Treat Yourself

The Golden Rule is a two-edged sword.

If some of us treated others as we treat ourselves

we would be jailed.

Richard Paul Evans

Kindness begins at home

in your heart

You cannot know how to talk to others

If you do not know how to speak

to yourself

You do not know how to appreciate others

If you do now know how to appreciate yourself

You cannot get a meal from an empty cupboard

and you cannot get compassion

from an empty heart

 Fill up your heart with self- kindness

so you have enough to share.

Until you are good to you

you will have no idea

how to be good

to others

Practice!

and that's poetiquejustis

 Love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 22:39

 

Never Without Within

 

The world around us would be desolate

except for the world within. Wallace Stevens

Corrie Ten Boom spoke of being forced to stand for hours in the cold

of the prison camp with hatred and death all around her

One morning, a bird flew overhead and cheered her

She inwardly took flight

Today, the world may show itself

to be less than kind 

Take flight!

 

Look up and within

There you are!

And no one can take that away.

Peace be with you

 

and that's poetiquejustis

And the dove returned to Noah as the waters receded

carrying a fresh olive branch. Genesis 8

A Feast of Words

 "Kind words produce happiness." Frederick William Faber

  They come rolling out

 

 Thoughts that have been mixed with experiences

 Hurts that have been given form

 And we offer them up to the world. 

Filtered or not

What if we chose to use our words to bring joy?

To untangle the fears and concerns of others

That would be a feast for the ears

And that's poetiquejustis

We use God's mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.

2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT

 

The Time of My Life

It is a great time to be alive

Anne Lamott

I could not have picked a better time to be alive

For one things

this is when my kids and the man I love are living

Would not have want to do life without them

And then there are the cadre of cats and dogs

who chose this time to breathe the air

Friends one and all

There are books that have been written in my lifetime

that I would have missed if I had arrived before them

Oh, I suppose that there will be great things

after I am gone

but for me

This is just a great time

to be alive

and that's poetiquejustis

 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

Ecclesiastes 3:12

 

Growing with Interest

Economy is the art of making the most of  life

George Bernard Shaw

Watching the pennies

Cutting the coupons

Investing wisely

That makes your money grow

all good

But admiring a daisy

Catching a snowflake

Rocking a baby

Those things make you rich.

Those things bring you home

And that's poetiquejustis

The LORD bless you, and keep you:

Numbers 6:24

 

Places That Are Real

It is not down in any map

True places never are

Herman Melville

Moby Dick

True places

Places that are not created by cubicles

or walls

or even words

True places

Find yours

and you will be at home

and that's poetiquejustis

In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;

 for I go to prepare a place for you

John 14:2

 

Somewhere

Tis always morning somewhere in the world

Richard Henry Horne

Somewhere, your hope is waiting to be found

Somewhere, your dream is waiting to dance with you

Somewhere, the yesterdays are gone and the todays are everlasting

Somewhere, it is morning, and you can begin anew

And that's poetiquejusis
I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, 
Psalm 130:6

 

Open For Life

I dwell in possibility

Emily Dickinson

The door to new adventure

is always open

The windows are flung wide

to opportunity 

The staircase rises to the stars

I dwell in possibility

Because

where you live 

really does matter

and that's poetiquejustis

One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

Psalm 27:4