It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain!
I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you're telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. I want to know if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it is not pretty every day, and if you can source your life from God's presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn't interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments. ~Oriah Mountain Dreamer~ After a while you learn the subtle difference Between holding a hand and chaining the soul, And you learn that love doesn't mean security, And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts And presents aren't promises And you begin to accept your defeats With your head up and your eyes open With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child, And you learn to build all your roads On today, because tomorrow's ground Is too uncertain. And futures have A way of falling down in midflight. After awhile you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure That you really are strong, And you learn and learn. With every goodbye you learn. ~Veronica A. Shorffstall~ ~BUTT PRINTS IN THE SAND~ One night I had a wondrous dream, One set of footprints there was seen, The footprints of my precious Lord, But mine were not along the shore. But then some stranger prints appeared, And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?" Those prints are large and round and neat, But Lord, they are too big for feet." "My child," He said in somber tones, "For miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to walk in faith, But you refused and made me wait. You disobeyed, you would not grow, The walk of faith, you would not know, So I got tired, I got fed up, And there I dropped you on your butt. Because in life, there comes a time, When one must fight, and one must climb, When one must rise and take a stand, Or leave their butt prints in the sand." God never gives up on us, but He will let us learn some hard, hard lessons. ~Author Unknown~ ~My Symphony~ To live content with small means and to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich. To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, and act frankly. To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages with an open heart. To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This...is to be my symphony. ~William Henry Channing~ Back to...Lessons I've learned... Back to the Site Map...
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
And you learn to build all your roads On today, because tomorrow's ground Is too uncertain. And futures have A way of falling down in midflight. After awhile you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much. So you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul, Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. And you learn that you really can endure That you really are strong, And you learn and learn. With every goodbye you learn.
~Veronica A. Shorffstall~
One night I had a wondrous dream, One set of footprints there was seen, The footprints of my precious Lord, But mine were not along the shore. But then some stranger prints appeared, And I asked the Lord, "What have we here?" Those prints are large and round and neat, But Lord, they are too big for feet." "My child," He said in somber tones, "For miles I carried you alone. I challenged you to walk in faith, But you refused and made me wait. You disobeyed, you would not grow, The walk of faith, you would not know, So I got tired, I got fed up, And there I dropped you on your butt. Because in life, there comes a time, When one must fight, and one must climb, When one must rise and take a stand, Or leave their butt prints in the sand."
God never gives up on us, but He will let us learn some hard, hard lessons.
~Author Unknown~
To live content with small means and to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion. To be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich. To study hard, think quietly, talk gently, and act frankly. To listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages with an open heart. To bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This...is to be my symphony.
~William Henry Channing~