Have you ever felt off the map or that you just couldn’t find your place or that there is no map that you literally somehow, someway have gone beyond it? A lot of times we feel like that especially in our current state of, well, unrest and so much division anywhere and everywhere, you look and sometimes it doesn’t even feel like there has been a map or that there is one that gets us to where a place of security, a place of safety a place of Hope; a place where we don’t feel so isolated or alone, yeah, sometimes it feels like there is no map that leads to any kind of any direction. No up. No down. No all around. And so we find ourselves, well, not alone, because maybe the best way to find direction is defined with each other,
looking in different ways for the same thing. . . ?
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
FINDING YOUR WAY
DOESN’T ALWAYS MEAN
STAYING IN THE LINES
OR EVEN
USING A MAP
AT ALL. . .
The NEXTING
The road was before him. . .
After taking such a long time to look at it and get advice on what steps to take, what was ahead and how it was to be best traveled; after getting detailed maps and marking off the best, most direct routes, firing up the most sophisticated of GPS Systems, he finally started off with one
s i n g l e s t e p
M O M E N T O U S
One Solitary Step
was all it really took for the journey. . .and it was quite an excursion!
He walked and ran and then walked and ran some more.
One step sometimes was more similar than the one before,
but he walked on;
Sometimes, he ran faster;
Sometimes, he crawled slower;
Sometimes, he just stood still, not moving even an inch for days. . .
P A R A L Y Z E D
The road never much accommodated him. It never took one step for him or moved him forward. At times it would present him challenges. Because of it’s flaws he would slip, fall, get scrapped and cut, bloodied and bruised. Exhausted most of the time from his seemingly never ending wanderings, the road would never assist him, but it did just what a road was suppose to do:
P R O V I D E
P A S S A G E
U N T I L . . .
He came to that ominous FORK in the Road. . .
It wasn’t the first one he had ever seen or even had been confronted, but this was a monumental fork;
at least he made it be so. . .
Maybe it was out of frustration. Maybe it was inspiration or just plain desperation or exasperation, but he didn’t choose left or right this time. He went straight
ahead. . .tore up his maps, unheeded his expensive advice, became deaf to the pleading-ever-rerouting-of the GPS; discarded his vast experience and he trudged on. . .
His every step was a new road planted and his heart palpitated with excitement, adventure and purpose until he came to the
A P P A R E N T E N D
Before him was a huge cater. It was wider than he could see across, deeper than he could his eyes could focus and longer than the horizon could swallow. . .
It was then, unfortunately, he discovered that with each step he had taken, not only had he advanced at least one more step, but he had also erased forever the step before.
R E T U R N
and
G O I N G B A C K
were not even concepts, let alone, possibilities.
He waited. . .
w a i t e d. . .
at the end of his next step with all of its
e n l i g h t e n e d d a r k e n e d p r o m i s e. . .
It wasn’t in a step taken or dared,
but he had the sense as he damned his foolish actions
of not staying on the path,
right at
T H A T
precise moment,
A L L R O A D S
led to the place that he was standing;
that in fact,
it would have never had mattered
which road he would have ever taken
whenever because they would have all led him
to this exact same place. . .
ALL OF THEM !
He had discovered at that flash,
t h e
M y s t e r y o f L i f e :
There’s no turning
or going back
because everything leads to where he was standing!
and an even grander enigma:
Coming to the End of the Horizon is never a Conclusion so much as a Commencement!
Head head high,
air rushing through his nostrils,
blood pulsating through his veins liked a busted dam,
h e d i d i t. . .
The wait was over. . .
He stepped out
One Step
O N E
It took him to
t h a t
place of endless beginnings;
There were no
goings-back
nor desire to do so. . .
The Step Taken,
The Chance Seized,
The Day-That-Would-Never-End,
B E G U N
F O R E V E R
Pssssssssssssssssssssssssst of the Day:
No need for a New Year
when Every Step Brings You Endless
New Beginnings,
Always!
W A L K O N
w a l k o n
w a l k
on
The Worst Job Ever
Well. . .
what is it?
What’s the
W O R S T J O B
you’ve ever had?
Most of us have had more than
J U S T O N E
J o b in our lives.
I began working well before my 14th birthday.
I had to get
“WORKING PAPERS”
signed by my parents
so that I could work a part-time job behind our house.
Charlie was a pallet builder for shipping companies
and he needed a Laborer to haul wood,
shovel and sweep up sawdust
and burn piles of wood chips/scraps.
It was a hot job
and I hated being literally,
steps aways from my backyard
where my brothers and friends were doing what I wanted to be doing:
P L A Y I N G . . .
There were Golf Course jobs,
being a Roofer,
a waiter in a Pizza diner,
a Steelworker,
working as a clerk/stocker for grocery store,
A Cigar/Tobacco/Pipe Shop Keeper
a Gas Station Attendant,
Student Minister,
Minister,
Associate Minister,
Sr Minister,
Hospice Chaplain,
Part-time Minister,
Self Published Writer,
Professional Speaker,
Wedding
Baptism
and Funearl Officiant. . . .
But do any of those jobs. . .
any of the jobs you ever had compare
to being the
Light Bulb Changer in a Cobra Cage ?
Ophiophagus hanna is the largest/longest venomous snake in the world,
and it has enough venom to kill elephants,
buffaloes,
and oh yeah,
easily any h u m a n. . .
S e r i o u s l y,
how much an hour,
how much a month,
would you need
to make
to do
t h i s
as part of your routine duties?
Me?
Not all of the money in Thailand
and it’s four neighboring Countries.
There are some great jobs,
and there are some absolutely horrible jobs,–
All a matter of perspective, huh?
There are some jobs we do for money,
lots of it,
and some we do for not any money at all.
It’s one of those little
UNKOWN FACTS,
but statistically,
Labor Day is the second
to New Year’s
as the time when most people take time
to actually sit down
and try to GPS
out a fairly clear and even more compelling plan for their future.
The Ga-Zillion dollar question is:
W I L L Y O U B E O N E O F T H E M ?
About time for an old cliche:
IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, ANY ROAD WILL TAKE YOU THERE!
What’s the Worst Job you have ever had?
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. . .
Maybe the Worst job Ever
is you doing
W H A T E V E R
your’e doing and ultimately. . .
N O T S U P P O S E T O B E D O I N G !
OUR WORK
ISN’T WHAT WE DO
BUT WHO WE ARE
Y O U
are the Job. . .
Y O U
are the Work
that needs to get
F I N I S H E D !
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
There’s no money in the world
—-all of it—-
that anyone could ever get
or give to do
T H A T J O B !
H A P P Y
(U N – )L A B O R D A Y
DESTINATION OR DESIGNATION?
The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began,
though the voices around you
kept shouting
their bad advice–
though the whole house
began to tremble
and you felt the old tug
at your ankles.
‘Mend my life!’
each voice cried.
But you didn’t stop.
You knew what you had to do,
though the wind pried
with its stiff fingers
at the very foundations,
though their melancholy
was terrible.
It was already late
enough, and a wild night,
and the road full of fallen
branches and stones.
But little by little,
as you left their voices behind,
the stars began to burn
through the sheets of clouds,
and there was a new voice
which you slowly
recognised as your own,
that kept you company
as you strode deeper and deeper
into the world,
determined to do
the only thing you could do–
determined to save
the only life you could save
Mary Oliver
Journeys are always important; they prove that we are more than mere push-pins on a map showing where we’ve been, where we are and maybe, where we’ve yet to be but are well on our ways. . .
Mary Oliver’s poem inspired this Caring Catalyst to do some noodling about what’s most important on my journey, the DESTINATION or the DESIGNATION especially on this Friday before Labor Day weekend, when we ponder our work and ourselves. . . HENCE:
DESIGNATIONS
I haven’t always gotten all aboard
a train
a ship
a trolley car
a taxi
a plane
a merry-go-round-roller-coaster-ferris wheel
but I have journeyed
from so many destinations
to even more designations
the best being the ones not planned
and whether it feels like
I’ve traveled aimlessly
or at times not much at all
I’ve always arrived or been
exactly where I needed to be
especially without baggage or
any hefty leave-it-all-behind carry on’s
Always more than a a push pin on a map
of Somewhere’s
Destinations to Designations
define more than a place I’m at
but more of who I am
MAPPING OUT A LIFE IN WORDS
READING A MAP
Maybe it’s a long forgotten art now that we have GPS systems and WAZE and GOOGLE MAPS but at times we don’t know our up from a down or a left from a right because. . .we’ve lost our direction. . .
WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN
. . .this sense of DIRECTLESSNESS
so when I recently read a post from Neale Donald Walsch, his words rang my chimes in a way that I needed D I R E C T E D
“you cannot help another who will not
help him- or herself.
In the end, all souls must walk their path — and the
reason they are walking a particular path may not be
clear to us…or even to them at the level of ordinary
human consciousness.
Do what you can to help others, of course. Show
love and caring whenever and wherever you can.
But do not get caught up in someone else’s “story”
to the point where you start writing it.
Know what I mean?”
and as usual
Master RUMI
doesn’t disappoint:
PRAYER FOR CHANGE
I prayed for change,
so I changed my mind.
I prayed for guidance
and learned to trust myself.
I prayed for happiness
and realized I am not my ego.
I prayed for peace
and learned to accept others unconditionally.
I prayed for abundance
and realized my doubt kept it out.
I prayed for wealth
and realized it is my health.
I prayed for a miracle
and realized I am the miracle.
I prayed for a soul mate
and realized I am the One.
I prayed for love
and realized it is always knocking,
but I have to allow it in.
~ Rumi♡
Psssssssssssssssssssssssst:
The Pen in your hand
is for writing your story
and not Another’s
but at best
there’s a glorious collaboration
that forever sees our stories
telling each other’s
We travel on
in each other’s words
as they tell the stories
we are ever writing. . .
MORE THAN A SPECK
Bits of grit
the Wind
scatters us
where it will
as we travel
to destinations
not yet GPSable
but have waited
an Eternity
to welcome every
irritating speck
of us
Home
(however we define it)
(wherever we find it)
or it unearths
Us
OUR STRENGTH
OUR POWER
IS FOUND
BY RECOGNIZING
THAT AS MERE SPECKS
WE ARE NOT A PART OF A MOUNTAIN
BUT THE MOUNTAIN IS A PART OF
U S
IN THE MIDDLE
Somehow
someway
the more or the less
always has a way of equaling
E N O U G H
It’s never so much the
middle ground
or maybe even the
common ground
recognizing the
Ground Zero
. . .And it’s never where we are not
which makes us all exactly where we need to be
NOW
in the seldom explored
Land of Enough
Where GPS is not necessary,
Compasses not needed
And finding a way
Is THE WAY
that leads us all home
Not a destination
Not a street address
Not to a specific place
But an undeniable FEELING
to let you know you’ve never been safer
And more UN-ALONE
N O W
that’s a Ride
that’ll take you down any road you’ve ever been on
and some you’ve yet to imagine
let alone travel. . .
H O M E
I’ve long believed that
H O M E
is never a Street Address
A P.O. BOX Number
A GPS Destination
H O M E
Is not ever a place
so much as a
F E E L I N G
If COVID19
hasn’t taught us anything else
over these past long months
it’s not so much how
c o n t a g i o u s
it happens to be
but how
I N F E C T I O U S
our love
our sense
our longing
our need
to be
TOGETHER
to be in
COMMUNITY
with each other. . .
What do you call
H O M E
. . .better still:
WHO BRINGS YOU THERE. . . ?
P R O V E
I T
Psssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst:
It’s time to
P R O D I G A L
U P
and get
H O M E
(And most of all to PROVIDE IT)
GETTING Home for CHRISTMAS. . .IN JULY
The EDEKA GROUP
is the largest German Supermarket Corporation, currently holding a market share of 26%. They were founded in 1898 and consists today of several cooperatives of independent supermarkets all operating under the umbrella organization Edeka Zentrale AG & Co KG, with headquarters in Hamburg. There are approximately 4,100 stores with the Edeka name that range from corner stores to megastores.
You want to gain even a greater range of attention?
Put out a Video like the one above
FOR THE CHRISTMAS SEASON
So. . .
what say
Y O U ?
Do you think that the video evokes an emotional rape?
Do you favor the Father for faking his death in bringing his family together for Christmas. . .
possibly one last time?
Do you blame the Children for not having enough time. . .
for being too busy for coming home for Christmas or
C H R I S T M A S I N J U L Y
to be with their lonely dad?
G E T T I N G H O M E
I mean. . .
r e a l l y
GETTING WHAT HOME
really means is nothing more precious to any of us. . .
especially during the Holidays
and not to mention
THE EVERYDAY
H O M E
means more than showing up at some place we might have lived or grown up in
. . .it means more than two story dwelling with a crackling logs in a fire place
. . .it means more than decorations or paint schemes
. . .it means more than where a meal is shared or a drink is lifted up and toasted
. . .it means more than some makeshift, outback family reunion
. . .it means more
. . .it means m u c h more.
But the only question it ever really means is
what it means to you. . . ?
GETTING HOME
means more than traveling a road
means more than following a route
means more than using GPS
means more than making reservations
means more than a humble dwelling
GETTING HOME
goes beyond a Dictionary Definition
or a family’s understanding
GETTING HOME
isn’t something you give or receive
it’s only something
you have
but maybe haven’t always realized
or worse
put to good use
for you
for others. . .
Here’s to you
GETTING HOME
really
G E T T I N G
I T
See you at the Corner Store
for a gallon of
L O V E
and a pound of
T O G E T H E R N E S S
(every Season)
C H R I S T M A S
or
C H R I S T M A S I N J U L Y
A BLESSING
Each May for the past four years I have had the honor of doing a
BLESSING OF THE BIKES
at Lake Erie Harley-Davidson
in Avon, Ohio
It brings a crowd of Bike owners out for a Pancake Breakfast
and a Blessing of the Bikes Ceremony. . .
Each year before the Blessing
I usually give a small meditation
that emphasizes that
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY
and at it’s best when we go down one road
only to find ourselves coming up another street
we didn’t know existed
to places we never imagined. . .
Sometimes
LIFE IS AT IT’S BEST
when at it’s least GPS’D. . .
I go to each Biker
young/old and all in between
and ask them how many miles they have on their bikes and then tell them, “Here’s hoping that the best miles are the ones you’ve yet to ride to places you’ve never imagined; BE BLESSED TO BLESS.”
The take away:
(THERE’S ALWAYS A TAKE AWAY)
THERE’S A HUGE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
A BLESSING
a n d
T H E B L E S S I N G. . .
A BLESSING IS WHAT YOU GIVE. . .
THE BLESSING IS WHAT YOU GET IN RETURN
(and there’s no comparison except in the spelling of the word:
b l e s s i n g)
T E S T I T
