overcoming – Rivers Renewed

Some Who Find the Light

Some who find the light still can’t find their way,

preferring the darkness of conspiracies,

their own hearts drifting,

lost at sea.

Yet some who find the light know the way of love,

becoming a beacon, a sign of hope

for each one of us.

Not really following a doctrine,

simply being

who we were intended to be.

Amen.

She sat down on the bench with tears in her eyes. How much pain can a person carry and still survive? She put her cell phone back in her purse…..even her own Mama rejected her…..again. Her mind raced, she was still learning how to dress, how to walk like a woman. Rejection. She was always rejected.

Let people gawk at her with jaws dropping. She didn’t care anymore! She started sobbing, with her face in her hands. Should she trust the straight looking guy at the coffee shop? Probably not. He had the most gentle eyes though, which meant there was beauty inside him. Again pain overwhelmed her.

***

He watched her through the café window. There….the dam broke and she was sobbing now. How can we treat people so horribly? Her makeup was going to be a mess. Should he run out there? He wished he had more courage.

And he thought, “How much pain can a person carry and still survive?” She wiped her eyes as the bus approached and put on a pair of sunglasses. She was one of the most sincere, beautiful people he had ever…..the bus was gone now.

Tomorrow when he saw her, he would ask her, “Do you like vegan food?”

Learning How to Heal

To overcome the bullies in your life, those who ridicule your trauma…..first you need to survive,

in learning how to heal, holding onto who you are, believing in the unseen

and then moving forward, always forward.

You are always so much more than your circumstances.

Blue Skies and Storms

From time to time some of my international readers will simply be aghast at how dysfunctional and seemingly insane our politics are here in the U.S. I’ve thought about this a lot, and I have a few things that may help with understanding us Americans.

First it not simply a matter of two sides fighting, both equally valid. NOT AT ALL. When the extreme right seems so different than the way people used to be, it’s because there is a real cultural difference now. It is real and scary!

I’m not sure how long news shows from the conservative news machine have been creating a different spin, but they do and they create a cultural bubble. Please understand that misinformation and disinformation are not only normal for them, but it’s what their viewers want to hear. This improves the ratings and makes the company money!

This bubble actually creates walls between us. Many conspiracies are floated into the airwaves all to make people afraid, and angry. And the bubble walls become increasing thick and isolating. Did you know that lies are told for political reasons? M.T. Green admitted it to a Parkland mother, years after the infamous shooting of children at the school, and M.T. Green’s bizarre comments about it back then.

Yet that’s another story. Do progressive people have a bubble? Not really, but if they do it’s more like a dome, much larger and more inclusive than a small bubble. There are a lot more women involved and more people of color, black, brown, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, immigrants and many others. And the dome is growing more all the time, instead of reinforcing fears and non-acceptance. The doors are open instead of closed.

Another way of thinking about it, is that the U.S. is like a large beautiful blue sky. Sometimes there are thunderstorms. They make a lot of noise, seem angry and can be dangerous sometimes (like the Capitol riot). Yet the blue sky always returns…. always pushing away….the storms.

Peace.

Note: I’ll be a break for a few days.

Thank you for reading!

Wild and Free — The Trefoil Muse

Beautiful Poetry…..from Nadine

Never allow someone else’s idea of who you are to impede your growth,
Sway uninhibited to the rhythm of your heart and rise,
Even wild flowers on the Badlands let their true colors shine,
The most unique version of yourself is wild and free.
Wild and Free — The Trefoil Muse

Building New Foundations

It amazes me how we can walk through the fire looking back at how we used to be strong, or how we hold onto the one we love, and that love can push us forward beyond what we ever imagined……

we not only survive but we build new foundations, because the old framework was never meant to sustain us.

As you may know my wife has had cancer for many years, off and on. She will be on chemo for a very long time. You may not know that she recently had some small tumors show up where they are not supposed to be! So to be truthful it is easy to go down the bitterness road or the fear road, but we decided to go down the trust road. Meaning trusting in God.

You see our faith not only helps us, but becomes a type of a certain foundation. Never assume a person of faith is a nitwit or naïve. You have no idea what they have been through. And my wife and I want nothing to do extremist politics, which is totally off target. I’m speaking of a heart filled with love.

Back to those small tumors……they turned out to be benign! So we didn’t have to walk through the fire this time……and we thank God for that. A small yet important victory.

The Late Winter Winds

The bluster and power of the late winter winds told him a different story now, unlike his younger days when meeting the winds head on, spoke of courage and the ability, to press forward meeting the challenge.

Now it just meant the brutal force of cold air, chilling his bones, so he zipped up his coat a little further, and held onto his hat, as another gust tried to knock him sideways.

Star Trek and the Klingons

I, like many of you, watched the news yesterday, horrified and angry. And as a writer it’s easy to rant and rave here about what happened at the Capitol, in Washington. Yet I’m not going to do that. There are plenty of news sources already analyzing the events.

I’d like to offer a different view. It was awful, beyond words, yet I can easily see the US as being similar to Star Trek Voyager. We are a ship (a nation) with an advanced society, that has lost our way, facing unbelievable challenges, like a crippling disease.

Sometimes the struggles are within ourselves. And yet we face each incredible challenge and move forward traveling at the speed of light. We did that this past November fighting for what was right. And Joe Biden won by the largest margin since FDR. Did you know that?

And now this week we did it in Georgia. For the first time in the history of Georgia, they will have an African American pastor as a senator. And the son of Jewish immigrants as the other senator. Ain’t that something?

Yep, that’s our America! And moving forward, working on getting home at the speed of light. And one day, our Captain will be a woman, just like on Voyager!

And the Klingons? Oh those are the angry, war-like people…….And they always loose. Always. Violence always loses.

Peace.

Poetry Still Lives

Black and white holding down the page, gleaming

sharing the hope and faith,

that words can still heal,

that in each of our hearts,

poetry still lives,

and we will survive.

Tapestries

Our tapestries are not made from our battle scars or tears,

but from our courage,

the audacity to survive,

in the refusal to give up,

we somehow learn to create

new beginnings,

as if it was spring again,

with purple infusing our being,

we build something beautiful

once again.

Note: I will never thank God for my wife having cancer, only for the courage for both us to survive.

Category: overcoming