kokopelle | Entries tagged with grace

In 2015 I wrote a poem named "Dancing with Grace". It was about how the young ladies I dance with are an echo what my daughter could have been. The poem "Proxies" revisits these thoughts. Many of my young friends are moving out into the world. They are meeting potential and troubles. I wish them the best of luck while remembering that I could have had similar experiences with Grace.

Proxies

My daughter would have been twenty-five
if her birth had not been her death
Grace by name but not by fate
back in the year of 91
in Charity Hospital I witnessed
labor felt as pain progressed
no living soul was at the end.

After quarter century I still stand
daughter's ashes on the shelf
no children have filled my house
now I see these surrogates
young adults on the brink
so bright to step out on their own
with potential none shall deny.

I can see them as the promise
talented with a splash of wit
smile to light the entire world
compassion to cry when it's due
with so much to learn along the way
the future asking what they will do
these things I believe she would be.

Still I fear for these ones
facing trials I never met
when I was their age in the time
before they were born or soon after
in the now the world is cursed
by technology and human progress
with traps Grace will never know.

I long to see where they'll land
as fortune moves them down the road
bound to make their destiny
tossing aside the chains of hate
world's salvation in their hands
substitutes for the one not here
my daughter's proxies in my world.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161103.

Current Mood: contemplative

The poem “The Halo” looks to what should be done and what is done. The words on paper stand mute when the circle of life turns.

The Halo

Turn the halo in your hands
cautious ring of silver tint
symbol of what should have been
round as the life trapped within

born of words dead to voice
shepherd lost while flock flees
water mocks dry river beds
the vessel waits for circle’s breath

forever writ to paper’s pledge
duty bound when words fail
transcribed black on surface red
book to shelf is nature’s way

promises best left not said
when acts condemn the core intent
band on head and chains to feet
hands set free to softly plead

resurrected to bless the judge
held in rapture of the disk
ring of silver spun to guide
lost duty put before our god.

2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20161008.

Current Mood: contemplative

The poem “Dance’s Grace” is a poetic examination of the nature of motion in dance.

Dance's Grace

Child of motion
kin of time
art so raw
it bends the mind
to lift the soul
above the mire
is body's quest
of heartfelt goal
rhythm's lead
is body's guide
be standing up
or sitting down
companion close
or none at all
this focal point
is all your own
as power flows
along straight line
or relaxed curve
intention sprints
through the work
to spiral round
in the well
of nature's place
to meet our self
through dance's grace.

© 2016, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved, 20160729.

Current Mood: contemplative

The wonderful gift of sticking with dancing is the realization of those moments when the dance becomes more than the two partners. The moment is elevated through the grace of the dancers and the magic of the moment. This inspired me to write the poem “Grace Given”.

Grace Given
Poem for Day 346 – 20151213

The say the grace of God is supreme,
the gift beholden to those who pray.
I don't disagree with this,
but I'd offer another path to blessedness.

The dance has shown me the way,
a celestial guide found in you today.
It would be too much to think,
has the divine has overlooked my sins?

The grace I find sings my heart,
my belief in mankind seems justified.
My fears are easily removed,
no evil monsters exist in our arms.

I've been lifted to a far cloud,
the earth removed from my consciousness.
Motion has become elegant,
pains released in shared suppleness.

Forgive this soul's ecstasy,
some would say this much fun is deviltry.
I lose myself in the passion,
to indulge too much is transgression.

Fly with me to a state beyond,
our nimbleness is the entry fee.
The agility of two held in space
will be witness to God’s grace given.

© 2015, Sean Green. All Rights Reserved.

Current Mood: contemplative

I’ve tweaked some excellent material from http://www.jesusplusnothing.com/studies/online/grace.htm, and offer up thoughts about the nature of grace, the proper attitude of humanity under grace, and what gracious souls discover.

The Nature of Grace
• Grace is the Divine acting freely, according to its own nature as Love; with no promises or obligations to fulfill.
• Grace therefore, is uncaused in the recipient: its cause lies wholly in the giver, in the Divine.
• Not having debts to pay, or fulfilled conditions on man’s part to wait for, it can act toward whom, and how, it pleases. It can, and does, often, place the worst deservers in the highest favors.
• Grace cannot act where there is either desert or ability: Grace does not help – it is absolute, it does all.
• There being no cause in the creature why grace should be shown, the creature must be brought off trying to give cause receive grace.
• The discovery by the creature that he is truly the object of Divine grace, works the utmost humility: for the receiver of grace is brought to know his own humanity: yet he finds himself blessed – on another principle outside of himself!
• Therefore, flesh has no place in the plan of Grace. This is the great reason why grace is hated by the proud natural mind of man.
• The failure of particular devotion does not cause the withdrawal of bestowed grace (as it would under law). Condemnation by the world does not remove Divinely imbued grace.

The Proper Attitude of Humanity under Grace
• To believe, and consent to be loved while struggling with the burdens of humanity, is the great secret.
• To expect to be blessed.
• To testify of the power of love, at all times.

Things Which Gracious Souls Discover
• To “hope to be better” is to fail to see yourself in the potential of Grace.
• To be disappointed with yourself is to have believed in the limitations of yourself.
• To be discouraged is unbelief in the purpose and plan of the Divine
• The lack of Divine blessing comes from unacceptance of grace, and not from failure of devotion.
• Real devotion to the Divine arises, not from man’s will to show it but from the discovery that blessing has been received from Divine even as we struggle in our humanity.
• To preach devotion first and blessing second, is to reverse the Divine’s order, and preach law, not grace. The Law made man’s blessing dependant on devotion; Grace confers undeserved, unconditional blessing: our devotion may follow, but does not always do so, in proper measure.

Current Mood: contemplative

"God enveloped humanity with his grace, and the angels wept with jealousy". My lovely wife and I recently watched Constantine, a 2005 American supernatural action-thriller film. The underlying premise of the move was that the angel Gabriel lamented God’s favoritism towards humans and believed that bringing Hell to Earth will enable those who survive to become truly worthy of God’s love through repentance and faith. This reminded me of the 1995 movie The Prophecy, starring the wonderful Christopher Watkins. The premise of The Prophecy was a second war in Heaven, instigated by a group of angels who refused to accept God's elevation of man over all other creatures, including angels.

The common theme of the two movies is a judgmental unacceptance of the Grace of the Divine extended to humanity. Grace was seen as an unjustified love, and the angels in both movies sought to either harshly “prove” or remove humanity’s position from the Divine’s favor. The respective angels in the movies could very well be the people in our shared reality. There is human judgment extended to fellow mankind, judgment based on the perceived unworthiness of the recipients of the Divine’s protection and guidance.

What is this thing called Grace that movie angels and real people rail against? Grace can be defined as “the love and mercy given to us by the Divine because the Divine desires us to have it, not because of anything we have done to earn it". People make the personal choice to receive this grace or not. No amount of judgment from the critics may remove the application of grace in our lives once it is embraced.

The filmmakers give us an opportunity to see ourselves as the jealous angels, railing against the grace of the Divine imbued upon our fellow mankind. The filmmakers cast a cautionary note as their angelic characters are struck down from their judgmental roles. Do not weep in jealously, lest one lose their own connection with the Divine.

Current Mood: contemplative

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Journey to Ixtlan

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Entries tagged with grace

Poem - Proxies

Poem - The Halo

Poem - Dance's Grace

Poem - Grace Given

Rules of Grace

Angels, Grace, and Humanity

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April 2020

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