THE FOOLS OF APRIL

Who are these Fools of April?

 

I know there are

old fools

and

young fools

and middle age fools

just having a crisis.

 

What about the Fools of February:

fools who fall in love,

spending their days pining

after a certain someone?

 

What about the Fools of September:

fools who love the start of the school year

with the smell of

pencil shavings

and

new notebooks?

 

Who are these Fools of April?

 

What about the Fools of January;

fools who believe a New Year

can be

a new start?

 

What about the Fools of December:

fools who believe the birth of a single child

can change the world?

 

What about the Fools of July:

fools who believe

liberty, independence, and justice

can live together

in a country?

 

Who are these Fools of April?

 

Ah yes, the fools who see

new life

springing from the ground

after

the death of winter

and believe there is hope

in every circumstance.

 

Maybe being a fool

isn’t such a bad thing

after all?  

LIFE’S INVITATION

Life is an invitation.

 

Every day,

a card is delivered by the sunrise,

“The honor of your presence is requested…”

 

But we don’t think of it this way.

We treat our days as obligations.

No wonder there is so many frustrations.

 

I encourage you,

try this instead:

 

RVSP,

show up,

care,

and

do your best work.

 

Answer the invitation

Every. Single. Day.  

and just see what happens.  

UNTIL

Until you’ve been lost

you won’t know what it is to be found.

 

Until you learn to receive,

you won’t know how to give.

 

Until you sit at the feet of the wise,

you won’t know how to stand for your truth.

 

Until you let go of what you think you deserve,

you won’t be able to give others their due.

 

Until you decide,

you will never move forward.

 

Until you act,

it’s all just a dream.

IF YOU THINK

(Recently, I had a group of people

write down what most needed transformation

in their life.  The responses weren’t as varied

as I thought they might be.)

If you think

you are the only one feeling

joyless.

 

If you think

you are the only one who is

struggling.

 

If you think

you are the only one

who wishes the

hurt would just

go away.

 

If you think you are the only one

who struggles with

math.

 

If you think

you are the only one

who wonders when

healing will come.

 

If you think you are the only one

wondering why we don’t

treat each other

better.

 

If you think

you are alone.

 

You aren’t.  Ever.

 

The feelings you

feel,

the thoughts you think,

others have and are

feeling

and

thinking

them.  

 

I am one who has

and

I stand with you.

 

Always.

 

Even if it feels like these

feelings and thoughts

will never

go away,

will never

change,

they will.

 

You will.

 

And the first step is

to know

you aren’t the

only one.

WORLD OFF YOUR SHOULDERS

“I feel like I’m running all the time.

There isn’t space,

a place,

to rest.

And if there is time not spoken for,

I get the feeling I’m letting someone down,

that I should do more.”

 

You think it’s just you,

until you ask a few,

and realize it’s afflicting young,

and

it’s afflicting old,

who also don’t know what to do.

 

This kind of feeling is like a spider's web,

the more you fight,

the more you get caught up instead.

 

The only way to not get more bound up,

is to stop, rest, and listen.

Plan for times

of rest,

of play.

Don’t leave it to chance

or

you just get more caught

in thinking your life isn’t OK.

 

For in the story of when

the Creator instituted a day of rest,

it had a purpose:

a day to remember,

to trust,

for

re-creation,

re-membering

from dusk until dusk.

 

So perhaps if the

Source

and

Life of all things

set apart a time

for rest,

those of us

who only think we have the

world on our shoulders

can take ourselves

a little less

seriously.