Take time
to wrap your arm
around a child
warm against your chest
teach him to train his eyes
on falling leaves

Take time
to point your finger
toward squirrels dancing
across branches to their
nest-home perched
atop the tulip poplar
towering over the back yard

Take time
to trace a
two year old hand
outline each finger
leave living imprints
beyond mere paper
into the next
generation

You are not your disease.
You are not depression.
You are not AIDS.
You are not cancer.
You are not asthma.
You are not your diagnosis.
You are so much more than that.
Do not let your disease control your life.
When you look in the mirror
See yourself,
Not your disease.
Do not let your sickness pull you under.
And yes,
swimming at first is hard.
It feels like you are always drowning.
You can’t breathe.
But don’t give up.
Don’t sink.
Keep on fighting.
You are not a slave to your disease.
It is not an anchor
if you don’t let it be.

Isaiah 52:14 As many were astonied at Thee His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men.

Isaiah 53:2 For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground; He hath no form nor comeliness and when we shall see Him there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not.
4 Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted.
5 But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb so He opened not His mouth.

My  Jesus , may  Thy love alone,
Guide me in  pilgrim way,
Let  earthly charms for e'er be gone,
Be  Thou my only stay.

Lord , purify my heart and mind,
That work of grace in me,
Teach  me from day to day to find,
Thy matchless love so free,

Thy  faithful Word gives life and light,
When  Satan's  darts assail,
Give me the needed inward might,
The  joy that will prevail.

A lasting hope of Zion above,
My vision make  Thou clear,
Oh!  Holy Spirit gentle Dove,
Lead Thou me safely there.

Beneath  Thy wings do shelter me,
My  hiding  place is  there,
When night be gone the  day  I see,
My anchor  is  secure.

A  crown  of  life  awaits  me there,
If  faithful  I shall  be.
And those  who  bear  the  cross  will share
Thy throne  eternally.

Not  a home, on earth , O pilgrim,
Always patient , meek and wild,
And Thy life a guiltless victim,
Worship all, this Sacred Child.

Walking with Him all day
Jesus my light that shines through the night,
Always with him through trials in sight,
Walking with him all day
Rather have Him than pleasures of sin,
Rather have Him all day.

Thou didst come to earth as Saviour,
Thou wast sent in poverty,
Thou wast man but great Creator,
Tainted not with vanity.

Throne in Heaven , on earth a stable,
Christ doth teach humility,
Lives have changed but truth is stable,
Thus unveiling  mystery.

Thine a cross on earth a captive,
Made the cross a victory,
Thou didst make Thy death redemptive,
Oh, what fragrant memory.

He's the Way, the key to Heaven,
Now the door is open wide,
Christ exalted , truth is  proven,
I  with Him will e'er abide.

Have you ever stumbled upon someone life-shatteringly special?
You lose your breath and can't think straight.
But somehow they've stuck around.
Feeling like a stunned vegetable to your innocent charisma.

Like divine intervention we met in the most unlikely of ways.
We hit it off and spent hours together, confined and stressed.
How did we get along so well?
How did we manage to learn more together than alone?
How did we manage to find each other in this big world?
I'll always wonder if there is more to this story.
Answers to my plaguing questions that rule my emotional state.

I don't know how to describe what it is I feel in a rational way.
It doesn't serve rationale.
Writing it all down or saying it only compounds how crazy I must sound.
But I'm not a loony bin. On the contrary, you are just infinitely more special than you realise!

But I'll not skip a note nor bump a chord.
Because I see you so finely in all your elegance.
A beauty which radiates in an innocent manifestation.
I can't tell if everyone else can see it also.
They must?!
I must have no chance here.
I know I should cut my losses and move on.
Right..?
Hope to find this feeling once more.
But something from beyond the blackened ether of midnight skies and space dust tells me to keep trying.

Oh how, in o’er two thousand years, has evil won the day?
How many generations passed that never learned to pray?
Is the patience of a vengeful God strained beyond repair?
No! His mercy and forgiveness remain gifts for all to share.

The miracle that we are here, that we can feel pain,
Is at once a curse and blessing; Is at once a drought and rain.
For in the driest desert, a cactus can survive,
And good fortune and abundance cannot keep the dead alive.

Can all opposing armies have a unifying goal?
Is there a cause so righteous that all men would give their soul
To live and breathe together, to work and play as one,
To lay down arms and all join hands ‘til our days on earth are done?

Those that gather gold have seen the devil in disguise,
For no amount of gold can gain them Heaven’s paradise.
Then ‘tis Paradise we strive for? Peace for all eternity?
Our goal then to discover, where hides Heaven’s key?

A peaceful, loving life on earth, will unlock Heaven’s gate,
Do good unto all others, share your joys and bury hate.
Do not judge thy neighbor, for his suffering you can’t know,
Listen, hear his story, be his friend and not his foe.

Then when this life is over, and the judgment time has come
Be sure that you have sinned, but that those sins are overcome
By the faith that God is present, He forgives our doubt and sin,
Opens up the gate to Heaven, and will gladly let us in.
Phil Lindsey 11/22/15

Start slow...
     warming... up...and...below
         forty five degrees
            to the left...right...others go nineties...
       some freeze...from locked knees
   they don't mind...they'll recover
          before the hour is over...

Detach self
    from what
       surrounds
             but...still aware
                connected...
            agitation
        soon to be lessened
   eventually....calmed

Focus...
   exercise
       stabilize
    synchronize
        visualize
     internalize
  energize!

Endure!
               An ant bites at the back of your ear
         something's  crawling on your tummy
     beads of sweat, drop across your eyes,
or inside your ear...you feel the cold touch within
    
A bee, a wasp...sometimes, a fly
      circles very near your face
           makes your wall of
                concentration, crumble
              tempting you to lose count
          of the movements
      testing you...
   if you might still stray...even
      a step away...
          if, to your weaknesses
      you would still succumb

          will you be distracted?
             or stay focused?

Let eyes, and mind blink
     One...two...three...quickly!
            be grounded!
                stay on the right track.....

               Exercise!
               ...visualize....
               ... internalize.....
               ...never give up!



Sally


Copyright September 21, 2015
Rosalia Rosario A. Bayan

The best thing about having
big dreams is that no one else has to believe in them for them to happen,its just you.
They're yours alone,your responsibility.
If people frown upon them,
That's their business
When you work towards making them come true,its for sure they aren't meaningless.
So don't give up!