Great

No one 

Has asked me lately 

What I think 

Makes a life 

Great 

 

If they did

I’d say

 

It’s a stranger 

Offering to share 

A swim lane

At a crowded pool

 

It’s appreciating

The enough-ness

Of an average house 

An average job

 

It’s having 

A few dreams

Come true

 

It’s living the life you decide

With the people you’ve chosen 

 

It’s pursuing opportunities 

That light up your soul

 

It’s looking out for another

Because we all

Need a hand up

Sometimes 

 

It’s living unafraid in freedom 

 

It’s being kind because it’s right 

To be kind

 

It’s learning from our mistakes 

And becoming better humans 

It’s living in a society 

Where the schoolyard bully 

Would never 

Be elected principal

It’s living without fear

That a disability

A skin color

Or an immigration status 

Might land you

In concentration camp 

Might get you killed

It’s the simplest 

Of things really

That make 

Life great

So the question then

That needs answer

Why take these things away

And exactly who

Is life great for

When these things

Are gone

Forgive Yourself Now

 

Forgive yourself now

For all you’ll never be

 

You will die someday

With some regrets

 

With at least a handful

Of unfulfilled dreams

 

With things you wanted to do

But never did

 

You will die

Before you are done

Living 

 

And that is ok

 

That is what it is

To be human

 

To try 

 

To strive

 

To be surprised 

That we are out of time

 

To understand

That our imperfectly lived lives

Still meant something 

 

Still left the world changed

 

Human

It is human

To be sad

When sad 

Things happen

 

Human to despair

Over the unthinkable

Unfolding 

 

Human to wonder

 

Do I have what it takes

To make it through 

What generations before me

Have not

 

A good question

To be sure

 

One that can only

Be answered

With time

To Stay Here

To stay here

Is to accept

 

That we might be shot

At the market

While we work

In our schools

Or simply walking down the street

 

That we are 

One car crash away

From being 

Forever changed

 

That cancer might grow in us 

Unnoticed

While we are going about our day 

Because of some poisons we breathed 

Or some chemical we ate too much of

Or for no real reason at all

 

That we risk daily

Randomly losing 

Those we hold dear

 

To stay here

Is to acknowledge

That we may never reach 

The finish line

We were running towards

The goals

We’ve been working towards

 

To stay here

Is to acknowledge

That our reason for staying here 

May likely change with time

From reaching a specific goal

To seeing how far we can get

Despite the odds 

 

To stay here

Is to stare down disappointment 

And realize 

That disappointment 
Sometimes wins

 

Yet we stay here

 

Stay here

 

Stay to rewrite life’s rules

 

Stay not because 

Life has treated you well

 

Stay because 

Perfection is a lie

 

Stay because 

The very best parts of life

Are found more easily

And felt more deeply

By those who have once

Been broken

 

Stay because

The miracle is

That we exist

For any time

At all

 

 

 

Bend

Bend with life’s changes

Change with life’s seasons

And sometimes 

Just go ahead

And be

Still

 

It’s Ok

It's Ok

To not love your job

 

To do work

That pays the bills

But doesn’t fill your soul 

 

Soul filling work

Isn’t all that common

Anyway

 

A rare gift reserved

For major league athletes

Hollywood actresses

And fairytales

 

It’s ok if you toil hard

So you can afford

To fit in 

The parts of your life

That fill you up

 

That make your imagination soar

 

That splash with color

 

And just the right words

 

And so much meaning that

It overflows from you 

Out onto the world

 

It’s ok if your job is not the thing

That inspires you

 

You are more than what 

You are paid for

 

And what you offer freely

From the deepest part of yourself 

 

The world couldn’t afford anyway 

 

 

Equal Parts

Life is 

Equal parts

Broken and

Fixed

 

Equal measure

Heart break and

Heart repair

 

Well maybe

Not quite 

Equal

 

It’s hard to tell

 

When hard times

Seem to last longer

Feel heavier

 

Maybe it’s just 

That the hard times

Are louder

 

Then the easy

Which are more

Like a whisper

 

Which are so hopeful

We can’t help but

Lose track of time

 

And be taken

By surprise 

When they are over

 

Never

Quite ready

For them

To go

What We Are Healing From

Half the battle 

Of this life

Is acknowledging

What we are

Still healing

From

 

Personally

I’m still healing from 

 

Disappointing others

With how I live

And what I believe

Though I am living my truth

 

Disappointing myself

With how I let 

The opinions of others

Impact me

 

Disappointment overall

With the unfair

Unsteady way

This world works

 

With how people die too soon

How unkind words can leave permanent scars

How jobs pay our bills but don’t fill our souls

How illnesses linger

 

It’s a challenge

To live this life

And grieve it 

At the same time

 

To acknowledge

That this beautiful life

Often lets us down

And isn’t going to change

 

And that’s really ok

Because maybe 

I let life down too

 

Maybe life spends its spare time

Trying to figure out 

How to heal

From me

 

Maybe life

And the humans living it

Are in a constant clumsy

Dance 

 

Moving forward

In the only ways 

We know how

 

Doing our best

Along the way

Raw

The world 

Is raw now

Everyone scared

Many sick

Everything urgent

 

Lacking curiosity

Missing compassion

Uncontained

Untethered

Unsafe

 

It’s so cold here

And could be less so

 

We could make it warmer

With intentional care and 

Thoughtful interaction

 

We could surprise raw

With the heat 

Of kindness

 

We could be better

 

Could make the world better

 

We could fix this together

One interaction 

At a time

 

Truly anytime

We choose

Petals

Like the fragile hope

Of a child

Waiting at

The top of the stairs

Christmas morning

Letting herself

Imagine

What if 

All my wishes

Are about to 

Come true

Hope is 

A beautiful wildflower

On the verge

Of bloom 

Still 

There comes a day

Later if life is kind

That you learn

Many of your wishes

Maybe even most

Will not be 

Coming true

That it’s not as easy

As wishing

And getting

That not all flowers bloom

But they may still

Bring forth beauty

 

Not all flowers bloom

But when their unformed petals fall

They nourish the ground

For the ones that do

Brag

That the 

Giant Sequoia

The world’s 

Largest tree

Produces

Remarkably small

Cones

Makes me smile

Unimpressive cones

Produced by 

Unprecedented

Majesty

Just needing time

To show 

Their worth

A reminder

Not to judge

A person 

Or a thing

By what it appears

To offer

To the world

Sometimes 

Life’s most majestic things

Don’t like to brag

People Who Want To Be Heard

People who want to be heard
          Speak their hearts openly
          Hoping to be understood
          
          And they also
          Shoot up buildings in blind rage
          After years of feeling ignored

People who want to be loved
          Selflessly sacrifice for another
          Give of themselves freely
 
          And they also
          Stay way too long in relationships
          That don’t give them what they need or
          deserve
 
People who want to be seen
          Push vulnerability aside
          Show up and stand out
 
          And they also
          Steamroll over others
          Take credit that should be shared

People who want things
Go after them
In different
Ways

Assumptions

There are
So many
Assumptions
Unchecked
 
And one piece of information
That I don’t go to church
Used to assume
Everything else
About me

The assumption that
Because our beliefs differ
Yours must be right
And mine must be wrong

That my refusal
To speak for Jesus anymore
Using outdated interpretations
Must mean you are holy
And I am lost
 
The assumption that
Because I think of God differently
I am far from God
And you are close
      Yet here I am
      Tucked in close
      Beside God
 
That because I dump love
On the world
With no hidden agenda
Other than presence

I am doing
A disservice
To humanity

When your assumptions
Your requirements
Your stringent set of rules
That keep everyone out
Except you

Just might be the biggest
Disservice
Of all