As we are all wandering the alleys! Talked to this friend today…

“Generation X is made for times like these. We were unplugged for our youth, then learned, and sort of mastered it.
We can actually surf with long hard boards!
We didn’t first find our intimacy on internet.
We still like the hard copy version of life. I’m enjoying the fast from frequency!”
A creative comrade today.
“Plus, we aren’t in competition to produce, like the boomers-our identity isn’t based on branding (like those younger) or production (like those just above us),” he went on.
We are a watershed generation! One’s meant to interpret in both directions! I added, as he continued….
“So we can enjoy our gardens. And share real tomatoes with our neighbors.
I’m actually using my real camera again and playing through warmly tubed fender amps again! I forgot, that slow glow as they warm up into sound! Maybe we are like those tubes!”
Nice to hear this fellow sharing from the gifts of his generation.
Perhaps, it is our time to shine, or warmly glow.

We’ve moved from an action film to a more silent observational film. Can we sit and just watch without being constantly entertained or stimulated. Can we become art life appreciators, while the action is on pause? Can we ourselves become better art while in the dark, so when shown on the big screen, people are blown away!

Yet, if you must watch action films right now however, i suggest prayer! There’s lots of action there this season! And lots to “do” for one another! Prayer is another great response to seasons like this.

Even if we can’t “touch” one another, we can touch one another’s hearts through praying! And even sharing on line what we see or feel for that person in prayer. Great time for that sort of unseen precious encouragement! If you don’t pray, this is a great time to start. What else, you gonna do. Why not try it! It’s genuinely helpful to you and others.

Ready? Action!

“If God’s heart socially distanced from us, we would be in big trouble! Thank God our hearts can still be close to one another, even when our bodies can’t for a while.”

Thinking of ways to keep our hearts close while we are physically apart. And ways to work on developing our hearts while apart. So here’s….

A bit more from that article (since i have more time to write, and less to counsel face to face this week) i’m working on about some responses to the times we are in, for those who now have a bit more time to read those longer entries you always wanted to finish, but just didn’t have the time….

Dear friends everywhere!

Since we have so much time to contemplate and consider the times right now! Each of us in our little monastic huts, but still together by heart….here are some opportunities i see during this particular crisis- just a few which have popped to top of my heart in prayer, during this latest global trauma: What happens when everyday is suddenly Sunday? As we have all become monks now! Or on a forced social fast….what are some opportunities for us all? Here’s a few I see.

In our little neighborhood everyone is gardening, taking walks, and greeting one another with their eyes; making little piles of extra un-needed things, in case others need them. Making sure the elderly are getting groceries, and trying to support local business in any way now possible. Here were some other ideas which came to me about what we can “work” on while in this forced social fast.

My wife and I are kinda fortunate because we already work out of the house, but many others don’t, and are having to sharply adjust their lifestyles—especially families of course, with schooling etc. But I was trying to think of things we all could benefit from this season. Here were a few which popped into my heart in prayer:

To work on be when we can’t do—not easy in “do” cultures, i know. To work on our inner lives in living hope that when we return more to the outer, we will be able to give more deeply to one another! When we can’t “do” we can work on “be” so that when we can “do” again, it will be done with more love, more true caring, and from more of our deeper real selves.

Since you asked what opportunities i see in this current situation, or what i hoped to learn, or have formed through it.

My hope is to be or become more, while i can’t “do” as much in this season; to have learned Love more deeply, when returning from this social fast, or enforced sabbath.

Everyday is now a Sunday, and we have all become monks! So let’s get monastic! Let’s not waste our night! Let’s glow in the dark, so we can shine brighter when the day returns! For the dawn is always already breaking in our hearts!

For extroverts as well as all personalities i’m sure, it’s hard to not be out with everyone! But there are opportunities! “Silence breeds good meaningful speech!” as they say! If we can be more, we will be able to do later with more depth of being! If we can be quieter, we will be able to speak the right words with more weight later. As the poets say, true poetry just between the lines. So maybe we can work more on the spaces between words this season.

It’s a forced monastic season; many are uncomfortable with Sabbath Rest, or the idea of just being. But as we “enter into that inner Rest”, we will be able to give more deeply, when the time comes! Nice advice from a friend. It may not solve all our logistic problems with finances, home schooling, delays in travel etc; but it does solve a heart problem of having meaning while we wait. In the concentration camps, as Victor Frankl pointed out, those who made it through, had to find meaning in their daily waiting to be released. Character is formed in waiting well.

What are you guys learning through these challenging times. Let’s keep collaborating in Hope and Joy!

Until we meet again friends,
Derek

PS:
We’ve moved from an action film to a more silent observational film. Can we sit and just watch without being constantly entertained or stimulated. Can we become art life appreciators, while the action is on pause? Can we ourselves become better art while in the dark, so when shown on the big screen, people are blown away!

Yet, if you must watch action films right now however, i suggest prayer! There’s lots of action there this season! And lots to “do” for one another! Prayer is another great response to seasons like this. Even if we can’t “touch” one another, we can touch one another’s hearts through praying! And even sharing on line what we see or feel for that person in prayer. Great time for that sort of unseen precious encouragement! If you don’t pray, this is a great time to start. What else, you gonna do. Why not try it! It’s genuinely helpful to you and others.

Another practical one i see, is to share our best recipes with one another, so we have food communion. Did this one last night. We have time to share other’s favorite dishes! Maybe for the first time, we can say to one another after this passes, hey i really liked that one recipe you sent me! Food is the most direct way to commune of course! Of course, we could also share our favorite books and poetry with one another, to keep the soul fed! There are all sorts of food!

What are you guys learning? Great time to collaborate in Hope and even Joy with one another, during these times of isolation. The heart is never isolated.

One other which came to me was the potential to grow intimate with our kids, despite the stress of the change of schedule. I know this one is hard, as many are having to home school now, but what if even that was an opportunity to grow in intimacy with our kids, and really tune into their learning processes and love language in a fresh way, before they return to structures of care in other houses. You guys would know much more than me on this. But, i was praying that it would be a time where families actually deepen by being constantly together. Just a thought!

Of course, for some of us extroverts, it’s hard to wait to bless others-to get back out in our social pools; but what if our blessing will be deeper once we have been more in-formed by Rest. What if we let Love grow in stillness or less activity, or different activities, so that when we return, we bring and are, more into our circles of influence and care. Let’s not waste our rest! Or time “off”!

Another fruit i’m seeing is, each person we do get to meet, becomes more singularly seen and loved. We are more thankful for “each” neighbor, in times of isolation. Even yesterday, the postman—it was such a joy to see him, even through the door, and say hi, and this too shall pass….

Another cool thing now, the opportunity to exercise our creativity for solutions to how to keep love flowing in community while separated physically. It requires inventiveness to bless one another in times like these. Let’s be creative friends in being friends! Maybe even social media will become more meaningful, with more weighty conversations in this mutually vulnerable period.

Maybe even our internet words and expressions, will take on a different density, as they become a more important medium of expressing real care in times when we can’t see one another as easily.

Another nice opportunity a friend made me think of: Great time to learn each other’s blessings and greetings when we meet. Today, my friend’s taught me theirs, from their country.

It’s important to practice actively blessing on another in times of isolation. Let’s teach one another our favorite blessings and practice by actively blessing one another.

One rabbi put it:
We are hoping that to dwell more in a social Sabbath or forced fast, will allow the other normal rhythms of our days, when they return, to become more meaningful, the food of friendship and community, tasting even better!

In short, every situation can become a spiritual growth point, or living tabernacle if we stay attuned to what matters, and walk in Peace. And though these are extremely challenging and socially disorienting times, it is possible to grow through them. To come out the other side, caring more for our neighbors, ourselves and one another. Let’s let it form us like that friends! What is formed in the night, is seen in the Day! This is certainly night for most of us, let’s glow in the dark, and then shine again in the coming days together.

Look forward to hearing your ideas friends, of potential ways to live well in these challenging times, or things your learning already through these tumultuous and sometimes isolating, or even boring for some, nights and days friends. Let’s collaborate with that Hope and even boldly with Joy, and one another, during and then after this current crisis! And let me know what you’re learning! Night gleanings from one another, are the best! Roots aren’t seen, but the tree is impossible without them.

Until we meet again-thinking and praying for you all;
Your always friend,
Derek

I come from a long line of characters!
Preachers, teachers and rambling folks with a keen sense of humor and wide open heart to serve others. Good people, my mom’s side. Lost another today! A man of real character and humor!

One of my favorite uncles passed today… one of my mom’s many brothers.
Look at the fruit of serving others for your whole life!
He was a teacher, principle, mentor and father to many, especially those who struggled to fit in. Good man, and a funny man!

My uncle and best joke teller ever. I can’t remember any time we spent together when he didn’t tell at least three jokes.

Once i went on a trip with him to Arkansas with all the living brothers, to put headstones on the graves of two children who were still born from their family. We had to stop on Toad Suck Arkansas, just for the name, and then of course stopped in on Aunt Birdie in Romance, Arkansas. Bobby just made things fun for people, and funny.

He served helping so many kids over the years, and his kids all became teachers who serve as well. Good man, bears good fruit. He did. Miss you Bobby, just wanted to hear one more joke. We have that humor Butt’s gene. I can’t remember a time with you, where you didn’t make me laugh. You’ll be greatly missed uncle Bobby!

My mom came from a family of ten (with two lost kids-still born, in addition), and they are all tall tales to be sure. And tall tellers! That family is a story, and carries stories! Homesteaders back in the day, then just about everything else since.

But also, even over holiday, i was reminded of how humorous, servant hearted and really life giving each of them are. And Bobby was my favorite uncle ever! He put the Hope in Optimism! The joke back into even hard topics like religion. I liked that he never took himself too seriously, but deeply cared for people. And lived a life of service as that whole family does! We live to help others out! Especially those who need it most.

I was privileged also to know Archie, the oldest, also intimately, as he gave me my first job on his ice cream truck. He was also an itinerant preacher, and left me his last sermon. I think i got both a love of ice cream and Jesus from him.
I was also close to George, who also had that twinkle and tender care in his eyes. Nice to grow up with a caring extended family! Still, thankful for that heritage.

My mom’s side, rocks! And they are hilarious as well.
Anyway, my mom’s family is great, and i’m thankful to be in their line and story.

Sorry to lose my uncle today. He’ll be missed. Can’t wait to make up jokes with him again down the line. He kept me on my toes.
He had cancer, and last we spoke on the phone, he said if he’d of known i was there, he would’ve stayed home. Funny guy! Joy goes a long way in the midst of suffering, and Joy implies Hope!

A life well lived keeps giving afterwards. His does! So many kids know they are loved because of him. I’m thankful to be in his line of lovers of life! And servants.

His kids are the type of people who grow up and become the best teachers of the year! As Jane is! Sending love to the family clan today, and comfort and joy in celebrating a life well lived!

Here’s what good fruit looks like, and article about his daughter, and my cousin Jane! Good men make good fruit! Praying comfort towards his immediate family today! Great folks!

From faith into trust, we grow as we go, because we start to know Him who is faithful, loving and kind towards us all…God as Sofa, Rock and the trustworthy Branch!

Liked both of these little prayers, i came across today, on increasing trust: (I like all the mixed metaphors as well! And I like thinking of God as a great Sofa to recline on; as one of the original words for trust means: “to recline”!

When you recline, you feel safe, and can release into, and trust the Sofa to hold and comfort you!) “With humans, it’s hard to trust; with God, it is essential in order to live.” Faith is the beginning, trust is the destination, as the saints often repeat! Anyway, here’s his little prayer:

“Forgive us for living as if we were walking on thin ice all the time, rather than on solid rock. Forgive us for not trusting You that is.
Also forgive us for not just reclining in You like the great Father soft loving Sofa You are God. Forgive us that is, for not trusting that The Branch, we have alighted on already forever, will never break.”

Yes, God is a great Sofa, Rock and a trustworthy Branch. Love how much these monks packed into their prayers, and came up with fresh metaphors to talk about a process of growth which is ancient! Faith into trust is the way, or life’s trajectory! Faith is a gift, but trust is our response once we know He is faithful.

From faith into trust, we grow to know, we are loved forever by Him who is faithful.

Here’s the difference between faith and trust in normal human terms. I trust that my wife is faithful.

I don’t faith that she is. Faith was at the beginning of the relationship! Now, i trust her.

It is to be the same with God. We start in faith, but end up knowing what He’s really like, so we trust Him.

Of course, as we all know, people aren’t as reliable as God. And if we’ve had experiences of unfaithfulness with people, we often transfer that into our relationship with God. But gradually, we see the difference between our experiences of other’s unfaithfulness, and our experience of God’s faithfulness!
He turns out to be the most trustworthy thing in the universe.

Faith develops towards and into trust as we walk daily with Him over time, and through life’s many seasons.

We walk from faith to trust in the spiritual journey.

To trust Him in every situation, even when we are blind is to know what He is really like. Once we know, He really is loving, good, gentle, patient etc…we come to trust Him in every single situation.
Trust is based on knowing who He is. Faith guides us into who He is; our response is trust!

One of my heroes in college was the fellow who walked a tight rope between the trade centers. That metaphor for spiritual growth often comes up for me as I pray, as it did again today:

Life with God is like a tight rope draped out over a gorgeous city (say like San Fran today). And we are tight rope walkers. As we walk (faith), we start to trust the wire, and get used to the winds, talking to the birds as they pass. Our feet steady, so we can trust and do some tricks for others. Eventually, even when the fog bank rolls in, by evening, and we can’t even see our feet, we trust God to hold the wire and steady us!

That’s the spiritual journey in a nutshell. Or from and on a tight rope-the one I’ve tried to live my own life on! (God is also the safety net, in case we fall; i’ve learned that the hard way too!)

Regardless i love walking the tight rope between worlds with Him-prayer always feels like that to me! That metaphor has never vanished, unlike those buildings I saw fall, on the other coast, long ago.

Looking at an old painting of the prodigal son story today….
So kind, the gleam and glisten in the father’s eyes, when his son came home….tenderness in waiting!
The father figure in the prodigal son story! Yep, that’s how The Father is, always eager to see us! Ready to welcome us home!
A God like that makes sense in terms of what we really need in life.
Good to have the right picture of the father in that great story!
I try to imagine myself as each character in that old story! But the father character catches my hearts eye the most.
I often think about whether the son sent postcards from the road while wasting his inheritance.
Regardless, the father was waiting excitedly for us to come back home.
Great painting! True story.

My translation of Psalm 51:

I suck repeatedly, but God loves me regardless. I’ll trust in His Love despite my performance, and despite my own constantly increasing insight into my own stupidity! Amen.

(this again is the poem he wrote after he slept with another man’s wife, and then had the man, basically killed)

Combined with David’s other great poem (139), the true “song of myself from God’s perspective” (how to celebrate identity while not being egotistical!)—which restates as:
Wow God everything you made is amazing, i must be also amazing, as we are your best poetry.

From those two songs together, you get a good sense of how confession and being loved work in tandem!

How to say, i suck, and yet, i’m also royal somehow, included in the conversation between the Son and His Father……
just some more thoughts from devotional readings today! be blessed friends.

Living from the mountain, with Paris and Ireland and every city park I’ve ever loved, somehow within me now, as I follow the dream of poetry which runs down the mountain into the valley of forgetfulness, where Jesus works. But where we forget the mountain, where we really live. My middle name means the Mount, because that is where I’m from. I go back often to the mountain to recall my Source. But mostly i live along the stream of poetry running from the mountain. This stream is living word water, and is the brook David wrote of—the one he was lead by-those still waters. Mine are less still, more like a babbling brook, but they are fresh, and carry re-freshment into the valley where we all forget our names.
This week i went again to the top of a mountain—as i love mountains, ridges, and rivers most! Parks maybe next, because all the people are just being themselves in parks.
It’s good to know your repeated or recurring metaphors in life. The places you go, which remind you of your real self.
They also reveal which parts of heaven you already live in.
Noticing your metaphors also helps keep you on your path, the path prepared beforehand to be your way.
I also the in between—airports, train stations and any place which reminds me of pilgrimage. That’s a big part of my identity. Most of my best poems occur between here and there. Like even this little meditation on knowing your core metaphors in life. Where you meet God, tends to reveal who you really are.
Sometimes God asks me to hang out in places which are less like me, just to be with and get to know His Son more. I don’t mind deserts, but I’m a green mountain myself. But sometimes I learn more about Him in the wilderness spaces. But He always takes me back to the mountain, the high places, the vistas—and rivers ridges and rims are my home!

Great books remind us that the mountain and melody is still there. So in the valley of forgetfulness where we mostly all live, it is good to read, to pray, to listen each day. But we also sometimes must return up the mountain to remember our names, so that we can bless others in theirs. Too much valley creates despair; too much mountain perhaps so much rarefied ecstasy that we are no longer useful to humanity. There’s a dance, or a climb and then a walk or run down a hillside beside a stream of poetry we offer to others. Or, at least that’s how it is for me!

Each of us has a spiritual landscape within us. We often discover that, by the external landscapes we are drawn to in life. I am drawn to mountains, rivers, parks and gardens, cities and artists.

Our inner identities are often revealed to us by what we are drawn to in the outer world. We each have recurring metaphors, which at first are “out there” but as we get older, become more internalized.

Mountains, beautiful poetic people, parks, rivers, and ridges are some of mine. Like thinking about finding my internal landscape by looking at what I’m drawn to around me.

Sometimes we have to return to these core metaphors in life to recall our names, and remind us of your story. I often trace the poetry stream back up to the top of the mountain to recall mine.

What are your recurring metaphors in life, and what do they say about who you are? Which places or things are you drawn to for refreshment and remembering your core self or identity? Those places probably symbolize your “home above” or it’s texture. What your spaces in heaven are like. There is a continuum down here. Jesus always will take you to those places to remind you of who you are, and how He made you. At times, He also guides you elsewhere to stretch you, or help you appreciate other’s lands. But it’s good to know your own!

In the valley of forgetfulness, where most of live, it’s hard to remember our names. One way is to remember the central metaphors which you keep returning to in your life. Do you return to the sea, the mountain, the rivers, a park, a dog walk, coffee house (all these say something about who you are)–where do you feel most yourself? That probably is part of your “internal forever identity” as the monks call it–that is where you feel most yourself, is probably a symbol of who you really are.

For example, my most overt ones are Paris, San Fran, and ireland, and specifically their rivers, mountains and parks. This says much about who i am. I like rarefied places. Places of high vista, and places where rivers are flowing, places which flow between cities and nations and rural and urban, connecting things, carrying hope’s words, and parks, places where people de-mask from their days are just join the trees children and dogs in being. These places for me, are where i feel the most myself. Knowing these central metaphors helps me live as my poem and pray authentically. They help me recall my name, when i feel lost.

It helps me if I forget my way (ironically, my name means way, so you would think that wouldn’t be a problem; it’s good to know your name, my literal name is way, mountain, and servant–so the way to the mountain who serves), to return to these sorts of places. They have become “spiritual” to me in this sense. They symbolize and I think, participate in the spiritual reality to which they point. In heaven, i live i places like these already. And I even think, these spaces participate already in that realm.

But the practical, for most people, is they can’t “remember where they are from!” I mean REALLY from. Which means, they can’t recall their names. And in the valley of forgetfulness where most of us live, it’s easy to forget our real names, and then one another’s. When we do, the world is just something we use to try to desperately “get home”. But, we are closer to home than we think daily!

But home is always here, identity and purpose always near! The Sacred mountain, we are always living near is just a stream or park, or walk away! We just must trace the stream of living word, which always sounds like our most loved self, up the hill towards The Source. If this sounds too esoteric. I just mean, if you like baseball games, traveling, walking in nature, it probably says something about who you really are, and your pathway in life. Find those recurring metaphors, and you’ll start to hear your name whispered. Many of mine are geographical, as i like travel–mountains, rivers, ridges and parks-are a few of the places i hear my name in.

And as i get older, those places have gotten more internalized in me. I don’t have to be in them all the time, to remember my name, as i did when young! As we get older, we know what we like, as they say, but also we don’t have to have the outer experience to know the inner! I really think as we get older, we internalize our favorite metaphors. If we like to fish, we know that as part of who we are, not just what we “do”!

Last night, at dusk (my favorite time of day) in a nearby park, could’ve been any park, in any major city, but it was one i know well, tree by tree. I was watching dogs get their last run in before evening turned fully to night, and there was a moment where i just felt us all like a great tree of life through generations, still playing with our kids and the squirrels, expiring the day, and our frustrations together. Young lovers under the trees, leaning far too deeply already into one another, the lonely french lady who only has her dog to walk now, the cafe workers who just got off, and desperately need a bottle of wine, and a poet or two like me, just watching us all–anyway; at that moment, i remembered, i am one who likes to just sit with the daily theater of life and appreciate how beautiful it is. That park reminded me I was a seer and be-er; one who likes to just resonate with things deeply. To be with the trees in wonder, and the kids, and tired parents, and restless dogs…that park reminded me who i am.

That’s how our central metaphors work in life. They remind of and lean us towards, our forever or eternal names, which always are waiting to break into our days.

One way back towards the mountain where our names reside and are Sourced, is to trace the stream of living word uphill. And there is always a stream of life nearby to guide you back to the meaningful path you were born to live on!

For instance, i often return to San Fran and stay in an old art farm house on a very high hill. That metaphor is one I easily can wear. The space helps me remember who i am, where I’m at, and where I’m heading on my journey! I feel at home in high places but which are grounded in nature and very authentic, and have a story. Those places remind me of my own story. We need these recurring central metaphors in life to remind us.

If you are nomadic, all those places you traveled to, came to know and love. They are within you now, and were always hidden in Him, as your part of heaven. The world is a metaphor, and it participates in what is forever simultaneously.