John and Lisa's Blue Skies Blog – Soaring with God

In our modern age, we have information about anything, anytime, at our fingertips.
Pilots have almost instant weather information, yet still let weather kill them.
Depression still makes people miserable.
Politicians still lie.
The rich continue to get richer, and the poor, poorer.
We still have no answers to any of the WTFs — big or small.
Peace among humans is as elusive as ever.
Granted, computers have given the objective left-brainers more power.
But poets are as numerous as ever.
Gurus are under every rock.
Yet events still seem to shock.
The contented seem to be the ones who don’t give a shit.
We have no heroes, only ones and zeroes.

Images unwinding
promises unbinding
yet no answers
am I finding

You ask me why
I ask others their concept of God,
particularly Christ- and Buddha-like people I meet.
It’s because I want to know their God.
I’m like a puppy pawing a turtle.
These people don’t preach to me.
They show by their actions
they’re in touch with a Higher Being.

Why do we exist
on this earth?
To choose – of our own
will – to return to God.
All we do,
everyone we love,
is meant to point us
to the One God,
Who is true Love.

We’re easily led
astray by desires
for what fails
to satisfy. Yes,
delusion is strong,
but strong as death
is Love.

Fear and confusion
bow to the power
of unending Love.
Our souls know – even
when they hide
and feign forgetfulness.

The path spirals
but progresses:
The walk back feels
dark and despairing,
yet crises bless
and empower –
circling ever
closer to Love’s
eternity.

Derelict daydreams
float like ice floes
across the stream
of my winter memory.

Here are some more one-liners jotted in an old notebook:

When does the temporal become the permanent? Will we know?
————————————–

If you give me good phone, I may still hang up on you.
————————————–

Dead end discourse communities
dumbfounded by data
from different directions
————————————–

We plasticize our lives, emotions, needs, values –
always spending what we don’t have
and bartering what may be for what we’ll never have.
————————————–

In your eyes a swath of moon-splattered clouds appeared from time to time.
————————————–

Cross me at an angle:
You can cut me deeper and I won’t hurt as much.
————————————–

The more material stuff I accumulate, the more mental stuff I perpetuate.
————————————–

As time and distance increase, so does indifference.
————————————–

Oh, the torture!
The unending,
nonsensical,
seemingly unattainable
desire for
union with God.

I haven’t been given
something simple –
like the desire for
a new pair of shoes.

But perhaps
You walk even there.

On retreat
a full day of prayer,
meditation, winding
along the stone labyrinth,
and reading Gregory of old:
allegories of bloody battles
to uproot evil within.

Ah yes – so true,
the peace and beauty
always out of reach
in the rush of daily life
find me here.

Snuggled in bed
dreaming of…
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
What? Eyes fly open.
Pop. Pop. Pop….

Gunfire.
Yes, even here.

Oh God, come to our assistance.
Oh Lord, make haste to help us.

Retreat is never escape
but immersion in life.
Beyond fight or flight.