the stars are trying to get in

unlit fire pit

forgot spatula

no meat to flip

my tent

rips

wind flips paper leaves

dirt carpet

catches trees’

sheddings

and my eye

drips,

salty, droopy

 hands

wait, black hole

head,

 poison crowdsurf thoughts

dead

drowning in illusions

unsure

not safe

but my flesh tent will be

okay

because

the stars are trying to get in

they knocked yesterday,

looked at my failing

estate, said “yes.”

then dropped their stations, to shine within

me

so I’m still camping

on this site with the port-a-potty and the squirrels

my camp grill’s lit now though,

I didn’t do it.

the rocks started singing and I

couldn’t help but

join in.

now we’re clapping

my toes tapping

I can’t stop

smiling

inside

 the lantern’s lit

hot dogs roasting

the forest still smells

like forest,

my hair’s the same colour

but now

I know Love

Himself

heaven here

the stars laugh from

within

I don’t recognize myself

but I’m glad

 to divorce old

this is so much

better

my joy container:

the sky—wide and unmeasured by human

eye

I’m a band

a regular symphony,

forever

colliding

with

now

free happy

clown. forced, fake, makeup caked, dressed to make you think of joy but on the inside a crying mess. farce!

—that’s all earth offers—pretend mirage happy like chasing wind, never full.

 All earth can give you is empty wind.

 “Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What does man gain by all the toil at which he toils under the sun? A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it rises. The wind blows to the south and goes around to the north; around and around goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again. All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”

Ecclesiastes 1:2-9 ESV

but this lie that can lead us to look for who is life!

because happy is real.    

genuine in out true happy. rainbow on rain joy! real happy.

a snail snails slowly along, happy as can be just the way he is—slime trail & all! no rock complains about sitting still. no cloud compares herself to lightning in jealous huffs. no, nature, creation, is content. so why do we talk back to Creator? why do we wish away what He gave? each one of us has a gift unique! if we would only stop looking around & instead find & embrace our specific dna. rock rock and cloud cloud, salamander be salamander and naked mole rat be naked & you be nakedly unashamed in Him.

a part of losing ourselves in Him is to discover the freedom of being happy. happy with how He made us because we are satisfied with His beauty. happy is not a circumstance or luck, chance or getting what we want. happy is Jesus, the only love and puzzle piece missing cornerstone without whom we will always miss but with Him, fullness and happy and life!

Jesus + Nothing = Everything!

Jesus says love your neighbor as you love yourself. if you grumble about any part of how you’re made, you’re unable to love your neighbor in that way…

you cannot give what you don’t have.

so receive love, put it on! & you will have ample love to give to the person in front of your face this moment, & the next.

because without love we are nothing.

we can do no thing on our own.

so receive love now. put Him on. because He gave, we give.

happy & free because Jesus died for me, i’ll live for Him in harmony! paid the price, came back to life, free. bought with blood, sealed with dove. I know i’m loved. so I sit in this rapturous goodness & grace, getting to multiply what He first gave me—love.

I looked high low, under stones & stars, all the places I could think but my heart still throbbing my hole still gaping, invisible flesh wound spreading & sin sickness killing.

until what I could not do myself was done for me, chosen by God on a wet cold skull hill, Love came down & rescued me. drowning was all I knew until I received the gift of lungs and took my first breath of Life.

happiness is Jesus is Gods gift to us. to be fully content in God. whatever you think you’re looking for, the answer is Jesus. until you surrender to His breath in your lungs, you will be stuck with the mickey mouse bandaid you taped across the bullet holes bleeding out.

be happy now when you fall down, lose your clowns—those lies masquerading as truth, & let Happiness Himself wreck & give and burn prune remodel your interior until it’s new. because until we unglue, we’ll never be who we’re created to be. so let Artist great have you. & the masterpiece He crafted you to shine will be.

“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”Psalm 16:11

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Philippians 4:4

Singsong dancewed

the tree is laughing

all my hurt swallowed by music

i can’t stop singing

these battle wounds now

battle scars, marks

who testify—rebirth occurs

can’t tie me down

can’t cage these cells

the Breath Beginner

freed me

the Greenblue Marble Speaker spoke & stonecold death broke

flesh tent coursing, can’t contain, shaking

from fullness gonna overflow everywhere i go

my feet tap to His happy clap, their soles painted glee leave prints in minds & sidewalk squares. a simple song—Be Free

now a wave, now another, gush, asking to have me

yes! i say

thank you for proposing

my rainbow white gown drenched in joy watercolor tears. have me, ocean of bottomless sideless topless endless love

consume & partake

salsa bachata waltz twirl, love at first brush stroke You spoke & i am

You holy, divine, outside of time. all of life a mysterious romance—Your Kingly Self pursues clay us, poised to pounce the moment a flutter of one toe momentum moves toward Maker

waterfalls who no one sees

still relentlessly pour, in wood crevices and mountain treasure chests

come rest in the Garden of Design

lay down your time

surrender all bruises

put down those fists

you’ve been running but there’s a dance floor you’ve been boxing but He’s not keeping score

of your punches (that’s already paid for) so lay down and let the flower’s dew change you

party!

everyone is invited to The Party!

& once there, everyone has presents waiting…to be opened!

sadly, many choose to not accept their invitation.

they don’t believe the good news of acceptance so they ignore their invitation in disbelief. of those who say yes, many never open the presents given to them. some open a few presents while still leaving a pile of presents untouched. while the fewest group of all, are those who receive fully from the goodness of the Giver. they are of humble childlike meekness &, with simplicity, they accept the invitation to life & then go & open each gift given to them from Him.

which partygoer are you?

have you accepted your party invitation or carelessly tossed it in the garbage can?

to accept the free invitation to be a part of Gods family is good news! we are all invited! God says yes to us in Jesus! will we say yes to Him? He’s proposed. it’s now up to us to respond—in faith with simple agreement, or in rejection of free gift of eternal life.

if you do accept, GREAT! but it’s not a one time acceptance! there’s more He wants to give. He is the more; the more we know Him, the more beauty, more love, more everything good—More HIM—is received in us. but it is possible to receive once, twice, several more times…then stop. check your heart. how are you receiving from God *today*. not yesterday or tomorrow—today. today is the day of salvation! live one day at a time as each day has enough troubles of its own. each day is fresh mercy is fresh reception, fresh gifts given from above to be received from God to each one of us!

the gift given is not just for you.

to truly open a gift & to relish it, is to expand it—when you’re excited about something, you want to share it with others! the joy and the peace & the laughing all transfer.

likewise to ignore that present given to you, hurts those around you. if you’re grumpy, anxious, irritable, rude, it drags those with you to those low levels as well.

receive well. because God Giver—the Party Himself— is worthy.

God is the gift. will you receive Him today?

“Therefore let us draw near to the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace for help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:16

“But don’t forget this one thing, loved ones, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some consider slowness. Rather, He is being patient toward you—not wanting anyone to perish, but for all to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:8-9

“For we know that if the tent, our earthly home, is torn down, we have a building from God—a home not made with human hands, eternal in the heavens.”
2 Corinthians 5:1