― Bono

of the knowing
this is something -
(something more than we pretend)
the way is still
and here we are again
courting everafter
as the price for letting go
roads to gather
dust -
into our soul

patterns into stories
wishes into lies -
as songs to sing
(if e’er the lights go out)
held against the southern red
melted into clay -
secrets
spun with words
to kiss away

choices made
and losses lost -
burdens floating free
became a star
and there (I sew) your name
warm into my wilderness
breath against my sting
flowers float
(as silence)
into wing

. . .

The shepherd was generally equipped with both a staff and a rod.

The rod in biblical times was a two to four foot club used for defending the sheep from predators and robbers. It was worn in their belt and may resemble a walking stick but was a weapon or tool to provide safety for the flock. The staff was used to hold the sheep during shearing and for gentle correction or re-directing. The hook at the top end of the staff was fit around the neck or head of the sheep to re-route them. At the bottom end of the staff was a spoon-shaped “shovel”. If the sheep wandered a bit from the herd, the shepherd would scoop up a bit of mud or dirt and flick it at the sheep that had drifted to catch its attention; hey the rest of the group is over here, there is safety within the herd. The staff and rod also represented the head of household, the leader and family representative. Numbers 17:1-6

Part of tending and caring for ones animals is providing them with good pasture. Not only for nutritional opportunity, but predator and territory conditions needed to be considered as well. If one of the herd should fall down an embankment, unable to get back onto pasture, the rest of the herd would stand around, looking down at the lost sheep, helpless in its aid. The alert shepherd notices that the sheep are not grazing and have gathered near a hazardous section of the landscape and knows immediately what is needed and comes to the rescue. Another interesting fact about a lost sheep is that it will lie down helplessly, and refuse to budge. It is in need of the shepherds intervention, yet is too stubborn and lost to be able to act on its own or to even realize the danger that it is in. Then, as the day comes to an end, each sheep passes through the shepherds legs so that he can run his hands over them, checking for any ticks, wounds or any other harmful conditions.

With this understanding, I can relate to David’s comfort and trust as expressed in Psalm 23:4. I easily and vividly imagine the Lord in all of the functions of a good shepherd. The care, concern, safety and protection that the sheep experience while under his care. The care and concern of a shepherd not only illustrates God’s love, but serve as examples of the natural care and nurture that we should practice not just at home, but within our fellowship and community as well. His rod for protection from harm, satan and other outward threats and His staff for a physical and spiritual gentle guidance and direction that leads us to His Word and ultimately to Him.

Luke 15:1-7 Jesus describes that a penitent sinner pleases God more than a ceremonially correct Pharisee. He specifies His pleasure and pride, “Rejoice with Me, for I have found My sheep which was lost!” when His own return to Him. There are many of us, who are called His own. The world holds countless “sheep” who are lost and need shepherding. It’s a family effort, gathering as many together as possible. It’s our mandated job in fact, He has commanded that we do this. Mark 16:14-18.

Here is Matthew 28:18-20 for us to consider, probably with repentance: “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 20 Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Note the heart-shape they have made as they
“come home”.

So, let’s get out there, with love and in obedience, and put our shepherding skills that we have learned from our Holy Heavenly Father into good use; for the furthering of His kingdom before all opportunity is lost! There are so many out there (like us) who need the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth! I would not be able to bear it; His inability to say, “Well done good and faithful servant.” How about you?

Blessings my friends!

Marybeth

the mystics knew

and the conquerors cried

in terror for their,

for their flocks died.

Standards broke as

morals were identified

by whom died before

their words. Them,

they were taken.

They were deemed

spoiled and those who deemed,

deemed themselves

righteous.

I refuse to use the r word anymore, and will not tolerate it from anyone else.

I am on Facebook today and someone is bitching about an encounter with a family member – one of her friends chimes in with the word “dicktard”. She then continues to explain that a dicktard is a cross between a dickhead and a “special person”. This did not sit well with me, and I immediately went on the defense. My response was, “my nephew is considered “special needs”, and we do not call him retard or tard, we call him teddy”. Her response to this was completely unacceptable…..

“Oh that’s nice!! Is Teddy his real name or is that his “special” name?”

Delete…..

I will not tolerate stupidity and the use of hurtful words.

Spread the Word to End the Word!!

I cannot get enough of this face and smile!!! My little Teddy Ruxpin!

Wishing to Be Near God

For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.

 ¹ As a deer thirsts for streams of water, 
       so I thirst for you, God. 
 ² I thirst for the living God. 
       When can I go to meet with him?
 ³ Day and night, my tears have been my food. 
    People are always saying, 
       “Where is your God?”
 ⁴ When I remember these things, 
       I speak with a broken heart. 
    I used to walk with the crowd 
       and lead them to God’s Temple 
       with songs of praise. 

 ⁵ Why am I so sad? 
       Why am I so upset? 
    I should put my hope in God 
       and keep praising him, 
       my Savior and ⁶ my God. 

    I am very sad. 
       So I remember you where the Jordan River begins, 
    near the peaks of Hermon and Mount Mizar.

These verses ask that we truly understand a “seeking heart.” Unless we are in this specific frame of mind we will never understand. This has to be the precursor of all that follows. And only an adoring heart can enter these private chambers. These rooms can only be opened with a special key– humility blended with worship.

Have you ever been really thirsty? I mean  bone-dry, parched, dehydrated. It seems that all you think about is a big glass of sweet tea, with ice cubes! Psalms 42 is a very accurate description of a heart that only wants God. There is nothing on this planet that draws a desperately thirsty heart like His presence.

Commentary

V. 1, 2  David compares himself to a desperate deer, that is driven to the clear streams of water. Funny, but deer are very reliant on a water source, much more than other animals. They will stay close to their water. David described his need for God in these terms. Are you thirsty? The living God is your soul’s real source.

V. 3, there is a profound sadness in David’s words. There are far too many people who will mock and discourage his deep need for God. Tears are David’s only response. Lots of tears. They cynically demand to know, “where is your God?” There will always be resistance, no matter what. What it works in us though is rich and true.

V. 4, is an active memory of things– the way they used to be. However it is only heart-broken nostalgia set ablaze. The enemy, he pushes us into an amnesia. We no longer think clearly about things. But David remembers his response, of travelling into His presence. What he remembered was glorious, he sang and danced as he led God’s dear people. But there is a caveat; we can only truly worship what we love and respect.

V.  5, David processes things as he looks inside. He asks himself certain questions. He doesn’t ask real questions. As he knows true answers. He talks about “sadness.” And a grief that can’t be assuaged.  He makes comments that will never be understood apart from “trial.”

V. 6. only develops things that would be “sadness.” Our grief would only irrigate this understanding. David truly understands sadness, and everything he embraces is full of sadness and woe. But David penetrates past his deep grief, and God’s presence meets him on the way. All that we see at this point is sadness. We must accept all that we can. We can only take the things that come too us.

“God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.”

Matthew 5:4, NLT

ybic, Bryan

Related articles

• Water In A Dry and Thirsty Land (minofeducation.wordpress.com)
• Hunger and Thirst (rtbrooks.wordpress.com)
• Psalms 42:1-11 (sisterspray4me.com)
• To Be That Deer! (poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com)

The Eight Splendid Truths of Happiness

First Splendid Truth
To be happier, you have to think about feeling good, feeling bad, and feeling right, in an atmosphere of growth.

Second Splendid Truth
One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy;
One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.

Third Splendid Truth
The days are long, but the years are short. (Click here to see my one-minute movie; of everything I’ve written about happiness, I think this video resonates most with people.)

Fourth Splendid Truth
You’re not happy unless you think you’re happy.
(Many argue the opposite case. John Stuart Mill, for example, wrote, “Ask yourself whether you are happy, and you cease to be so.” I disagree.)

Fifth Splendid Truth
I can build a happy life only on the foundation of my own nature.

Sixth Splendid Truth
The only person I can change is myself.

Seventh Splendid Truth
Happy people make people happy, but
I can’t make someone be happy, and
No one else can make me happy.

Eighth Splendid Truth
Now is now. (For more on this truth, read the last chapter of Happier at Home. I love writing endings, and if I may say so, endings are my forte, and this is the best ending I’ve ever written.)

This article was written by Gretchen Rubin. See more of her work at The Happiness Project.

Photography Source

To me I feel bored if there isn’t something on the internet to do. Then when something does come up I exhaust it and move on to waiting on the next thing or stare at the screen ’til something interest me.

I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.- Shakespeare

http://personallogic.wordpress.com/

This city gets turned on by the smell of its own decay.

And referencing nature while only knowing remnants,

of which, are lined up and cut out mathematically, yet imperfectly.

Despite of all the talk about changing the self,

the fluidity lies in the circumstantial.

The monotonous repetition and contradiction,

desiring cold while hot and vice versa.

Left and right thighs twitch back and forth

while the grass around shivers and sways.

Sylvia Plath thought she was the God of grass

and so she had the power to take her own life.

Call it having short sight.

The Life of a Rain Drop

A great lake sits in its own space being at rest in complete peace

The waters of the great lake evaporate to leave the peace of this lake

The vapor joins other water vapors forming into vast clouds traveling the sky driven by the winds

In the clouds each water vapor will do what it is the water vapor will do

In time the vapor coalesces into a drop

The drop can’t remain in the cloud being too heavy begins the journey from the cloud

Once the drop lands in the great lake of Source it rejoins the waters of the lake

Every drop is joined together as one great pool, none being separate from any other drop

We can not even count the drops in the Great Lake of Source, there are too many

We are as drops of water from a great lake of Source.  We change forms to be on Earth only to return to our original form all at the proper moment.  From the great lake being the pool of consciousness known as Source/God/??? which is our origin.  When making a commitment to enter this three dimensional world to have more experience, our Soul separates into parts.  We couldn’t manifest here existing physically as our entire Soul without reducing our power.  One of these parts is our three dimensional consciousness, another is known as our Higher-self, the rest act as our Guides.  We join with others we’ve incarnated with before continuing our experiences on Earth being driven by the forces of Karma/Duality.  We have our incarnations doing the best we can to follow our path in life with Free Will as we learn and grow.  Reaching the end of an incarnation being ready to transition back to Source we leave the third dimension reformed with our Guides once again as our complete Soul returning to Source as a part of the greater Consciousness.  Our consciousness is connected with every other consciousness in the Universe being an integral part of Source/God.  We’ve again rejoined Source having our minds are free from the Linear thinking of the three dimensional world understanding we’re One with everything.  There is no counting in a multidimensional existence, we are many. 

The painful experience of what you don’t get, is because of what you don’t have an answer to! You have experience in the pain you have been placed inside based on a lie as though it has a reason that keeps you from another truth.

The foundation of yourself is broken, and your mind is responsible for the continuation of the cracks in the foundation…. Is that accurate? Does that resonate with you?

Can you own the foundation that has these cracks in them, here lets do this… Where and when, did you start protecting this and did you lie?

State this…. I am willing to embrace my pain and allow my love inside as my power to accept I am broken, accept my pain, accept my need to feel a false sense of pain that will find its way to me if I stop protecting myself by being angry, by being sad, by being miserable, and making it ok to make others feel this energy that I place on them and not being responsible for it!

I have a hole in me from the shape of those that have come into my existence and have hurt me, they left a shadow of themselves in shape of the pain that has broken me, yet I am now claiming my power, I am now claiming my beauty, I am now claiming these layers I placed on myself to be removed… Not by allowing these shadows to exist but because I am now shinning the light on them.

Here is how broken becomes within you beautiful…  The lie that continues the crack in the foundation is that we believe that no one will love us for our truths!

How powerful is this inside of you.  Why did this become a place we didn’t see it for the truth that it is?

My truths will only allow others to never love me completely cause my truths prevent me from loving myself.  I am embarrassed, I am ashamed, I am not worthy as I never had anyone to protect me when this truth was placed in me, I didn’t want it and that energy of what this did to me is now hidden with a purpose.  It is how I learned how to lie, the sadness that this has done is that it clouded my own judgement, it clouded my own truth and I have taught that this energy is ok to pass on to anyone who comes in contact with me.  Not accepting this as my true story I will keep this hidden.  My soul is shielded and protected under this thought process.  But why?  If I never accept this inside me that I am not a liar, then I need to stop telling these lies inside myself first.  How do I do this and accept that I am not alone, by realizing that this loss in me from the lies that are created are not my doing, but the doing of the energy that has infected me as an infection of what was something I was infected through in pain.

When do you decide that the lie no longer needs to keep you in pain and keep you from a truth inside of love that was always destined to find you.  The thought process in the way you are is keeping you from something that truly is the truth to why you are here and why your love is powerful beyond measure!

Shame and guilt how they work together to keep the lie alive is found in the layers of pain you have within.  These are looked at in an outwardly manner, this keeps you from yourself and your essence and your ability to heal yourself more powerfully because the energy of the lie you have in both keeps you from every allowing the chance or choice to heal.  This is the core evolution or birth of pain that we carry all our lives.  Yet this illusion has to keep the stream of thoughts that never are you.

Take a pain you have had a long time, now think about how much pain this thought process has caused others in your life?  Do you see the lie and how it dictated a thought process that truly isn’t you.  Never was never can be and the essence of letting go of this threatens your identity, your identity of what?  what you feel shame or guilt from?  what do you feel guilty about let’s examine this more closely.  Now let’s pull the layers back and see the pain inside of the guilt. who put that there and why?  do you see this now outside yourself.. do you see how you place space around this very thing and no longer make it a thought process to keep you from the truth of your true essence.  How did this happen?  It happens just as birth does not because it needs you to expand, it needs you to extract.. it needs you to venture inside of yourself and your essence.  Space exploration didn’t stop because we didn’t need to go to the moon it is because we went to the moon without going inside of ourselves first.

Do you see how that universe should be discovered first.. as a thought process of lies we continue to destroy not just ourselves but the planet that sustains us and those we say we love.  When does the balance tip in favor of love to win?  when does this matter? when does this make more sense as though the senses are the more important part of non thinking.  You feel everything, yet the translation of acceptance in unconditional love is translated 9 billion different ways on this planet in this driven experience of the animated soul that consumes this form for a period of time.  It goes and allows pass through.. what if we need to get this part right to?

Yes this is the truth… I had to accept it and had to love it within myself to know the difference of how energy translates so much of the unconditional love that surrounds and sustains us. In the connection we share a stream of pain that is neither stronger or more than.. it is just pain.. and pain is the birth of all things we experience, it is the birth of this connection.. can you see why so many fail??? In child birth does a mother give up cause the pain is to great or does something miraculous happen as you push through the pain?  That is where this connection gives you the unimaginable.. It is why I experience her cycle, why I can hear her thoughts inside her, why she can experience all the things I am inside myself, she can feel the ego in me separate to show her my true essence without the thought.. without the claim, without the need, to be higher or lower.. This higher, lower is missing the enter and through.. It never sees it correct and teaches the mind how the connection is not happening.. Pass though energy my friend.. a connection is the truth in this and everything else.. gone through with the through birth experience..  It’s almost as though the door is left open when you find your twin flame, you have to birth the other direction to cement the connection.  It is not easy and it is not I can’t be with my twin flame, you can’t be with the pain you experience you can’t be with your twin, not because you see it as a choice but you see it as a place of destruction, the mind made me can’t exist past a certain point and we fear that unknown to keep us apart not from the lines we can’t cross because we see no lines in the unknown.  How do you know this was how this needs to happens in existence.

A false love of self will give you a false love of what you feel is love to you.  This truth is not to keep you guessing but to keep the guessing away from you and allow you to see the truth.  This truth is only as painful as you keep it alive by avoiding what things you have experienced within your life that you keep hidden inside yourself.  These have the core of truth inside of them.  Do you know that once you accept a stream of pain in you as something you hold another responsible for and don’t face this within you or keep it a secret you now have created energy to come out of you some other way.  Now the truth is!  Is that hurting you or healing you?  A secret or a lie is a sickness of a symptom of something in you that you will either create the energy of shame or guilt to make choices based in a thought process to keep you from your pain and not share your pain yet it will do that very thing just in a different way don’t be fooled energy of the lie hurts more than the truth.. the longer you hold the secret inside the sicker you become and the less you will believe that there is a love out there that transcends the truth that twins are.  Do you see how seeking outside you can’t cement you with your twin.. If you read between these lines you see the truth in what is true inside you to untangle and love yourself enough to trust the truth will not keep you from this love but rather allow it to come to you!

Clear cut choices of pain that come out in energy are the form of addiction your mind needs to find other alternatives to suffocate the pain, this is found in alcohol, drugs, addictive clinging in a relationship, blame, ravage attack, violence, sexual abuse, the most prominent is the abuse of food, the bodies addictive need or starving purpose is concealed in the damage you continually will do to yourself to hide.  How do we see this to heal it completely is found through the pain not in avoidance of it?  You are not your mind, never have been, never will be, you are more.. you are whole.. you are broken and you are beautiful.. Not because I said so, but because you can see inside yourself when you look into the mirror of the union that is you to see it for yourself.  You need this understanding of it to find those cracks in the foundation and to seal them inside of yourself to see how beautiful you truly are!

The day you ask for this judgement inside you to stop, is the day you accept that you do have another who can love you deeper than you can imagine, cause you found the door to reach inside you to love yourself deeper, not because of all the pain you have been inflicting and been inflicted on you, but because you finally see the true essence of the beauty that the pain inside you has created even if you made poor choices.  The choice is this one choice.. What you accept everyone around you has the opportunity to accept as long as you live in the truth.  This is the path there is no other, there doesn’t need to be.. we have shifted in this direction long enough.. Isn’t it time to start being connected and stop being disconnected.. then the choice is to connect inside yourself, how else do you stop with the rejection that you claim happens outside you to see it for the truth to truly fall deeply unconditionally in love with you!

If you argue against reality you will suffer….

so the pledge is simple forgive yourself to release yourself from the lie… After all the suffering continues as long as you allow it, not the other way around.

Wait just so you see this the other way around here…

As suffering I am not releasing you from this pain cause if I don’t keep this thought process alive I won’t know who I am.. and in this way I can show that I abandon me as much as anyone else who will abandon me..  Suffering is the abandoning I do to myself not someone else abandoning me.

Loving this about yourself is the compassion that needs the wall broken down, not in who you are, but by who you aren’t..  everything leads to this and everything encompasses this.  If your not afraid to be compassionate this is the first clue that you are.. not just for everyone outside you, but inside yourself.

Your pain… your brokenness is the peacock of this existence don’t get it twisted and don’t deny it’s truth!

This truth sets you free!

Signed,

Your soul

beyond the mossy comfort
of tear-stained I love yous
leaving settles
cold against the night
hands to fold in reverance
for moments come before
hearts are made to ache
the soul’s delight

how it is
the whole becomes
a part of all we knew -
stripped to bare
our reason for remorse
angels watch while lonely mourns
whispers born of bliss
sorrow keeps a plate
of fortunes sworn

the ways to know
of all we lose -
much the more we keep
as dreams resolve a heaven
we know best
sleeps beside the willows
rattles now the winds -
love returns to soothe
our restlessness

falling forward
somewhere else -
leaned into the fold
as there the names remember
us again
lonely needs no lesson
of where we passed the time
or voices ringing silent
o’er the bed

            Menurut pendapat saya, Indonesia jika ingin menjadi sebuah negara maju maka jangan pernah melebur dan melupakan identitas dan budaya yang dimiliki. Globalisasi saya anggap sebagai sebuah celah Indonesia menjadi negara yang modern, mengesampingkan hasil yang akan didapat nantinya, hal perlu diperhatikan yaitu proses untuk menjadi sebuah negara maju. Banyak sekali proses yang bisa dilakukan untuk menjadikan Indonesia yang ‘kaya’ menjadi negara yang benar-benar kaya di ranah dunia.

Berbicara mengenai negara maju yang tidak luntur dan masih berpegang akan budaya yang ada yaitu Jepang. Banyak sekali persamaan yang dimiliki antara Jepang dan Indonesia dari segi penyajian pariwisata dan budaya yang ada. Dari segi penyajian budaya, di Jepang dan di Indonesia yang diatur oleh kerajaan dari jaman ke jaman (tapi sekarang tidak berlaku lagi bagi kedua negara tersebut ) yang masih bisa dilihat sisa-sisa kerajaannya, seperti benteng kerajaan, kuil, candi, prasasti, karya sastra dan lain sebagainya. Dari sisa-sisa peninggalan tersebut, akhirnya dijadikan tempat wisata oleh pemerintah setempat bagi wisatawan lokal maupun asing sesuai aturan dan adat yang berlaku. Contohny jika di Indonesia, ada aturan-aturan tertentu untuk memasuki candi, seperti larangan masuk bagi wanita yang sedang menstruasi atau harus mengenakan baju adat tertentu saat memasuki makam tokoh-tokoh masyarakat atau bangsawan-bangsawan jaman kerajaan dulu dan di Jepang sendiri ada aturan tidak boleh memfoto saat memasuki candi karena dianggap tidak menghormati leluhur yang berada di candi tersebut.

Dengan melihat contoh budaya tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa kedua negara tersebut bisa menjadi negara maju, apalagi Indonesia bisa dianggap lebih unggul karena memiliki tanah yang subur dan kekayaan alam yang melimpah. Tapi disini Jepang yang lebih dahulu menjadi negara maju, karena Jepang mengembangkan industri, nuklir dan teknologi sebagai aset kemajuan bangsa. Jika Indonesia belum bisa mengatur ataupun mengembangkan industri, nuklir dan teknologi, maka Indonesia bisa mengembangkan pariwisata sebagai aset untuk menjadi negara maju.

Pengembangan pariwisata bisa menggunakan konsep knowledge based economy yang nantinya menghasilkan economy creative yaitu menjual pengetahuan atau pengalaman untuk meningkatkan ekonomi dengan menggandeng aspek pariwisata. Selain konsep knowledge based economy, ada konsep ecotourism (daerah tujuannya yang masih alami, adanya economics benefits, konservasi bertanggung jawab dan community empowering yang dimana budaya lokal itu dipertahankan dan wisatawan mengharagai kebudayaan tersebut)  dan carrying capacity (kapasitas daya dukung dalam sektor pariwisata) untuk diterapkan dalam pengembangan pariwisata sebagai sektor utama yang diperhatikan dalam pengembangan negara. Pengembangan negara itu sebenarnya sudah dilakukan Indonesia dengan berbagai cara dan dari segala aspek, tapi Indonesia sendiri sebagai negara yang kaya dengan kekayaan alam yang melimpah belum mengetahui potensi yang ada untuk dikembangkan berkelanjutan.

Jika potensi pariwisata di Indonesia dikembangkan berkelanjutan, maka masa depan pariwisata akan lebih baik dan bisa dibilang nantinya akan bisa meningkatkan perekonomian dan kehidupan masyarakat. Tentunya dengan konsep pengembangan pariwisata yang sesuai dengan budaya yang ada dan management yang tepat. Kerjasama yang dilakukan Indonesia dengan lembaga atau organisasi internasional juga bisa membantu dalam mempromosikan tempat-tempat wisata di Indonesia, yang bisa dilakukan saat melakukan kerjasama politik, ekonomi, teknologi, hak asasi manusia dan kerjasama lainnya di ranah internasional.

Adanya skytrax (liberalisasi transportasi udara) juga menguntungkan Indonesia secara financial dan bagi pariwisata Indonesia. Karena membuka celah bagi dunia internasioanal untuk datang ke Indonesia, melihat budaya dan pariwisata yang ada, melakukan kegiatan wisata, membeli barang atau makanan khas Indonesia, dan belajar dari pengalaman berwisata tersebut. Hal-hal itu merupakan pola pariwisata yang bisa diterapkan untuk memajukan sektor wisata di Indonesia. Peran pariwisata yang jika dijadikan sektor utama dalam kemajuan sebuah nagara tidak akan lepas dari budaya dan globalisasi yang terjadi.