Electronic Love...Happy New Year...

181...according to this blog publisher....since last year at this time...I only ever tried for about 100...
...when you write from the heart...you cannot count exactly....

Most folks on this date 12/31  recount the thanks and memories of the past year and swear to new promises...

...I just want to go sideways, my favorite angle, to spot some thoughts for you, my friends...

This year...all electronic from the heart of you to the heart of me....

I saw my first grandchildren, cannot believe I am there, but yes...and they are beautiful twins!
Many new students from various countries came to our college....we welcome with our heart and minds
An Olympic US female swimmer is about to break the records of how fast in water....
A friend of the family from former times stays close to my heart...
A US Marine combat woman came to our staff...with heart...
A young Canadian artist who spoke like an adult about her life and art...
A Professor who is realizing his own career destiny within our community..
A new friend from Rotterdam, who opens our minds to a global alliance...
A mom who lost her children in an accident won my passion to write...one year ago tonite!
An artist out there won my heart not with her voice, but with her silence....

New friends...they all came somehow electronically, then in sight, then in touch...if it was ever real, it was real in words then in continual messages that mean real things, like..." I care"...we all want it to lead on to meaningful time spent...

We look at the smallest things and see our world...out there so huge...
...now, we look at the largest things, and we see...and we love....
.....the smallest things, the hairpin lost...the key found...the grains of a picture...
......our hand..our written word...our scripture....

Everything I have written in this last amazing year...is about my love for many of you.
It is what keeps me alive and going strong...
There is a flame that burns and will only grow....
....as we go on now...our best will flow...
.....the source is within us
.......and out there in a place... we can only hope to know....

Happy New Year!
11:17pm San Diego time  12/31/10....it has been one of the best years of my life...
....thank you!
......I really do look forward to a great and strong cup of coffee and seeing that warm sun in the morning....

Little Passengers on the Ship of Friends...

Remember...the Ship of Friends is a place and time both here in our lives now and later on...
...it is where we seem to join a cruise for our lives...with those we love...our friends, family...and..
.....even those we might have loved...we are all together...it is a place of reunions...of belonging...
..... it is a place outside of time as we know it...but very real...it is here and now, and tomorrow..
...... it knows no person who is not ultimately welcome...it just takes love...
.......there are those on board who take care of us...those who test but love us...those who..
........pick us up at airports...who bake us apple pies....who stay up all night...
.........with laughs and cries....
.......it is our ultimate home...yet, we are embarking always on that cruise...that great ship....with love

I saw something today.  These stories just write themselves...I am just a messenger...

A place where there are homeless families.  Homeless children.  Many of us do not know this.

A little boy.  He said his name was Jeffrey, and that he is six years old.

He was hugging a younger girl, he said her name was Jennifer.  He said he loved her.  Let me explain....

She is apparently deaf from birth, cannot hear anything.  I asked Jeffrey how he communicates with her?
...He proudly showed me with his right hand, making the sign of a dog..."with my hands", he said.

Jeffrey was sitting behind Jennifer and hugging her just like a big husband would hug his wife from behind.
It was a huge hug of the ages.  Protecting her.  Taking care of her...

I said,  "Jeffrey, what did you say?"  He said,  "I love her.  She needs me to help her...she can't hear, you know...."  He looked at me like we were old friends...like...you know!

I should have known.  Six year olds can join with us all in love for each other...who ever said they cannot feel it like we do as "big people"!  We are all on the Ship of Friends...all who love each other....and take care and protect each other...

Imagine, just imagine....Jeffrey, sitting there with his hair all scruffed up, and a big smile, and a proud big brother tone...he just told me..."I love her"...and he will protect young Jennifer, four years old, who also knows...what love is....

We all know each other...on the Ship of Friends...it is ageless...we are all children!

Santa at the Speed of Love....Merry Christmas!

Malls this time of year are where the most amazing things are seen and heard.
Today, on Christmas Eve, I overheard a young daughter ask her Mom, as they waited in line...
      "Mommy, how can Santa reach all of our homes tonight?  All over the world...?"

I thought about this one, too, back when I waited in such lines...
...I always believed he would come to my house...
...but it seemed as I got older that there were such a lot of houses out there...
...those raindeer must get pretty tired, but, oh, well, he would always come...
...to my house...and this little daughter's as well...

The Mom was right to the point...she said,
..."It is like this...Santa flies faster than the speed of light...
....he flies at the speed of love!"

That was good enough for me.  Even today!

Angel-Spotting....

I remember a great film ("One Magic Christmas")years ago in which the star, Mary Steenbergen, played the role of a wife and mother who was so stressed at Christmas that she was delivered to meet a Christmas angel....and that meeting made all the difference....she came back to life, for herself and her family.

The angel was a stranger.  I guess they often are.

But, if there are angels out there, they are somehow more present at this season, when people need deliverance and help.  If we can believe in this, or something close, I believe we are strong.  If they really don't exist and are not out there, and we still believe, it seems it may just be one of the greatest errors we could make! 

I decided this year, I will tell some people if I think I have spotted an angel, and if it is them.  A few of my close friends have heard me say this, but it is between them and me.  It is not something that should be shared with all.  Angel-spotting is a very personal and private thing.  If you believe like me, and feel brave, and feel you see one, just try it...see how giving that gift is given and received.  It is like the sound of a raindrop on a flower petal....it is there, but it is so gentle. 

Sharing our deepest faith with a friend is sharing our soul....and there may not be a greater gift.

The Moment When You Feel at Home.....

I remember...
...when I was an exchange student in the Netherlands...for a year...
....more than halfway through the year....
.....I changed.

From that point on....I was never the same....I now see it in others...
...in all students who study abroad....

It is what unites us as brothers and sisters of a global family....

It was the point when I really felt at home with the Netherlands culture...
...when I spoke enough Dutch to get around and actually speak with people in their language...

It was when I still missed my own home and my family, but I felt loyalty to...
...the new friends and family I had in the new home country...
.....like a second country....you feel at home....you feel like you could represent it...
........and so different from the first times when it was all new...

We can never go back to "start"....we are changed....
....the rest of our life, when the new home country touches our lives in any way...
......we understand, we feel warmth...we feel we know that place
........and we want to return....

When we see ourselves as just renting space on this planet for the years of our life....
....we know we are truly at home where our life has put us...we have little choice....
.....except that we can return, we can choose to go back there, we can choose to love...
.......the places and people we have called home...

There is that magic point, that moment when you begin to feel at home again...

Winter Is Here...The Days are Getting Brighter!

On this day, it is officially winter.  Look outside, and you will hardly notice the difference...
between just yesterday and today....yet the days starting tomorrow will be longer again...
initially by seconds, then by mintes as we all approach summer and long days....

We all are riding this planet....renting space here....while we live and love and give back.

So, what is the difference between a star in the night....a bright star that shines through...
Or, a faint star, a spec of light up there...or a candle we hold in the night air...
Or, a faint hope deep inside that someone will live longer...
....that someone will get better....
......that someone will hear or see...

Bright star, faint light...
Candle in the night....

Hope not fear...
Faith so clear...

Winter is here...
Warmer sun is near...

Against the darkest night, we connect the dots of our life,
And find, we are not alone....

Soul to Soul....This Time of Year!

This Season is like no other....
We gather together with true friends and family...
...and we travel...do we travel!  Over hills and valleys....oceans...
....to be with each other....we enjoy how hard we work just to be together again....

We sing in churches...and our hearts sing when we see each other...friends and family...
...and when we even just think of each other....our mothers and fathers, and sisters and brothers...
....our workmates, our playmates...even we say "hi" in a better way than ever to complete strangers...
.....this season....

It is a chance we have now to pause and think...and wonder...
....who we do thank...and who we live for....

....and to think into the farthest corners of our world as we know it...
.....everyone has a universe we want to understand in our minds...
.....and we know, if we are honest....that we cannot....
.....and we may even ask forgiveness....
......for trying so hard...so hard to understand what we possibly cannot
........begin to understand...

The heart can see what the mind cannot begin to understand...
The soul can reach for what we cannot ever see....but we can feel....

In this Season, many of us try to understand and share what we see of our world....
...if we find a soul that listens, it is like we have found everything we could have ever hoped for....
.....like we have found someone like ourselves....someone just absolutely who understands..
......this crazy and wild universe....just like we understand it...

Maybe this Season has more of these special moments than any other time....
....I do know that if there are great forces of love and agents of those forces greater than us...
.....this time of year...
......they appear...

And we say,  "Seasons Greetings"...and we know it is the call of the ages and the soul...
...who has heard us...when our reach meets the touch we know from a long time ago....
.....our mother's first touch....when our soul was new in the world....
.......now, our voice is heard.