Tuesday, August 5, 2025

"Behold!"

Carol, just write...

How do you feel?
I feel brain rot...
Again...
Like there is a lack of substance in my gray matter.
Why? How? 
What can I do about it?

I've spent too much time this week with the machine.
The little palm-sized digital screen.
I scroll.
Political news, cultural news, nature news.
Opinions, opinions, opinions.
But I seldom engage.

I know why I get sucked in.
I spend most my days alone. 
Inside my brick-and-mortar dwelling.
I can't get out like I once did.
My body and brain are fatigued.
Pain is a daily companion.
Along with cognitive static. 

But Carol, you got out this past Thursday.
You visited your beloved Mountains.
You witnessed Nature's majesty. 
Her messages, Her breezes.
You communed with trees and rocks.
And you talked with other Humans.
From Florida, Ohio, Massachusetts, North Carolina.

And you hiked that short quarter-mile section of Tanawha Trail.
At the Rough Ridge Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain.
You weighed the risks and went for it.
You were amazed you were able to do it.
To hike the half-mile round trip with its belly-sized rocks.

It was hard.
It was technical.
But you did it, Carol.
You did it!

Though I wasn't rock climbing...
I had to hike it with a rock climber's precision.
Trusting my Vibram-soled hiking shoes.
Placing my feet strategically, checking for any slick spots on the rocks.
Trusting my trekking poles.
Checking the stability of the ground to make sure it wasn't soft peat. 
Weight-bearing trekking poles push through peat.
A recipe for a fall.

Yes, you long to hike the entire 13.5-mile trail.
But you didn't discover this trail.
Until after the poisoning.
Until after the injury.
Until after the disability.

Accept, accept, accept...
Adapt, adapt, adapt...
Like premature aging...
It goes on and on and on...
Until, one day, it will be done.

Grieve the losses...
Embrace the memories...
Recall the many, oh-so-many, stories...
Feel gratitude for what you still can do...
Be open for what might be possible.

Grief and gratitude...
Each is a necessity...
But I refuse anymore to gloss over the grief.
I wonder, How long I will heed that refusal?

And you walked the short, level trail from Yonahlossee Overlook. 
A pleasant walk that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway.
And leads to the underside of Linn Cove Viaduct. 

And there, in the distance...
A gigantic, white, fluffy cloud standing above the mile-high mountain tops...
Like a giant, friendly ghost with a long, flowing white robe... 
His right hand extending out over the mountain peaks...
Saying, "Behold!" 

And that I did...

And I wondered...
Is Benton Mckay in that cloud?
Grandma Gatewood, and Hugh Morton?
Dad, and my friends Joy and Susan?
And others who have loved these mountains...
Who have passed from this physical life.

Do I believe the dead are alive?
I'm open to the idea.
If so, do the living-dead speak to us in signs and dreams?

Whether or not it is so... 
Messages still come through...
If we listen, if we look...
If we take the time to see.

One thing for sure...
These mountains... 
They live on and on and on and on...

In Cherokee Tanawha means Fabulous Hawk or Eagle.
Yonahlossee means Trail of the Bear.


"Behold!"

Tuesday, July 22, 2025

Held: A prayer...

May I tap into flow
May I float weightlessly
May I drift slowly

images
sounds
scents

Possibilities

no clocks
no dings
no rings

Only the breeze upon my nakedness

May I trust
May I rest
May I...

I am surrounded by Beauty
She pumps life though my cells
Like a bubbling spring Who brings life to all She touches

Feel the object that holds you at this moment
That cradles you
That keeps you from falling

May I trust
May I rest
May I...

~*~*~

Related post: Held in the deep...

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

"Until Then"

The following poem "Until Then" is a repost from 2007...

Watching Whitley sing now, in 2025...
Still causes tears to roll...
I no longer claim to be a Christian "believer"...
But I still hold a tender spot in my heart...
For the possibility of a benevolent, compassionate, all-knowing Being...
That most people refer to as God...
And many Christians refer to as Jesus...

My current beliefs about this possibility are not rigid...
If I have to label myself currently, it'd be...
Agnostic Chrisitan Universalist...
To this label Son replied with a chuckle...
"You got all the bases covered, Mom..."
I chuckled with him...
Maybe Jesus chuckled too...

~*~*~

 "Until Then"
(Written 06/05/07)

Pristine notes, words of praise
Age-old hymns bestow God's light
The dark-skinned man bellows deep
Sings with all his might

Causing my heart to swell

He sings of endurance
He sings of joy
He sings of pain in the temporal now
He sings of everlasting streets of gold

Causing my tears to roll

Well, is it true O God my Lord?
Will there someday be
This home of peace, of bliss, of joy
A place of forever harmony?

Causing my soul to cry fervently

Surely 'tis true that all shall see
Face to face and eye to eye
Surely 'tis true there'll be a time
All wrongs to be made right

Causing my spirit to yearn

Until that day, O God, I pray
Allow my heart to stay tender
My eyes to see beyond hostility
And never evil for evil to render

Your boundless love, God of Life,
Causing my breast to hope eternal

june 5, 2007
judithpiper

~*~*
In May 2007, my husband and I watched a televised presentation of the dedication of the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.  Wintley Phipps sang the hymn Until Then with so much joy and life and exuberance; it was thrilling to watch.

At the time I was deeply struggling with my own beliefs as far as God, the Bible, Jesus Christ, who I was, my marriage...just a lot of things. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I embraced the words coming from what I felt/feel to be a man with a giant heart of grace and love.

Regardless of one's spiritual beliefs, songs like this which bring relief and hope and joy to the soul, can help us each to continue to strive for a better day...now and in the future.

Until Then was a favorite of mine while in The Way.  I recall when Rev. Cummins used to sing it at certain occasions.