BARTER  & BALANCE   
     [The Book]        

We  bargain with ourselves every year to get better with the budget and have enough left in reserve for simple pleasures and experiences in life.   Time with family, and friends.   Adventures that are simple in heart and fill us with joy, not stress.   The things we have always believed would be enough to sustain us, if only we could get there.

But the harder we try to climb out of that expense, the more we seek in other ways to 'balance the books' and keep our lives "whole".  And with the reality in recent years of so many survivors having to start all over again from scratch, with nothing but their Faith and a blank slate to rely on, we 'thank our lucky stars' and work even harder to build wealth in balance books and columns that measure the contribution of our days.   And only pause long enough in moments when we 'get it', to cut deals with God for the safety of our souls and Salvation - well, provided we are not required to walk in torrents of rain for a welcome heart and shelter –

The messengers though, who have traveled before us already appreciate in greater sense and scope what it once was and became in definition of 'life' that was  so valued.  For in the recounting from those who have weathered disaster, we hear  often about the simple things that mattered – family photos, kindergarten pictures hanging on refrigerators, memories seamed in extraordinary and uncommon ways by Love.   

We forget so quickly it seems, where so many have already been, thinking it will never happen of course, to us, and then it does.  Suddenly.  Swiftly.  And standing  in the ashes wish again we had listened ... and made amends ...

Maybe this year we'll honor the deals we make with our hearts, and let Love be the guide and master of Experience … and in forging the Way, will rediscover what it means to truly 'forgive' our own and other debts in 'balance books' that count ...

Passion & Parallels  [The Persecution] 2007

Mirrors & Mortality [The Master] 2005