Only God Knows

Victims of Circumstance

Could there really be just one chance?

How narrow is the way,

If it’s paved with grace?

Transcending time and space

Truth cannot be held in a box

Constantly changing shape

A moving paradox.

Judgments come so easy

But what do we see?

Hearts, motives, purposes,

Only God knows these.

Searching Souls they do abound

Making God in our own image

Empty words fall to the ground

Falling to the ground

Doctrine, Divisive Facts

Where can we find you, Lord?

Where we least expect

In some loving act.

Judgments come so easy

But what do we see?

Hearts, motives, purposes,

Only God knows these.

Only God knows these.

Only God knows.

~Jeanne Leigh Denton

Check out our music: Wise Old River

http://www.myspace.com/wiseoldriver

Journey On

This is a poem I wrote December 26, 2001. I was abused as a child and this poem is dedicated to all children everywhere who have been physically, mentally, or sexually abused. There is hope.

A cross upon the forehead

A whispered prayer, unsaid

A heart that aches for freedom

One lies upon the bed

Sleep comes to this one slowly

When the nightmares cease

Truth holds this one closely

The shadows, they will flee

In dream, you float above the waters

Time glistening with hope

The hidden one carries you

To you this is unknown

Though terrors raise their head

The cries, the fear, the dread

You belong to yourself

And not to the dead

You see, your spirit is stronger

Then the horrors, the scars

Journey on to discover

All that you are

For you float above the waters

Time glistening with hope

The hidden one carries you

To you this can be known

Journey on to discover

All that you are

Journey on to discover

All that you are

Journey on in hope.

Can't Believe Its Been Four Months

If you cannot read the caption in the above picture, click on to see the larger version and then you can read it! I love the music and lyrics of Bruce Cockburn. I took this picture one night along the Virginia Creeper Trail. Anyway...let me say this....Hello! I'm back. Thanks for praying for me. Well, I am feeling pretty good these days. Adjusted to my diet and getting back my energy more and more. Time. It all takes time. I am glad to be blogging again. I have often visited your blogs and have felt very encouraged by the things I have read. Thank YOU for being who you are.

I began reading an interesting book today called, CHOOSING CIVILITY, The Twenty Five Rules of Considerate Conduct. It's by P.M. Forni. Dynamite little book. It certainly speaks to me.

Here are three quotes from the first Chapter:

Wherever there is a human being; there is an opportunity for a kindness. ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Love is Patient and Kind; Love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. ~Paul of Tarsus

Three Things in Human Life are important; the First is to be kind, the second is to be kind, and the Third is to be kind. ~ Henry James

As I continue reading this book, I will share tidbits on here. I hope to post often, but aiming for once a week at least. Blessings to each and everyone of you!!! ~Jeanne

PLEASE DON'T GIVE UP ON ME

For over a year now I have had symptoms of fatigue, unexplained rashes, and infections (one weekend I had five infections at the same time.) The rashes which appeared to be an allergic reaction were treated with prednisone about five rounds this year. The infections were treated with antibiotics. Toward the end of this all the antibiotics and prednisone also resulted in terrible rashes. I mentioned several times to my nurse practitioner that my mother had similar symptoms and found out that she was allergic to yeast and that she had lymes disease. Well, I knew I didn’t have lymes disease but did I have some sort of autoimmune problem? Finally, when my nurse practitioner couldn’t see me and I felt the most desperate, I saw another nurse practitioner who I also told about my mother being allergic to yeast. She immediately gave me a referral to an allergist, but only because she thought I was allergic to antibiotics. Well, when I saw the allergist, I told him that my mother was allergic to yeast and I thought I might be too. He tested me with a two day allergy test and the little bubble on my arm that was suppose to be a tiny bump, ended up being a huge swollen mess, all the glands under my arm were bright red and swollen, I could barely lift my arm, it was so swollen and painful. I was severely allergic to yeast. He then connected me with the work of Dr. William Crook and his website www.yeastconnection.com where I was introduced to a lot of information of which I am still trying to digest. The Allergist said that Dr. Crook’s book was to be my Bible. He said, “Do what he tells you to do.” He’s been working on this problem since the 50’s and is an expert in his field, so that is exactly what I have been doing. Everyone has a certain amount of yeast in their bodies, but being allergic to it, every time I ate bread, drank a glass of wine, ate anything with sugar in it I was feeding the yeast and causing an allergic reaction. Then as my body reacted in with an allergic reaction, the yeast produced tons of toxins and I would end up getting an infection or infections. As the nurse practitioners medicated me with prednisone and antibiotics, these were also feeding the yeast and as a result I became one very sick person that had no clue as to what the heck was making me sick. Right now I am on a very strict diet, and a medication. I have had awful withdrawals from sugar and yeast. By the way, who knew how much sugar is in EVERYTHING? No wonder, our young children are getting diabetes. It is incredibly unhealthy. I would work my 40 hour a week job, tend to minimal requirements of family and fall over. No energy at all. I am usually a very high energy person and very active in life, so this has been difficult. I have only be on the diet and medication for a couple of weeks, so I have a long way to go before I will be feeling good, but I must say that I am already feeling better. So, thus…..a lonely blog. Please don’t give up on me. I’m going to be on here more often. Filled with hope ~Jeanne ~Peace and health to all of YOU.

Blessed Be the Name

Haven't been on here for a while. I have been ill. More about that later. Today I just wanted to quickly post a song I heard that really touched me. This song is all about gossip. It gives us another way to deal with those we have difficulties with. Gossip is prevalent everywhere. We have all partaken. Mississippi John Hurt tell us, "If you don't like your sister, don't carry her name abroad. Take her in your bosom and carry her home to God." Oh, that we would do this instead of destructive gossip. Much love, Jeanne

Heartbeat - Tribute to My Creator written in 1991

It was YOU who thought of me
It was YOUR creativity
It was YOU who gave to me all the many possibilities

YOU were there all the time
Wish I'd known, but I didn't
I was lost from YOUR love
And YOUR thought of me was hidden

I was gray, cold inside, full of pain
Not what YOU had in mind
Then one day, in despair
On my knees I turned to YOU in prayer

YOU took my hand and we walked away
Each step, my disguise is more erased
The beauty of YOUR thought unfolds
The colors YOU had planned are told

YOU heal the hurts, YOU ease the pain
YOUR LOVE works on, though the scars remain
YOUR FIRE burns the dross away
A gift is given in each day

I am YOURS, YOU are mine
Sketch the picture of YOUR design
YOU wrote a book about my life
Help me fill in the pages

I need YOU
Like I need the air that I'm breathing
I need YOU
Like I need my very own heart beat
heartbeat, heartbeat...........

Courage

I wanted to share two powerful quotes that I came across this week. They are wonderful reminders for all of us...to be true to ourselves and to continue to dream and own our visions.


Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams for when dreams go life is a barren field frozen with snow. ~ Langson Hughes

To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which anyone can fight; and never stop fighting. ~ e.e. cummings

Dust on Diamonds

Yesterday, I had the great pleasure of going with my husband Jim, my youngest son, Jamen and his child Noah to an afternoon movie. Noah is only three and always brings such light and life into the house when he comes to stay. We stopped at the bank to get some money on the way and while Jim went in, Noah noticed a handicapped sign on the wall next to where we were parked. Noah asked what the man in the circle was. Jamen explained that it was a symbol for people who were handicapped, or injured, or for some reason physically challenged and had a hard time walking to the front door. He explained how they make and save the special parking place closer to make it easier for them. Noah was quiet for a moment and then said rather matter of factly, " I have an idea. We could carry them in and gently put them down." For a moment I was so struck with the purity of this thought. It really touched me, because he was so sincere. No wonder Jesus said that we needed to be like a little child. Simple but beautifully pure and true.

I read a devotion recently that compared our faults and sins as 'dust on diamonds'. As I read it, the words came off the page and the image stuck in my mind. That is how precious each of us are. Even when though there is dust, we are still diamonds. We are diamonds in God's eyes. Precious and beautiful, made in God's image. Each of us is multifacited, sparkling, mysterious, glorious, full of many colors, and unique. We just need to own what we are and let what we are shine bright.

Matthew Fox on Creativity

One of my absolute favorite books that confirms much of my own understanding about ART is entitled: Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human meet by Matthew Fox. I have found so many of his ideas about creativity to be valid. I feel that when I am being creative, I am most alive. I feel that my creativity is very linked to my spirituality. I'd like to share a few excerpts that are close to my heart:

Matthew Fox says, "Notice the Kabbalah counsels us that imagination is a "gift of God"and further down on that page he says, "fundamentalists who engage in imagination-bashing might take note of the following fact : The etymological origin for the word "hell" (the real place where Satan dwells?) is helan, an old English word that means "to conceal" (in Latin celare). In other words hell is our place of concealment. Hell then, is our refusal to create and our deadening the imagination of others. But if hell is concealment then heaven would be the place of revelation, of unveiling, of telling the truth. Eckhart said,'The purpose of a word is to reveal.' That is the purpose of all imagination. Teacher and painter, poet and potter M. C. Richards asks: 'Isn't this what we try to do in our artistic work with the clay: to bring something to light, to manifest, to reveal? A form, an intention, a question, a relationship, a search, a hope, a defeat, a concealment...? ' (pages 59-60) Fox says, "The Artist is to the community and body politic what the liver is to the body, a cleanser and a recycler of wastes and toxins." (page 89) Fox also says, "The Christ story redeems creativity by setting it in the context of compassion. All creativity is meant to serve compassion not projections." (pages 94-95) He says, "Creativity saves, its opposite kills. The Gospel of Thomas put it this way, "Jesus said: 'When you bring forth that which is within you, that which is yours will save you. But if you do not have that in yourself, that which is not yours in you will kill you'." Our creativity is a matter of life and death, of salvation and damnation. (pages 98-99) ...the artist beholds what is and holds it up for the rest of us to see better. There is a river of creativity that is running through all things , all relationships, all beings, all corners, and centers of the universe. WE are here to join it, to get wet, to jump in, to ride these rapids, wild and sacred as they be. (page 66)

I believe that creativity is sacred. Being creative with compassion is how I feel called to live the rest of my life. I am seeking ways everyday to express this God given gift of creativity...in the simplist of ways. Though the process is sometimes painful and difficult. Creativity brings me joy in the end. It brings me peace. Please keep in mind though...this is just one aspect or facet of my faith journey.