That Thing With Feathers

Hope
is a thing with feathers,
Or so the poet wrote
It beats against the breast
Fighting its way against
The cage of caution and
hard lessons and
Regret
Hope is an untameable
creature slipping between bars
too weak to hold it captive
It lifts and dips and whirls
Following updrafts of
possibilities
In dreams and whispers
and wistful wishes
Hope is the thing with power
To rise and Rise again
To overcome and conquer
It holds the line
Refusing retreat from
The threat of disappointment
and cynicism and despair
Hope is the Savior
and the Victor
The Hero of Love,
the Merciful touch,
and Rescue of the lost
Hope is the lighthouse beacon,
the joyful freedom
Hope is the Light in the dark.

-KJ Roe

Jericho

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It seeps beneath the walls
of our defenses
Finding weakness that
is really just vulnerability
undermined by uncertainty
and fear
It goads us into
retaliation
Or collapse,
Knocking the legs out
from under our confidence
and leaving us gasping
and searching
for a lifeline
As the panic sets in
And we recognize the
shadows were locked inside
us all along
We scream in secret silence,
hide it all with
brave smiles,
Take a breath, and another,
Open our eyes to find
Hope shining through
the cracks we thought
only pain knew;
Reach out a trembling hand
cry out with anguished heart
To discover the Light
conquers the demons
With renewed promise
each time we
Let down our walls.

-KJ Roe

Beacon – A Note to Self and Others

There is no reason not to be the sparkling light that you are, no reason to keep holding it in… Don’t do that to yourself. No more holding back your potential or stifling your dreams.

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Get back to yourself.

You are not this lost, nervous, fearfully hopeful wreck of waiting-for-something-to-happen. You are not this amorphous being floating, waiting for THAT THING that will give you meaning.

You are You. An amazingly giving, creative, thinking, working, loving being who is so much more than some outside perception. You have a purpose in life. And yes, part of your purpose is to love. Love is so much a part of the world that it transcends generations, race, religion, geography. It is so much a part of life that the experience of it can actually affect a person’s health and well-being. It is the source of much of the good that happens. And it lives in, and through, you.

You also have purpose in teaching, in learning, in growing and becoming and leading and holding. In putting into words that which is so much more, or in putting into action that which can be accomplished, or in putting into art that which can be felt. You have meaning. You are an embodiment of characteristics that combine to make one very exceptional and unique person. There are instances of kindness and love that others would never have experienced if it were not for you. You make a difference.

We need to get back to that. We all need to quit wallowing and floundering in this narrow view of the negatives, of the problems right in front of us and the overwhelming and seemingly endless tragedies of the world. We need to get back to the people we were meant to be, once again. Quit looking at this narrow corner of life, turn around, and face outward toward the world. There is so much more out there. Immeasurable moments of joy and beauty to find. Stop waiting for the perfect love. Stop waiting for the ideal time to reach out to another. Forget holding off on doing the kind thing just because we can’t predict another’s reaction. We can nurture good by living life in kindness and positivity. Do it now.

There is so much to do and learn and experience in this life, and so many people to get to know and care about, and so very little time. Open your heart to others. Go out and do the things you’ve been wanting to do. Stop waiting on someone to give you the okay. Go and help someone who needs it. Take those lessons. Live that adventure. Enjoy that view.

There is no reason not to be the sparkling light that you are, no reason to keep holding it in, hiding it lest it get extinguished. The only one who can douse it, the only one who can really snuff it out, is you. Don’t do that to yourself. No more holding back your potential or stifling your dreams. Don’t be the one who makes up reasons not to do things that expand your ability to Live. To do so is to succumb to fear or anger or resentment – to let negative burdens be your master.

They are not.

We humans have an extraordinary capacity for love, compassion, and generosity. We are blessed with the ability to see life from another’s point of view. We can think, and dream, and create. We can hold, and laugh, and forgive. You can do all of this. You have infinite possibilities locked inside you. You are a marvelous, fantastic, unequaled aurora of potential, and You are the only one of You in all of time. No one else can do the things you do exactly the way you do them. No one else can have the same impact on the world that you can. You are an irreplaceable beacon shining through the dark.

Let that light shine.

Possibilities

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How does one understand the heart, much less explain it? The blanket statement “Everyone wants to be loved” just doesn’t do it justice. It doesn’t cover the nuances, the journeys, the heartaches and heartbreaks and effervescent explosions of infatuation. It doesn’t convey the quiet, comforting joy of a love well-lived and a life well-loved. There is so much more to the heart, a strength and fragility that co-exist in a precarious symbiosis of counterpoints: trust and trustworthiness; honor and understanding; encouragement and truth.

Human language is ill-equipped to truly express the depths of what is in the heart; this is why we use so many other mediums to say what words alone cannot. We turn to the rhythms and melodies of music. We capture snippets of beauty in photographs and strokes of a paintbrush. Perhaps we build, or design, or grow. Whatever our talent – nay, whatever moves us – we hold in our hearts. Hopefully we cherish it, nurture it, feed it with more of the same magnificence that lifts our spirits. Then we can send it out into the world, a little fuller, a little brighter, a little bit of heart grown bigger.

In this way, love – the love of a person for his fellow human – grows. If we all grew our own heart-source like this, there would be little room for anger and strife and war. If we all opened our hearts to shine our own special light, the darkness would be overcome. That is what the heart is – unveiled, unshrouded, unrestricted, it is our very own universe of unlimited possibility, created to be a light in this world.

-KJ Roe

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