I see it hundreds of times a week as I chart, talk on the phone, prepare for presentations

.          .          .and yet,

I’m not so sure it’s fully sunk in since I put it up there just a little over two years ago;

.            .            .and isn’t this exactly what it’s all about.          .          .

not only to LOVE.            .            .

but to be L O V E D

or  as  s h e 

framed it:

“T O    H E A R T    A N D    T O    B E    H E A R T E D.            .            .”

Can you see it?

.

Admitted.          .          .

you have to look really, really hard and maybe even longer.        .        .

Look again just ahead of the word

A     D     M     I     T     T     E     D

Do you see it now?

Squint

Squint harder, more intently

Ahhhhhhh, there it is right?

What do you see.          .          .

Here, let me make it easier for you:

PAY  ATTENTION,  C L A S S :

LOOK      BEYOND      WHAT’S      SEEN;

SEE      WHAT      CAN’T      BE      VIEWED

She purposely, intentionally asked to see me.        .        .

her husband was dying

and her request was almost insulting simple:

“Would it be alright if I could bring a heart shaped stone to honor my husband? In the Meditation Room, I saw that there is a bowl of rocks that have been placed there to remember each person that has died here at Hospice House.  I’d just like to bring in a small heart shaped rock to remember him; would that be alright?”Simple, huh?

He died over the weekend.  I never saw her or him again.

When I went into the Meditation room on Monday, I saw in the bowl of rocks a heart shaped one.          .           .

She said, “It was ‘OUR  THING'”

and now, quite simply and humbly without trumpets blaring drums beating she made it MY THING, she made it even further through this Blog, OUR THING 

The QUESTION

really is:

WILL      IT      BE      YOUR      THING ?

She told me, “It was ‘our thing’  I HEART HIM!”

I stood there Monday morning before really starting my day, my week with a heart shaped stone in my hand and the first thing that I thought was that there was one thing stronger than any shaped stone:

L            O            V            E

And so I’ll ask again:

.

DO     YOU    SEE    IT ?

Look beyond what’s seen:

white space or minuscule dot

SEE WHAT CAN’T BE VIEWED

KNOW WHAT CAN’T BE UNDERSTOOD

EXPERIENCE WHAT CAN’T BE READILY FELT

L          I          V          E

H  E  A  R  T       S OMEONE

h e a r t

a n d  

b e

H    E    A    R    T    E    D
(along   your   ways)

P  L  A  C  E

Is it just a

P H I L O S O P H Y

Is it just a

F E E L I N G.          .          .

It was an early Sunday morning

not on the way to Church

and she was laying under some bushes in a vacant parking lot;

He didn’t see her

She did.          .          .

After going through the driver thru of Starbucks,

they went across the street and went through the drive thru of McDonalds

and bought a Big Breakfast with pancakes

and a medium coffee;

when they came to the vacant lot

they found that she was still sleeping, wearing most probably everything she owned, sitting by an empty pizza box and half 2 liter bottle of Shasta Ginger Ale;

He stayed in the car.          .          .

She got out with the McDonalds and went over to her quietly

not really trying to wake her
(what a great way to wake up, huh? McDonalds in the bushes!)

She woke up a little startled but was calmed quickly;

at first she refused the meal and the $20 bill

but was convinced to receive it not so much as a

G     I      F      T

but   as   a

F          A          V          O          R
(to make the humble Giver’s feel better about themselves)

She accepted

If the definition of a musician is:

P L A Y I N G     M U S  I  C

He is ONE;

if it’s one who plays music

F  O  R      F  R  E  E

He’s  the  most  purest  of  Maestro’s;

He played on the Boardwalk as people walked by

TRYING   NOT   TO   LOOK

and absolutely not stopping

and adamantly not GIVING

in his bent up rusted Maxwell House Coffee Can

but when he began a rendition of

AMAZING GRACE

angels wept
(as did I standing not so closely beside him, looking out at the ocean)

He asked for a glass of wine
(was refused it because of it being Sunday)

and got a glass of water with very few ice cubes

that didn’t jingle so well as he swirled them around his glass after a few sips;

It wasn’t that he looked poor

It wasn’t that he looked hungry

It wasn’t that he looked forgotten

It wasn’t that he looked used/abused

so much as he just looked lonely;

The Waiter was called over and the couple asked for his bill to pay as they were leaving to pay their own;

He never knew  W   H   O

and they didn’t stay around to see  HOW he responded.          .          .

Is it just a

P  L  A  C  E

Is it just a

P H I L O S O P H Y

Is it just a

F E E L I N G.          .          .

S       o       m       e       t       i       m       e       s

Church doesn’t have a specific address

Church doesn’t have a specific location

Church doesn’t have a phone number

Church doesn’t have specific hours or times of Service

Church as it’s best is when it ISN’T

and then.         .        .

It’s MUCH MORE!

Why Wear or Share your Faith

when you can help ANOTHER

EXPERIENCE their OWN.          .          .

.                .              .and it’s most sacred
(just by showing up)

Looking out the Wrong Window and Seeing.        .        .

We’ve all been on them before, haven’t we?

F      L      I      G      H      T      S

We’ve, in fact,

most likely been on flights where someone.     .     .

maybe a child,

maybe an adult,

who’s actually flying for the very first time;

Amazing, isn’t it?

Seeing their  WONDER   for the first time–seeing it all.     .     .

what they expect

and what they most likely didn’t expect at all.

I remember hearing a little boy one time,

peering out of the airplane window

once we took off and got above the clouds.       .       .

He mentioned about how they looked like

“MOUNTAINS      OF      MARSHMALLOWS.”

Or, or the little girl wondering,

maybe what we all have,

but didn’t have the gumption to quite say out loud:

“Hey, where   are   the   angels?   I   thought   I’d   see   angels   up   here.”

Hmmmmm.      .      .

p  r  e  c  i  o  u  s      stuff:

PURE      INNOCENCE,

even more,

undiluted   WONDERINGS,   huh?

We’ve all looked out the wrong window and seen the most amazing things,

haven’t   we

.        .        .or have we?

THE FLOOD WATERS FROM KATRINA HAD KNOCKED OUT THE POWER. DOCTORS AND NURSES WERE OVERSTRETCHED AND OVERTIRED. PATIENTS WERE DYING AND THE EVACUATION OF MANY OF THE SICKEST SEEMED IMPOSSIBLE. INJECTING DRUGS WAS ONE ANSWER THAT SOME MEMBERS OF THE MEDICAL STAFF DECIDED ON. WERE THEY TRYING TO COMFORT THOSE PATIENTS–OR HASTEN THEIR DEATHS? (new york times magazine, August 30, 2009–Sheri Fink)

W R O N G           W I N D O W ?

A 70 YEAR OLD MAN WITH METASTATIC PROSTATE CANCER TO THE BONE IS IN INTRACTABLE PAIN AND IS PLAINLY TELLING YOU THAT IF YOU DON’T DO SOMETHING TO TAKE HIS PAIN AWAY N O W HE HAS THE MEANS AND THE WAY AND ABSOLUTELY THE MOTIVE TO TAKE THINGS INTO HIS OWN HANDS AND IT WILL BE MESSY.

W R O N G           W I N D O W ?

A  34  YEAR OLD MOTHER OF THREE CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF  6  IS BEGINNING TO SHOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF ACTIVELY DYING WITH A HIGH RISK OF ACTUALLY BLEEDING OUT. NOT ONLY DOES SHE HAVE A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF SPIRITUAL/EMOTIONAL PAIN LEAVING HER THREE CHILDREN BUT SHE WAS ALSO PRESENT AT AN EARLY AGE TO WITNESS THE DEATH OF HER MOTHER WHO DID BLEED OUT. HIGH DOSES OF MEDS ARE BEING ADMINISTERED TO HER ROUTINELY WITH BREAK THROUGH MEASURES IN PLACE AND SHE IS STILL IN EXTREME TERMINAL RESTLESSNESS.

W R O N G           W I N D O W ?

Amazing isn’t it?

Some windows are dirty,

smudged and even cracked.       .       .

Some windows just seem to be the very worst,

the absolute Wrong ones to peer through.       .       .

Some windows.         .         .

The most amazing things can be seen when you look out the

W R O N G           W I N D O W ?

.        .         .with no Focus on Noticing  A N Y T H I N G

and seeing what you never could have imagined.        .        .

maybe what you never wanted to envision

and then suddenly

have to now  entertain;

Crystal Clear

or  highly  smudged.         .         .

We’ve all looked out windows and been surprised by what we’ve seen.

The    WRONG    WINDOW ?

Sometimes.        .        .

sometimes we look out the Wrong windows and see

The      R I G H T       T H I N G S.     .     .

F        O        C        U        S

B e c o m i n g

a  Caring  Catalyst

is so much more

about looking out the wrong windows

c o n s i s t e n t l y

and    s e e i n g

the right things

and

r  e  c  o  g  n  i  z  i  n  g

we  already

A          R          E

Caring  Catalysts  

with   just   the   right   kind   of

f       o       c       u       s