the day facebook replaced my email

so i open up my email application- i get a few mails streaming in... none, if i'm lucky (sorry for the cynicism)

just when i think it is over i become aware that checking your email inbox is still only halfway to being done. flippin facebook. now i have to log on and see what people have got vampire hugs to give me and have to deal with all this likeness rubbish that makes me feel less and less unique everytime i see it.

there it is... "inbox (1)".

my neighbour from when i was 10... "hey! howu?"

what nonsense.

all that for that.

music

she sings and she stops
she shouts but she's not
listening to the notes

she sings ok i guess
but she doesn't move me

one must ride the wings
of the wind that is already there

when you try to create music you fail
when you hear her voice and move with her
you lose yourself in her arms
and that's when people hear her

your talent is just the avenue
people want music not you
and if you move with her
they move with you

learning to pray

so here are a few thoughts on Luke 11:1

“Lord, teach us to pray”

1. Jesus had just been out praying when they asked this question. he could answer them because he knew from experience. he had integrity.
2. The disciples came and asked. they were hungry for it. they must have seen some fruit in Jesus’ life and the way a prayerful life made him operate, made a connection somewhere that it was because of his prayerful life and then they asked if they could have the same.
3. The Lord’s Prayer comes down to:
   - adoration
   - asking
   - wanting to stay pure

Furthermore, Richard Foster, in his book, The Celebration of Discipline comments on this passage by saying the following: The disciples ‘had prayed all their lives but something about the quantity and quality of Jesus’ praying caused them to see how little they knew about prayer.

He goes on to say that learning to pray is a learning process and that we should feel free to grow and learn as we pray. I see my prayer life (when it is in operation) as a wonderful chance to learn how to pray better. It has taken me a long time to see it this way and up until very recently I have always felt under pressure to already know how you should pray and therefore to have an awesome prayer life. I feel released by the fact that I have so much more to learn and that today i can pray as i know how and there is nothing wrong with that.

I'm starting at 10 minutes again. I am free to practice. To lose track of time rather than measuring prayer against the clock.

For the Christian, prayer should make us think of liberty, victory, change and joy. I fear that we see it too much as an obligation. At least that's the way I have seen it for too long now...

Last quote to keep us thinking: "A man prayed and prayed and at first he thought that prayer meant talking. But he became more and more quiet until in the end he realised that prayer is listening." Soren Kierkagaard

meekness

quite recently i heard someone describe meekness the following way:

...when you have the chance to get back at someone who has wronged you but you choose not to.

if that be a correct definition then surely meekness must rank as one of the strongest characteristics a man can possess?

i see a world pretending

obscure eyes
hurried glances
what is in your soul that your window won't show?
what hurt carry you in the hands of today?

yesterday has closed his fist
but today holds a change for you yet
be it true that you may have to wrestle
be it sure that good things don't come easy

i sit here scribbling
criticising them
prisoners of illusion
those confident cowards

they trample through this palace of illusion
artificial light paying homage to their dark
wondering who is looking at them they pretend
if only they knew that we cared naught anyway

sideways glance, you look my way
and there i am caught looking away
what is it within me that can't hold your gaze?
i'm the same. obscure. caught in the haze

my palace of dreams holds the mare of the night
the dark stallion, strong yet easy to fright
we are all as he: afraid of our strength
we write the summary instead of writing at length

in no hurried terms i will now conclude
these thoughts i think that so sway my mood
they feud within me. each has his own voice
but the choice is mine to escape this noise

this conclusion brief but the argument many:
let your light shine- if you have any.

caught in confusion

caught in confusion
this imminent respite that eludes
lost in a form of loss that could actually be gain
lost in the same plight as many before me

and as the numbers battle the words
and as my heart battles the logic
like enemies, my mind and my heart insult one another
there is confusion indeed

captive to the fear of loss
more than i'm free by the benefit of gain
replacement seems more natural than acquisition
but i must ensure that replacement nets more

my heart my greatest asset
maybe there i need insurance
to ensure that peace guides me
to know what needs drive me

wealth not being value
and value being hard to find
i pray that some of it be found
in this heart of mine

my heart and my brain: apparent enemies
perhaps not so. perhaps best friends
challenge, rebuke for the sake of truth
my best interests is where both of them look
and when they agree there is not a dance more beautiful
to see the heart join the mind in the dance of confidence