Thursday, December 10, 2009

Leftover


I talk to you all the time about the moments that count. However, I understand there are a lot of you out there who think that a bunch of your moments do not count for as much as you’d like them to. So you’ve asked me if, well, you can store them somewhere for later use.

I’d love to tell you, “Yeah!”

Ahhh, but, no…………….

Where ya’ gonna put ‘em? In your pocket? In your shoe? In the food pantry? On the other hand, maybe you’d set up a special safe deposit box at the bank? Or maybe you would like to carry ‘em over like extra minutes on your cell phone plan? You know, then use ‘em next month, ‘cuz it feels to you like this month’s had way too many moments that you had to spend in ways you didn’t really want to, so you know next month will be better for spending the moments that you want to count.

Or better yet, remember that incredible Jim Croce song, Time in a Bottle?
What a poet he was……

Well, Jim put it really well when he wrote:

“If I could save time in a bottle
the first thing that I’d like to do
is to save every day……..”

What if we could do that with those moments we felt we’d “wasted” or the ones we count as ill used?
What would we do differently with those moments than we did with them the first time they laid in the hands of our clock of time?

Remember another part of that song……?
I mean the one that says,
“But there never seems to be enough time
to do the things you want to do
once you find them……..”

So, my friends, I smile an easy smile as I blow a kiss in the air to Jim and look back at you all and say, I too, so, so wish there was some amazing, magic bottle to save those moments of ours in. For I too, want Jim’s magic words to come true.

But, until the day that bottle we want washes up on our shore, I guess we’ll just have to learn to count the treasure in all the moments as we spend them.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009


A child is born a soft, beautiful innocent.

Leaving forever their sleep of silence in the sensuous rhythms of the Sea of Nine, they will propel themselves ever forward. They look to us for safety.

A child is born a moving, energetic force.

Touching the air for the first time, their tender bodies shudder with bursting newness. They reach for us, knowing only that they need our comfort.

A child is born a clear, open visionary.

Hearing and seeing with a perception unique from our own, they attend to our actions and reactions to learn their own way.

A child is born a creative, expressive imagination.

Designing a puzzle of complexity to later become the labyrinth of their own being, they look to us for guidance, trusting we will offer them love and peace.

A child is born a pure, expansive mind.

Inventing and changing as each day passes, trying on the ideas and images we model for them. But always, a child looks in our eyes seeking our approval and our nurturance.

A child is born a soft, beautiful innocent.
What a child becomes depends on us all.

Innocence Lost:


Today I read the tragically painful, yet hopeful story of the 52 children rescued as part of the FBI's Innocence Lost National Initiative. In 2003 this program was created, with the goal of stopping the sex trafficking of children in the United States.

We all realize the United States is only one of the countries attempting to deal with these insidious crimes against children. The Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking www.CASTLA.org explains in depth the horror of this story as it reaches around the world touching every crevice of the globe.

However, it is imperative to recognize that a child does not have to be kidnapped in the night, snatched at a playground, or sold into slavery to become the victim of this chilling degradation. The harrowing truth is a child is the victim of a sexual assault from a stranger in only about 10% of all cases.

This, in turn, reflects a catastrophic realization. 90% of the time a child is a victim of sexual abuse, it is caused by someone they know. Additionally, estimates indicate that 30-70% of perpetrators of child sexual abuse are the child's direct relative.

These facts are terrifying.
Yes.

If they are terrifying to us to read I ask us all to think of the incredible terror and overwhelming pain each of these children suffers with daily. These children will grow into adults. All of us do. This pain is not easily left behind.

No child should live this way. No child.

No one.

Anywhere.

Please, reach out.