Remember love
As we prepare to move into this new year, I want to share a delightful love poem with you. It’s called Do You Remember Love? Written down by James Jacobson, it’s wisdom about love and life from his dog Maui. He’s put the poem to music and has it as a video on his site, so I hope you’ll take the time to watch/read Do You Remember Love? Enjoy!
Mastery in action — Christmas style
I’m mesmerized by awesome artists. Craftspeople so skilled at what they do that they can bring tears to your eyes and a tremor to your heart when you witness their wizardry. I came across such magic today in a video my friend sent me. It features Straight No Chaser, a men’s a cappella group formed at Indiana University in 1996. Here is a video of their performance of the 12 Days of Christmas. Visit the group’s website to watch other music videos or buy their CDs.
It’s time to move off the fence
“I must do something” always solves more problems than “Something must be done.”
~ Author Unknown
Overwhelm. Powerlessness. Fear. Confusion. Busyness. What’s the excuse you give most often for sitting on the fence of life, waiting for things to change? ALL of us do it. Though our hearts call us to act, we restrain ourselves, then tell stories to justify our inaction.
There are two primary problems with doing our lives this way.
- The cries for help go unanswered. Situations get worse (Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur) or things are destroyed all together (New Orleans, animal species, West Virginia mountain tops).
- We lose our souls. Our lives lose meaning because we’re not doing what we know in our hearts to be the right things to do.
Are there potentially millions of causes that need our attention? YES!
Is it easy to sometimes thing we’re too insignificant to change the tide? YES!
Does it seem that we might lose convenience or comfort if we work for peace/justice/transformation? YES!
Do we sometimes receive contradictory messages or lose our way? YES!
Are we sometimes too preoccupied with our individual issues to notice what’s happening around us? YES!
Do any of these reasons mean that sitting on the fence is where we should be? Hell NO!
I urge each and every one of you to notice the fence you’re currently sitting on, and GET OFF! Start with that one action of choosing to fence-sit no longer. Then take the next action — writing a letter, getting the facts about an issue you care about, joining a group working for change. One step at a time away from the fence and toward a better future for us all!
Enjoy this song from Madonna, “Hey You!” It’s the theme for the Live Earth Concerts taking place on every continent today, 07/07/07. It’s an anthem for living your life OFF the fence — there’s a million reasons why, and there’s no time to waste.
Theme song for remodeling your spirit
Ever feel like you need some spring cleaning for your soul? Does it feel like your spunk has been spanked, your energy evaporated, and your creativity cramped? When you’re feeling down, cranky, mopey, or otherwise less then your most ebullient, loving, and playful self, it may be time to do some spiritual cleaning, remodeling, or even a complete renovation.
Of course everyone knows that manual labor can actually feel fun if you’re working to a rhythm, so here’s a recording/video of a little theme song for your spiritual scrub down. It’s from gifted songwriter, singer David LaMotte. It’s called “Crawl Inside” and can be found on his album, Change. Click the play triangle to listen (David tells some stories before beginning the song; audio quality is so so but the song is well worth the listen). The song’s lyrics are below the video. Alternate option — Listen to “Crawl Inside” on David’s MySpace page.
Crawl Inside
Gonna crawl inside your head
Gonna move a few things around
You got your furniture up against the doors
It’s bound to be slowing you down
You’ve been getting in your own way
And that’s a silly thing to do
I’m gonna crawl inside your head
Make it work a little better for you
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside your heart
And bring a whole bunch of paint
From the outside it’s so beautiful
From the inside it just ain’t
And I know this will be hard for you but your graffiti’s got to go
I’m gonna crawl inside your soul
So you can see what we all know
I want to crawl inside your soul
Gonna cook you up a little meal
‘Cause you’ve been feeding yourself this garbage
Makes you feel the way you feel
You got stuff in your refrigerator
That’s way, way overdue
I’m gonna crawl inside your heart
And give you something that’s good for you
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
And when we’ve got the dishes washed
And soaked the brushes in turpentine
I was wondering if you might have a minute
To help me work on mine
I’m gonna crawl inside
I’m gonna crawl inside
Words and Music by David LaMotte
©2005 Lower Dryad Music/ASCAP
