Photo

I sat alone

sad and bored

mopishly suppressed

by the dead TV set

near Lenny

and a dying pine

tinseled for Christmas

as Vincent smiled

and Edward stared

near Mama

behind the photo box

awaiting the snap

and the slow birth of Christ 

*Reflections of Alan Jones:

  -It is one thing, therefore, to assemble the facts but quite another to find a story that is faithful to the facts.

  -Life is a kind of dance and we have to learn the steps.

  -If you knew all there was to know about me, would you still love me?

  -...the deep truth of the spiritual life is that we can begin again, we can be born anew.

  -The question is which is greater, your sin or God's love?

  -"And all the wickedness in the world that man might work or think is no more to the mercy of God than a live coal dropped into the sea."

  -We have a double task, then, of being as clear and accurate as we can in our truth-telling but also of knowing how the various truths relate to one another.  That relationship will depend on the story we tell and where, in the scheme of things, we place all the actors in the drama.

  -As I grow spiritually, can I discern that compassion, mercy, tenderness, and generosity are on the side of truth rather than judgmentalism, resentment, and vindictiveness?