Whisper...

More dreams haunted my sleep...some morphing from pictures I've seen, an adorable cottage surrounded by flowers and colour into a mobile home at the end of a long driveway, places I've never seen...the elderly woman who felt her life was over at 80 odd years young, despondent and alone, our friendship a spark of life....our purpose does not end with the accumulation of years my friends, we have a path to walk and along that path we will encounter friend and foe, the needy, the destitute and the rich...each one crying out for help, for a kind word, for a smile freely given in love, in compassion....

Many times through a night, I will wake and feel...will lay still and slowly recall the dreams, test the energy in the room...sound strange? A leftover from the past...a filmy filament of the original floating across my vision, scraping over settled nerves...twanging them like guitar strings to great affect...I awake and listen, wonder if I locked up before sliding into Neverland, into dreams of those in need and those left behind...

I remind myself I am safe...address unknown...I remind myself I am not the same woman I was a year ago, 6 months ago....I live in reality, in the present, but I prepare...I don't live like the child in Home Alone, but in the event of...I am prepared. Here's the thing dear hearts...they are cowards, feeding on your fear...engulfing your boundaries, tearing down your walls in secret knowing full well the things they do in private would not be tolerated in the public eye. Too many tough men and women walking the streets of the North...

Isaiah 35:3 "Strengthen the feeble hands,

steady the knees that give way:

say to those with fearful hearts,

Be strong, do not fear:

Your God will come,

He will come with vengeance:

with divine retribution

He will come to save you."

True strength does not need to subjugate, to push down, to quell, quash...to maul, mash, mishandle or molest....true strength and confidence understands that they are set on this earth to protect...whatever, however that means...by peace, or by violence.

They protect, they do not hide in the shadows or commit dastardly deeds in secret.

They confront their own shortcomings...taking responsibility and accountability for hurtful things and change their actions to reflect inner goodness, inner peace, to reflect their commitment to being better, doing better.

Working the job I've done over the past months I have become stronger than ever...physically, mentally, emotionally...I have been pushed to uncomfortable moments of growth, but oh the joy of conquering the mountain...the absolute beauty of creation bringing my senses back online, blowing the cobwebs from my mind to a clarity I have not possessed in years.

I SEE....in ways I have not ever seen...even as a teen, a young adult full of confidence, full of joie de vivre....the light has grown in brilliance, in illumination until some days I throw my hands up in awe and ask for a moment to catch my breath...the words pour in, the thoughts run...oh dear treasures they run, they race to reach the finish line...I have been pulled from the pit by degrees in understanding of the need for stealth not speed, but once out...oh the feeling of flying is all at once exhilarating and frightening...breathtaking views of what life can be, should be....a view from above filtering through the sh*t (pardon my language), the conditioning of verbal attacks, long silences, covert but comically obvious cheating and betrayal, the physical assaults....the view given by a God who loves, who sees truly, who knows our hearts, our minds and what our spirits need.

We as a people need spirituality...our spirits crave some form of enlightenment however that looks to you. Those in India...Buddhism, Hinduism....those in Africa, the worship of Ancestors....oh there are many crossovers and small pockets of other religions but they vary with the culture, with the people....and all lead to the same need for spiritualism of some form...all paths lead to a God who loves, who breathes life into the lost and forsaken, into the broken and bleeding.

We must love...must seek to be better than we were yesterday, last week, last year....embrace change dear hearts, it leads to goodness, to what you are worthy of....of being loved for you, for being who you are meant to be.

'Loves saves'...(Maya Angelou)....it truly does...love has saved me my friends...God has poured out His love, His compassion, His kindness in so many ways, some days I can hardly take it all in. Some days I lay a hand over my heart and just think, if we were given all God has to give we would not live to see another day...it is blindingly beautiful and gracious.

I hope you bear with me as I wax eloquently (or try) on the Love of God...in the love of family, of forever friends, of a stranger lovingly enfolding me every day he saw me until he was no longer a stranger but a friend, of smiles and kind words from people I have never met. Physically in the grandeur of sunsets, sunrises, the views from mountain Lakes and valleys spread out as far as the eye can see.

Love saves....gives hope, promotes faith, lives for another day, for another whack at getting it right...

Walk it out dear treasures....there is something for each one of us....

Stand tall dear lost ones...your time is coming...a way is being made....

Speak your truth...with grace, with mercy, with kindness and compassion and watch your world bloom, watch the light grow until you too throw your hands up in joy, in awe.

I would not lie...there are bumps, trips and falls...but we get back up and continue on our journey to more, to better, to light and life...

Worthy of all that is good, of all that is lovely....you, dear hearts are worthy.