A Whole Lot of Nothing?

Anything is possible.

anything is everything,

everything is nothing,

nothing is something,

something is anything,

anything is nothing.

Is everything nothing or

nothing everything?

Where you are matters.

my here is your there,

both are somewhere,

somewhere is anywhere,

anywhere is everywhere,

everywhere is nowhere,

nowhere is somewhere,

here, there, everywhere, nowhere.

When?

Now or then?

then is now,

now is when,

when is then,

now,

not yet,

already.

Anything is possible.

nothing becomes something,

anywhere or everywhere anytime,

depending on who you are,

you are me,

I am you,

you and me are we,

We are possible!

Attention

People mostly did not know enough when they were living life that they were living it. ~ Olive Ketteridge

It's life's illusions I recall. I really don't know life at all.  ~Joni Mitchell

Wonder what I missed yesterday,
or last year, or way back when,
or even five minutes ago.
Were birds singing and I didn't hear them?
Did you say something?
Sorry, I wasn't listening.
Wish I had paid more attention.
It was right in front of me.
Never saw it coming.
If it had been a snake...
Wish I had that to do over again.
If I had only known.
Lost sunrises and sunsets.
Missed moments.
A smile changed my life.
"Please"
"Thank you."
"I love you."
A touch.
A smell.
It's always happening
-Life -
gone before we know it.
Better pay more attention.
"What was that again?"

A Made-up Day

This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it!  ~Psalm 118:24

Yesterday, as numerous Facebook posts would have me believe, was Siblings Day. Many of those well wishes to and memories of siblings described the day as a "made up day." This made me think, aren't they all - "made up?" Mother's and Father's days were created by greeting card companies. Even the big ones like Christmas and Easter co-opted existing "days" and evolved through cultural and religious influences. 

Perhaps the most "made-up" day of our time was created by a television show. Does anybody remember (or celebrate) "Festivus for the rest of us!?"    

There are anniversaries, including birthdays,  that celebrate dates of actual events, but even these have a sense of made-up-ness because we as individuals and communities decide which days are to be remembered and which are not.

The truth is a day is just a day until we give it meaning through the attention we give it or the memory we have of it. Each day is (to use a few cliches) a blank canvas, an empty page, a path yet made. As the psalmist above says, each day is a gift to become what we give it, what we put into it, how we react to its events. 

"The sun comes up and the sun goes down." Whether a day is fully lived, remembered, commemorated, or celebrated is up to us.

So, go out and make up a day! 

Dreams and Fears

...your old men shall dream dreams,  and your young men shall see visions... ~ Joel 2:28

...Do not be afraid... ~Luke 2:10

Fifty years ago today a black man with a dream of human equality and dignity was murdered by an angry white man who feared human equality and dignity as a threat to the prevalent lie of white supremacy. The black man's dream as well as the white man's fear continue to comfort and haunt the  American psyche.

Somewhere in this struggle is the ultimate hope that the dream is our true destiny and the fear a distorted illusion.