John, my next contemplative art workshop is the 'Tree of Life.' Your poem is that. May I read it for my like-minded participants please? I'd love to send you some awesome peanut butter, but being in Australia, it may have to wait until I visit The US ;)
My mission statement is similar (but far less poetic): I am an imperfect human called to bring other imperfect humans together in safe, healthy, and transformative communities that reflect Divine Love for all people and inspire constructive action.
I love this. If I had to create a mission statement I think it would be something less typical me and more like this: I should make it a cross stitch that hangs on my wall.
A Small Mission Statement
I hope to leave the world more witnessed than I found it.
To notice what others hurry past.
To remain curious longer than certainty.
To protect wonder wherever I find it.
To choose understanding before judgment.
To remember that every person I meet carries a history I cannot see.
To write what is true as faithfully as I know how.
To let suffering deepen my compassion rather than narrow it.
To plant ideas that outlive me.
To leave behind forests instead of fences.
If, in some small way, my words help another person feel less alone, more understood, or more alive, then they have done what they came here to do.
John, my next contemplative art workshop is the 'Tree of Life.' Your poem is that. May I read it for my like-minded participants please? I'd love to send you some awesome peanut butter, but being in Australia, it may have to wait until I visit The US ;)
~ absolutely! I would be honored 🥲🩷
Thank you ☺️
I am preaching on Sunday, July 26th on Creation using trees as the metaphor. May I use your poem with credit, of course?
~ I would be honored!
Thank you! It’s live-streamed and posted on the website at Excelsior United Methodist Church, Excelsior, MN. Worship is 10 am CDT.
How can I comment when I can’t find words …… …… …… ……. … …………. .
This took my breath away then filled me with Love! Thank you! I would have hired you as soon as I finished reading it!
My mission statement is similar (but far less poetic): I am an imperfect human called to bring other imperfect humans together in safe, healthy, and transformative communities that reflect Divine Love for all people and inspire constructive action.
I love this. If I had to create a mission statement I think it would be something less typical me and more like this: I should make it a cross stitch that hangs on my wall.
A Small Mission Statement
I hope to leave the world more witnessed than I found it.
To notice what others hurry past.
To remain curious longer than certainty.
To protect wonder wherever I find it.
To choose understanding before judgment.
To remember that every person I meet carries a history I cannot see.
To write what is true as faithfully as I know how.
To let suffering deepen my compassion rather than narrow it.
To plant ideas that outlive me.
To leave behind forests instead of fences.
If, in some small way, my words help another person feel less alone, more understood, or more alive, then they have done what they came here to do.
That is enough.
That company’s loss and our gain. (Are they even still in business?!) One of your best EVER 😇
Stunning, John!
I would've hired you!! ps.... I'm thinking you meant return to source, not the source?
This this this this.