Planting Seeds

 As I watch the news concerning yesterday's tragic events at the Boston Marathon, I am, of course, very sad. Loss of any life in such a fashion simply leaves us feeling raped.  Peace is stolen, and we are left wondering where and when the next strike will come.

My heart goes out to every person hurt, maimed, killed and affected by yesterday's act of terror--to include those in Iraq.

A story, written by someone we don't know, informs as to how we might respond.  There is no way we as a country can experience true peace while simultaneous waging war.  

Let us plant and desire the seeds of peace for everyone.  Let us refuse to parse our tears, shedding 22 for American loss, and none for those dead across the world.  I pray that there is no other event in this country of this kind again, and I pray the same for every other square inch in the world.

When we understand our connectedness, we will find the answer to how to experience true peace.

"There once was a farmer who grew award-winning corn. Each year he entered his corn in the state fair where it won a blue ribbon.

One year, a newspaper reporter interviewed him and learned something interesting about how he grew it. The reporter discovered that the farmer shared his seed corn with his neighbors.

'How can you afford to share your best seed corn with your neighbors when they are entering corn in competition with yours each year?' the reporter asked.

'Why sir,' said the farmer, 'didn't you know? The wind picks up pollen from the ripening corn and swirls it from field to field. If my neighbors grow inferior corn, cross-pollination will steadily degrade the quality of my corn. If I am to grow good corn, I must help my neighbors grow good corn.'

He is very much aware of the connectedness of life. His corn cannot improve unless his neighbor's corn also improves.

So it is with our lives. Those who choose to live in peace must help their neighbors to live in peace. Those who choose to live well must help others to live well, for the value of a life is measured by the lives it touches. And those who choose to be happy must help others to find happiness, for the welfare of each is bound up with the welfare of all.

The lesson for each of us is this: if we are to grow good corn, we must help our neighbors grow good corn."                                                                                                    -Author Unknown

Proverbs 11:24-25
Some give freely, yet grow all the richer;
   others withhold what is due, and only suffer want.
A generous person will be enriched,
   and one who gives water will get water. 

A Sacred Lamentation

1:1  I am the woman who has seen affliction
    in the silence of singleness.
² I stand at windows waiting for dates that will never come,
    and congratulate the good fortune of newly-engaged 
    friends through invisible tears.
³ Indeed, the old adage, "don't actively look, just wait on the Lord," 
   rings in my ears again and again, 
   limply hanging in the air all day long.  

⁴ Can we simply admit that there is no map to relationship, 

   no compass to follow,    

    just acts of grace or sheer luck?
⁵ Why must I be called bitter because I long for deep kisses
    from lips that refuse to tell lies? 
⁶ Shall I be the 17th wheel
    at every party forever?

⁷ I want so desperately to celebrate a 42nd wedding anniversary,
    to have the extra set of keys to the car, to be the brightness 

    in one's heart.
⁸ For now, I process difficult days by myself, 

    figure out how bills will be paid alone.
    I pray prayers for others' relationships 

    because I am sure my own prayers are unheard.
⁹ Cold sheets--they mock me!
    Big, dark, short-haired girls deserve what they get.

¹⁰ This kind of loneliness becomes the status of saints,
      like a lone, green leaf in the middle of the hot desert.
¹¹ The power of kisses from long ago
      have left me with only a faint memory.
¹² I look at old poetry, with lines laden with broken-promises
      and try to imagine if those words came 

      from committed people. 

¹³ I love love.
   My heart is still of flesh.
¹⁴ Still, this fleshy heart can't watch romantic movies 

    without weeping;
    each scene mocks me in my solitude.
¹⁵ I cannot sleep.
    Sweet drinks taste bland and useless.

¹⁶ I know it is because I was created to feel deeply,
    And now, I must imagine the faintest phantom touch, for sanity's sake.
¹⁷ I will remember the joy of laced fingers, and soft-spoken conversations,
    And I will never forget that God is always creating possibilities.
¹⁸ Even still, my heart is downcast.  

     Out of billions of people, Creator, I only seek one.

¹⁹  I only seek one, and
       and therefore, I have hope.