesus’ little brother, speaking about his big brother, to his other dear brothers) to his disciples (disciplined ones) “watch & pray”, and “when you fast…”; “when you give alms”; “This is my beloved son; Listen to him”; “be slow to speak”; “be slow to anger” (Mark 8:31-9:13; James 1:19-27), … etc…or see Peter’s ladder (2Pet1:3-11) etc..

th* - again  “as in heaven, so on Earth”... our longing, requests, and our own actions (in partnership with God as our senior partner) are to be that the reign of God might come on Earth, as it is in heaven..

an* - “the plan”, might well be summarised in the 4 words of the title of a Christian Ethics text-book which I read bits of years ago. Its “thesis” - that the basis of what some might call Christian Ethics, others might say it is the direction all the narratives, commands, pointers,  reminders & encouragement are trying to take us (by hook or by crook). It could even be said to be an inexorable “Law” [{given Jesus’s use of it to both enemies and family when he said “you are just like your father, the devil, he was a murderer from the beginning…” (John), and “be … just as your father in heaven is …”(Matthew)}. I say inexorable, but this doesn’t preclude either that there is an off-ramp or an on-ramp, these two ramps are… existential facts (which are also metaphors for existential choices), and they are…  ? (hint: Jesus mentioned one to Nicodemus)]. The four words are: “like father, like son”. Other idiomatic phrases that communicate something like this might well be “a chip off the old block”, or “the spitting image of his/ her old man/ woman”.

---

“deep” LIFE:

understanding and love!

---

My love and my peace come finally from God, 

my worth and energy, thriving, from him.

And when you think of it, it would be odd 

if it were otherwise, for we'd grow dim

when we weren’t recognised, accepted or,

acknowledged by the others - light might fade.

But we are heirs of Christ with his “much more”,

who conquers by the love-light God has made

to shine, and when it’s dark  the light shines on,

it travels through the void quite easily. 

It travels light! And then, by God, it’s gone.

It’s sent! And then its smile (uncheesily)

is seen on faces where it lands, the truth

is that it has direction - always OUT,

into the dark, with energy of youth,

determined toddler, but without the pout!

Its energy goes with it where it's sent.

In that way it’s still “of” the  source it’s “from”.

It’s light, by nature. Light itself is meant..

- and shows up ev'ry-thing it lights upon,

but doesn't have much “push” itself, more “let” -

the situation now be clearly seen,

or understood, perceived, not to forget

so easily, and light is rarely mean

or heavy handed. Still, we know the sun,

from its distance to Earth, sources our life,

for plants store photons, sent & too begun,

& give us food and breath, in “all our strife*”.

---

Footnote

e* - “all our strife under the sun” repeated phrase in Qoheleth (e.g. Ecclesiastes 1:3;9; 2:17; 4:1).

---

The exception to the rule (of late)...

return to the beginning (love & faithfulness kiss)

---

Well what was happening to my old Dad 

and what was happening within him too 

when I was with him there for just a tad 

a week ago I saw what he could do

when he was not in panic, manic mode,

but sharing life in weakness and in pain;

he couldn't talk so loud or  long, he rode

the wave, confused, determined. Then again..

his son did not step in much to adjust

the outcomes, or to stop him pestering.

The son was honouring, as well he must

be if he’s not un-grateful, un-fitting.

So both, in strength and love of God relied,

and loveliness related in this world -

a little piece of heaven was espied.

Oh God I choose for that where I am hurled

by you the ever trusting, faithful one.

I, and my Dad with strength of God of love,

will learn to trust in you as your own son

who’d grow like his own father who’s above,

below, around, before & aft-

-ter too. Your wisdom & your faithfulness

we’ll use, aspire to (though we are daft

and often draw the wrong conclusions). Bless

me farther on, and farther in to you,

to grow old and to die well. God you showed

the later (& the former). May we too

fulfill your word to us, so you’ve not “blowed*”. 

---

Footnotes

d* - blowed up like a baloon, or just “hot air” blowing out in useless, meaninglessness.

---

friend's @ a work related conference…

---

Yes, God we thank you that you've sent them there, 

as really doing things that should be done, 

and part of that's the friendship that's aware

of bigger friend who's here with ev'ryone!

---

!

!

holy carelessness

of the eternal NOW…

---

In tastes I've had of this (or in my dreams)

when this makes sense, describes a state that’s real..

the most important thing right then, it seems

is no longer “get ready”, so the feel

or focus, is not future, but the fun

of living life right now, in right rela-

tion with all those around here “under sun*”;

or as the Christ’s Ambassador might say:

“as much as is now possible, as far

as things depend on you, that is from your…

your side of your relationships, you are

responsible to live at peace, and more,

to now allow for thriving to be birthed,

not just with friends, but enemies as well*.”

He got that Way of living on God’s Earth, 

developing relationships ’gainst hell,

from you know who, who was himself the true…

true model of all that he said, himself.

So as that Paul himself was wont to do,

I bow before this Master of True Health.

And understand, in bowing down (by choice -

not in self-serving weighing of future

recompense or payments back in poise

or fashion then accorded) - Here we are…

right in the holy carelessness of that

Eternal Now, where God himself - my breath,

my food & drink, quite freely comes to bat

in partnership as blasphemous as death.

---

n* - life “under the sun” is a term used by Eclessiastes to refer to life on Earth as we know it, without much knowledge of & therefore reference to heaven

l* - Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them… . If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.(Romans 12:14-21)

---

cadarva "larva"

(or "from above" Love)

---

There is a chance for me - ’coz every cell, 

within my body has your written word

of life and love, and wisdom, who can tell -

your great amazing way is like absurd-

-ly good, and wonderful, above our “might”.

Your ways beggar belief.

’ don’t have a clue!

I’ll trust you even though I'm not too bright,

’n it  doesn’t honour you much when I do.

But here I am just trusting your good word.

I think that’s good and right, because you keep

your word, and that’s what  keeps all hell deterred,

along with death and pain - what makes folk weep…

And keeping your own word’s your kind of love,

not as a needy “I desire..” thing,

but my real needs fulfill, as “from above”

you look, and see, and know. You are the king!

The king of love, provision, & request

(from me, for my own good, to help me sing,

bring gladness, pleasure, power, and the best

of disciplines that come from treasuring). 

Your ways aren’t of the dirty predator*.

But disciplined yourself, you help me learn

good manners and to think (as editor*)

before I speak, or act, or welcome, spearne,

allow others to “do their thing” dispense,

with me, to me, or me to them as well

(somewhat, because we have some influence).

You bring the smell of heaven, not of hell!

---

Footnotes

*r - Thinking of the models of an honourable man and woman, enmeshing each other in all of their lives, each for the advancement, development and growth of the other, as a good marriage becomes over time -

compared to & contrasted with -

the abusive use of another when they have less power or influence, portrayed by men like Jeffrey Epstein with his massage payments and his Island, affecting women from the USA and England, and Monsieur (Dominique) Pelicot with his drugging, sedation, and hiring out of his wife in France;

& their methods being contrasted with the methods of a very powerful creator who only interrupts our rulership when asked to do so. e.g. the Psalmist’s words, followed by the prophet Isaiah’s words spoken back, from God to his people:

“Teach me your ways in such a way that I will be enabled  to, and in actuality will, go in them.. (PLW after Psalm 86:11 etc)

or 

O LORD, teach me how you want me to live! Then I will obey your commands. Make me wholeheartedly committed to you! 

(Psalm 86:11 NET, for Hebrew and others, link to Other English translations) 

“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?’ declares the Lord. ‘These are the ones I look on with favour: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.

[4] so I also will choose harsh treatment for them and will bring on them what they dread. For when I called, no-one answered, when I spoke, no-one listened. They did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.’ [5] Hear the word of the Lord, you who tremble at his word; ‘Your own people who hate you, and exclude you because of my name, have said, “Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy!” Yet they will be put to shame.

[10] ‘Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. [11] For you will feed and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance.’ [12] For this is what the Lord says: ‘I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will feed and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. [13] As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.’ [14] When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the Lord will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes.

[18] ‘And I, because of what they have planned and done, am about to come and gather the people of all nations and languages, and they will come and see my glory. [19] ‘I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations – to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations. [20] And they will bring all your people, from all the nations, to my holy mountain in Jerusalem as an offering to the Lord – on horses, in chariots and wagons, and on mules and camels,’ says the Lord. ‘They will bring them, as the Israelites bring their grain offerings, to the temple of the Lord in ceremonially clean vessels. [21] And I will select some of them also to be priests and Levites,’ says the Lord. [22] ‘As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,’ declares the Lord, ‘so will your name and descendants endure.” (Isaiah 66:2, 4-5, 10-14, 18-22 NIVUK)

---

at work in the ruins

(in this world, but not of it..)

---

Oh what a privilege to share new life

with people who will work along with who

made this whole Universe, with all its strife,

and complex e-co-sys-tem-ic stuff too.

And how’d’e-do ’is greeting -  with a “Hi!”?

o’ ’lo? which must go up or down to reach

each person. I must pull my head in, try

to not just entertain or even teach

but be “of benefit” to all, in all

I do and say (and even think) towards

the people I will contact, to not fall

into the habits of machines, but gods

who, though they're foetal, and not even “out”,

but still “in secret”, inside this great womb,

can start to make some choices - not to pout,

or tantrum! They’re part of the  anti-doom!

So, yup! There’s always trouble in this world*.

And we’ll be quite involved in it, right at

the centre. Often times we have been hurled 

right at it; God’s response team’s sent for that!

For crucifixion trouble, maybe Jo-

seph, with his “first-born son” foll-ow-ing sure.

And many others later with Nero.

For Peter all its horror was ignored.

For being thrown to Lions, there was Dan.

Then cent’ries later “Christ-i-ans” in Rome.

For dog trouble: St Patrick, Paul, (a man

the other year) in Thailand, Steve at home.

---

Footnotes

*  “...you may find your peace in me. You will find trouble in the world—but, never lose heart, I have conquered the world!”” (Jesus, to his disciples; John 16:33, and see other translations here, especially the NET’s footnote on Thlipsis)

---

---

Newly

imagined!

---

Oh God, to learn to think, in truth, help me

to do the practice, needed to assess,

to be in touch with your reality,

and less affected by appearances*!

You’ve given me the tools of trade I need,

to be a human - being here on Earth

in eco-system* which can fairly bleed,

in body* with changed blood-flow at its birth.

And offered then to share your wisdom too,

in fact it seems you’re very keen to. So

not hanging back, not scared of what we’ll do,

you’re lovingly determined t’help us grow.

And your determination to just bless,

I rarely see on Earth these days except

in settings of a fam’ly, where duress

is not just leaving angry folk bereft.

That real determined love that "digs in" for

the long haul, and for keeping its own word,

and not ’coz its desires made that call,

but ’coz it chooses to - in that absurd

‘ly supra-rational, but human way,

that doesn’t come to us from lower down,

or modelling, as A.I. does, or  say

the hemisphere* that’s left, without the crown.

But as we learn from more mat-u-re ones,

what love and patience is, and humour too,

we grow more human as we play for fun,

and dance instead of march. And ‘old’ grows new*!

---

Footnotes

s* “You are righteous, O Lord, and your judgments are right.” (Psalms 119:137); “You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. [16] You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not stand idly by when the blood of your neighbor is at stake: I am the Lord. [17]  “You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. [18] You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord. (Leviticus 19:15-18); “Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.” (John 7:24)

m* “ecosystem” can stand for our Earth, seen as a whole Ecosystem, with all its interdependence, and diverse beings and interrelatedness, OR our individual bodies, with on average, its 29-36 trillion very varied human cells, and who knows if it is a similar amount of bacteria, fungal, protozoan, and algal, not to mention nematodes and flukes, & insects etc.. that relate together within each body 

y* “body” can mean each individual human body ( which may be seen as a whole universe that each of us rule over in a god-like supreme-being way, OR ELSE the body of the human family, or for followers of Jesus, as I am, the body of Christ, both of which are made of a much smaller, though still a large number, of individuals. Each of these labelled groupings having lost much of its working towards a bigger common goal or order of being.

e* the left hemisphere of the single (two hemisphered) human brain, that relates data to its virtual reality or internal model of the world that thereby allows to to understand complex events and predict likely future ones, but which also needs to be able to be overridden or vetoed by the other ("right") hemisphere which relates us to the actual world at large.

w* in the words of Yeshua’s Ambassador (Apostle) Paul: “So we do not lose heart. Even though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. For our slight, momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen, for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NRSV)

---

Growing up!

(starts with bowing down)

---

Dear Father, I am sixty six years old.

So now, in one more year I can retire.

Thus by most counts, I wouldn’t be too bold

to think that I’m a grown up. I’m a sire.

I’ve sired 6 living offspring on this Earth.

And have begun to learn to love from you.

But in that sense, I've hardly grown since birth.

And “Quite Mature” ’s a title I'd eschew.

Because  I'm learning how to tell the truth.

And hearing my own self-talk now I know

what you have always known - you don’t need proof!

Compared to your age, I'm still foetal. So

this makes sense of what Jesus said about

the reign of God belonging only to 

those who are little children. None are louts

or adolescents, adults with the view 

of centuries, millenia or such.

I have to start my growth by learning truth

in inmost parts, in spirit*, heart’s own hutch

for living treasure, inside my tent “roof”.

So as a little child I call you now: 

My Abba, Daddy, truest one who knows:

what ever’s worth the knowing or somehow,

whoever will be loving, where love grows

within them as a plant grows in the soil.

The seed of God’s been planted in this soul*

and as it grows the ground is like to boil,

& give birth then, a crop that makes more whole.

---

Footnotes

t* “Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me… .

[17] My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalms 51:10-12, 17 NIVUK)

l* “No-one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” (1 John 3:9 NIVUK);  “For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord endures for ever.’ And this is the word that was preached to you. (1 Peter 1:23-25 NIVUK); “Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.” (2 Peter 1:4 NIVUK)

---

 

with your spirit

(fill me - as your balloon)

---

Oh God you are both wise and good, and know

me well (with even hairs upon my head).

Your essence, attitude, motives that show

in all your acting and withholding, said

to be the spirit of the only God,

well of the one defining what “God” means;

the first, and primal, pioneer who’s got

defining rights, for love’s mind often teems

with possibilities that multiply

(and exponentially), till out of sight.

You can not hold it down. Well they did try!

We're talking here of light on a dark night…

It’s out before you put the lid back on, 

its oscillations are too numerous

to count in one life time, and then it's gone

and as it goes, it makes more universe

and fills it up with possibilities,

keeps on allowing us to more become

in line with all your spirit’s hopes and dreams

and wishes, which when spoken don’t make numb;

or do but in such do’s communicate 

the love that’s underneath on which we thrive.

The love that swallows impotence and hate,

and knows the purpose that we are alive.

And IS it too, because we are offspring

(the tiny foetal “children”) of Yahweh.

He is the reason that we truly sing,

or celebrate, or speed up, or delay*.

---

Footnotes

y* - e.g. creative love leads people to be (& to choose along with it, to become more) quick (to listen), to be slow (to speak), and to be slow (to anger)... (See James 1: 19-27)

---

His word is MORE..

(both more personal*, & more enduring.. 

..than the Universe)

---

Oh Lord you’ve given us such lovely gifts

and promises*, all backed up by your word.

The presence of yourself’s at top, and lifts

us up to heights, but handles "down"  absurd-

ly well. When “Lifted up*” as Nathan said

the son of David would in future be,

to reign as king un-ending. Jesus shed

another meaning, more macabre that he

then understood [in light of history’s

developments in keeping human slaves,

instilling fear as chief of strategies

to keep the status quo, so none behaves

in disobedience to master’s will*

(that’s culture’s dictates as it does its job,

and those who found they’d rule the culture ‘til

they thought that with no pain they'd get “on top”)].

While he, as little child, lived underneath

his father’s will, completely doing all

his father willed, though clearly he’d bequeath

his own desires, quite openly, to fall

in line, behind, in ways his father led.

His naked motive pow’r would not coerce

but only love, ‘first God, then like -” he said, 

- "his neighbour", act to help them choose, disperse-

-sing more the scent of heaven on the earth.

to live a higher life in partnership

with such creative love that gave us birth

and gives all* “goods” & services yet s(h)ipped.

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Footnotes

al* - after writing this, I said to my ~5yr old  granddaughter something like "God is the most amazing person I've ever met!" to which she responded with patronage and a twinkle in her eye for this chance to fix up Grand-Dad's ignorance: "God isn't a person! He's just a god!"; to which I responded... "Ah, he must be a person! - because we are his children!"

s* - “He has by his own action given us everything that is necessary for living the truly good life, in allowing us to know the one who has called us to him, through his own glorious goodness. It is through him that God’s greatest and most precious promises have become available to us men, making it possible for you to escape the inevitable disintegration that lust produces in the world and to share in God’s essential nature.” (from 2 Peter 1:1-11)

d* - The prophet Nathan’s words to King David, from God: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” (from 2 Samuel 7:1-17); and then Jesus’s prophecy/ commentary on his own future, being raised or lifted-up “Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. [32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” [33] He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. [34] The crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” ” (from John 12:23-50 plus Mark  ch8, ch9, & ch10)

will* - for an indication of how crucifixion was developed by  the Empires, societies, and cultures of the (Mede’s & Persians, Phoenicians,  and) Romans to keep order in their realm(s) see the first chapter of Tom Holland’s book “Dominion”, from which book this quote is given: “A myth, though, is not a lie. At its most profound—as Tolkien, that devout Catholic, always argued—a myth can be true. To be a Christian is to believe that God became man and suffered a death as terrible as any mortal has ever suffered. This is why the cross, that ancient implement of torture, remains what it has always been: the fitting symbol of the Christian revolution. It is the audacity of it—the audacity of finding in a twisted and defeated corpse the glory of the creator of the universe—that serves to explain, more surely than anything else, the sheer strangeness of Christianity, and of the civilization to which it gave birth. Today, the power of this strangeness remains as alive as it has ever been. It is manifest in the great surge of conversions that has swept Africa and Asia over the past century; in the conviction of millions upon millions that the breath of the Spirit, like a living fire, still blows upon the world; and, in Europe and North America, in the assumptions of many more millions who would never think to describe themselves as Christian. All are heirs to the same revolution: a revolution that has, at its molten heart, the image of a god dead on a cross.” (Tom Holland, Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, quoted in Good reads quotes by Tom Holland) & “In a city famed for its wealth, Paul proclaimed that it was the ‘low and despised in the world, mere nothings’,34 who ranked first.  Among a people who had always celebrated the agon, the contest to be the best, he announced that God had chosen the foolish to shame the wise, and the weak to shame the strong. In a world that took for granted the hierarchy of human chattels and their owners, he insisted that the distinctions between slave and free, now that Christ himself had suffered the death of a slave, were of no more account than those between Greek and Jew.” (Tom Holland, Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind)

all* - all good gifts [e.g. “But every good endowment that we possess and every complete gift that we have received must come from above, from the Father of all lights, with whom there is never the slightest variation or shadow of inconsistency. By his own wish he made us his own sons through the Word of truth that we might be, so to speak, the first specimens of his new creation.”(James 1:12-27 esp vv 17-18)]; but, our experience of the good things in this world starts with our birth, followed by a “re-birth”, since a birth “from above” is also another birth, a second birth, or a new birth (coming, as it does, in time, after our ‘first birth’ our ‘old birth’, as Nicodemus rightly indicated, - from our mother’s womb). [e.g. “But when the kindness of God our saviour and his love towards man appeared, he saved us—not by virtue of any moral achievements of ours, but by the cleansing power of a new birth and the moral renewal of the Holy Spirit, which he gave us so generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour. The result is that we are acquitted by his grace, and can look forward to inheriting life for evermore. This is solid truth.” (Titus 3:5-7)]

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love's faces

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You are the source of all the love I’ve known.

And all the food in this world, I believe,

is your creative love displayed and shown 

in avenues of edibility.

Veluptuous and varied: sweet and sour,

strong and crisp, and crunchy, bubbly too.. ,

can all be lovely gifts at different hours

or contexts. For you know us through & through.

Responsive to initiatives from me,

You are: my senior, wiser, & more a-

-ble, seeking partnership as way to be.

The only thing unmoving, clearly sta-

-ble, is your HESED, strong and pure, deter-

mined, minded to grow me to be like you,

that your creative love be so inter-

preted,  on Earth in ev’rything I do.

And all the gifts you've poured this way I see

are gifts of fam’ly love to grow kids strong.

And given for the best to grow in me

and you, and help us too, to both “belong”..

be long in suffering - that good may come 

(not only when it brings pleasure to me)

but even when it breaks my heart, ..& some

things don’t feel good; I'll stay and over-see 

that all is good (again) for thriving of 

the whole she-bang, and which we will be long-

ing for its good to multiply: “tov tov”

as partnership is harmonized in song.

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