At one of my Leadership retreats right before we began our climb up 40 ft in the redwoods, a wonderful person recited this poem for us. I hope you enjoy it as I did:
The Invitation
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living.
I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
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 dream
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 centre 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
to be realistic
to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn’t interest me if the story you are 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.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the 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
to feed the children.
It doesn’t interest me who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom
you have studied.
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
Coaching Inquiry: Who are you deep down? What sustains you? What do you bring to the world - this world that needs your talents and gifts? Will you stand in the fire with me? I am here to aid you in your journey.
Namaste,
Sheila
THE SEED
Our Choices
If you had a choice, right now, to choose to be with Christ Jesus in heaven would you choose to do so? Being human and having the power of choice, can we choose to ask God to grant us a wish? You see, there are three realms, earth, heaven, and hell. We live on the earth in the now, and we believe, as Christians, that at some point Christ will return to the earth and judge us in the final days. Between now and judgement day, death will end our stay on earth and God will judge our fate when that happens.
Christ said: "And all things whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you shall receive." What if, we asked God to stop this game that is being played out on earth, and grant us the one wish of living with him in heaven right now. What if, we choose to not allow Satan any more control over our lives and our future and made the decision to ask God to end this game. What if we, as human beings, with the power of choice, made a conscious decision to choose Christ Jesus, right now, over the day to day challenges and temptations that Satan offers.
Say, if in 2015, we were able to gather 9 billion, or 8 billion or 5 billion people, Jews, Catholics, Baptists, Protestants, Jahovah Witnessers, Lutherians, Episcapalians, Muslims, Buddists, Hindu’s, and every other worshiper, together to pray to God, asking him to bring us home. If we ask Jesus Christ to come, would he be with us??? If we asked him to bring us home to his kingdom in heaven, would we receive??? Do you want to stop playing this earthly game??? Our home is in heaven and not here on earth. Is that a challenge?? Can you see the vision???
Christ has said: "And I say to you, ask, and it shall be given to you; seek, and you shall find; knock and it shall be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; and he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks it shall be opened." We can ask billions of people to take one moment in time to act as one, crying out to God, our heavenly Father, "Take us home." OH GOD, take us from the land of the Pharaohs!!! Take us from the hands of evil, bring us home to your kingdom!!! Can we ask strong enough?? Can we ask hard enough?? Can we ask loud enough??? Do you believe???
Christ said: "And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Amen, amen, I say to you, if you ask the Father anything in my name, he will give it to you. Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full." Do we want to be filled with eternal joy?? Why have we not asked???
Can you imagine how we can make this happen?? Can you understand the power that God has given us in order that we may choose our own destiny, right now. We don’t have to wait until tomorrow, while Satan tricks and traps millions more souls into the fires of hell!!! The decision is ours. Can we choose?? Can we make this happen?? Can we start a holy movement around the world and set the date of our going home??? Or are our hearts hardened so much by this earthly realm that we can not conceive of the idea that God will grant our request???
Christ said: " I say to you further, that if two of you shall agree on earth about anything at all for which they ask, it shall be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together for my sake, there am I in the midst of them." Christ come into the mist of millions, of billions and grant our wish!!!
Take the poll!
Come, bind your spirit with mine so that we may work together to express this message. If you believe, leave a message so that we may communicate and the spirit of oneness and love may grow within us!!!
Make it happen!!!
This is your seed, plant it and watch it grow!!
Pass this message on to your friends and family!!
Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of thy faithful and enkindle in them the fire of Thy love!
Give a contribution! Donate to this cause!
Posted by: jsolo | May 18, 2009 at 11:45 AM
You're just wonderful! I just want you to know that.
Posted by: smw | July 25, 2009 at 11:15 PM
Very insightful - gets to the core of our being and what really makes up a person.
Posted by: KarenS | February 17, 2010 at 06:40 PM