by Geoffery Moore | May 29, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
Sometimes it feels like in the great sperm race of my conception, everybody lost.
Dear Life,
Ah, but even if you were right, there’s a new human race every day, and you only need to run it with all your heart. A poet put these words into the mouth of God: “Those who try with all their hearts we are permitted to save.” Sounds right to me.”
Dear Soul,
I hear that. But lately, I try and try and it doesn’t seem to be enough. Somehow I’m failing at the last moment to put myself totally into it.
Dear Life,
Ah, I see. Your problem is very simple. Your “try” is way over on one side and your “oomph”—your spirited vigor—is on the other side of town taking a nap. If you’ll bring your “try” and your “oomph” together, you will have “tri-oomph”—triumph! Go ahead and try it. I’ll get my trumpet out to herald your victory.
Today, I’ll realize that the way to have a triumphant life is to live my life as stepping stones of triumphant moments. Now, this very moment, I will try with all my heart-soul-mind because the truth about life is still: “seek and you will find.”
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups that met in cities across America in the 1990s and early 2000s.
by Geoffery Moore | May 22, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
I’ve become grimly serious about everything.
Dear Life,
The remedy is comedy: mine, thine, or divine. But before we go any further, I need to give you a check-up.
The Funnybone Connection
Let’s see now…
Your legbone’s connected to your backbone, and your backbone’s connected to your neckbone, and your neckbone’s connected to your headbone. Uh-oh…Houston, we have a problem! Your headbone is not connected to your funnybone. You’re going to need extensive “relastic” surgery. Without the funnybone connection, you can never really be a whole person. But don’t worry, we have ways…
Today, I’ll be light, and I’ll delight myself and others by seeing everything—especially frustrations and irritations—through the gentle eyes of laughter.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups that met in cities across America in the 1990s and early 2000s.
by Geoffery Moore | May 15, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
Why don’t we just cut to the chase? Why don’t you quit telling me little stories and just tell me the secret?
Dear Life,
I’m not keeping a secret from you. The secret is in you, and we’ve already exposed the edge of this priceless treasure. Care, not speed, is what we need.
Jackhammer Jake and Alicia the Archaeologist
They each found a site of a buried treasure. Jackhammer Jake, in his uncontrollable impatience, went for the gold—and what was once a priceless statue, after Jake got through with it, was only worth so much an ounce.
Alicia worked slowly, carefully—respecting the treasure. Often she worked painstakingly with a tiny brush. Her discovery now stands whole and intact—a treasure for all to see.
The secret is in you—the treasure is in you. The tiny brush strokes of these stories are designed to help bring your treasure to light, without destroying either the treasure or your life.
Today, I’ll be patient—but persistent—with myself. I’ll realize that in reaching my goals, speed is not the issue; the issue is not stopping.
P.S. Camus once said, “In the midst of winter, I found that there was in me an invincible summer.” To uncover the treasure of a new inner you—a little wiser, a little more compassionate, a more courageous and more joyful inner you—yes, I would say that is worth the patient effort. Wouldn’t you?
— GM
by Geoffery Moore | May 8, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
A lot of times, I feel empty inside.
Dear Life,
That’s good—because if there were no empty places inside, there would be no place for what’s coming next in your life.
The Lifesaver and Emptiness
The lifesaver hung on the side of the ship, forever feeling incomplete. As the years passed, the sense of inner-emptiness increased, so she was often in despair.
And then one morning there was a shout—“Man overboard!”—and the lifesaver was flying off the side of the ship, landing on a wave. The hands of a little girl clutched the lifesaver to her—and then she was inside the ring, so happy to be saved.
Now all those years of emptiness made sense. If there had been no emptiness, there would have been no place for the child.
Today, I won’t overfill my day—I’ll leave some blank spaces for new life, new answers, new possibilities.
P.S. Speaking of new possibilities for filling the emptiness: An interviewer said to Mother Theresa, “Mother Theresa, you do so much for others, is there anything we can do for you? Do you need money?” Mother Theresa said, “No, we’re fine.” “Well, is there anything we can do?” Mother Theresa thought a moment and said, “Well, you might find someone who needs a friend and be a friend to them.”
– Geoffery Moore
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are used by permission. They are excerpted from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups that met in cities across America in the 1990s and early 2000s.
by Geoffery Moore | May 1, 2023 | Blog |
Guest post by J. M. Hawkins
Dear Soul,
You talk about joy, but the world is full of tragedy.
Dear Life,
That’s right. If there was no tragedy, there could be no joy. Which reminds me of a story…
The Cobra in the Sandbox
A little boy was playing in a sandbox in the flower garden behind his home. He built kingdoms, commanded armies, changed the course of rivers, and leveled mountains. But, unseen, on the far side of the sandbox, in a shadow, a cobra waited—a real cobra.
The boy’s father walked over just in time to see the cobra slithering toward the boy. The father grabbed the cobra by the tail and flung it over the stone garden wall.
The little boy hugged his father and said, “Now that you’ve thrown that evil creature out of our garden, there will only be joy.”
But the father knew differently. He knew that each day of our lives there is a cobra waiting in the corner for us. So the father wrote in his journal: “Death is a cobra that keeps us aware and that reminds us to live in joy, to be thieves of time. Each moment of our lives is a moment we steal from death—and each moment that is joyful is permanently stolen from death…and these are the moments that determine the meaning of our lives.”
Today, I’ll live intensely—I’ll love intensely. And by loving, I’ll take more from each moment than can ever be taken from me.
*The Dear Soul/Dear Life dialogs by J.M. Hawkins are used by permission. They are taken from his collection, Word From Soul City and were used in discussion groups that met in cities across America in the 1990s and early 2000s.
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