Love is more than...

A feeling
An emotion
A romantic notion

Love is often...

Quite a challenge
Painful - like a sore to heal  
Not always the real deal

Love sometimes...

Is lacking
Has no appeal
Is falsely based on how you feel

Love certainly...

Requires risk
Will not always be returned
Is a gift - cannot be earned

For without love...

We would not be human
But merely beasts
Therefore, love must increase

Nobody is...

Hopeless in a desire for its reach
For shattered lives can be made whole
Love can penetrate a broken soul!   

Love is...

Not a tired, worn-out cliche
But not as carefree as it is told
A treasure I'd never trade for money or gold

Love ...

Banishes hatred
A state of being and mind
Truly, of values, sublime

Though life is not a game
I've often conducted mine
Like the King on a chessboard

Shielded
Protected
Cautious

Yes, I've made daring moves
But was more often on the guard
And I don't want to finish this venture

Known for playing it safe

I’m not sending festive wishes.
Well I have, but that’s not the point.
What good is being good at Christmas
And the New Year,
Only to be a *******
The rest of the time?

What use is a holiday peace
When your working day
Is spent killing…?

No
What I wish for you
Is Peace and Happiness all Year,
Every Year.
I wish for Peace and Prosperity
Set in stone for ever –
Nobody starving
No-one excluded
From Society’s camp-fire.

We need a Human Race
United
As One,
Respecting All
As Equals.

We need this all the time,
Not just in “The Season of Good Cheer”.
We need a Better Way
Forever.
Amen.

Paul Butters

Thinking about that guy
How he got all rusted up
How he longed to have a heart
How he got stuck in mid-motion.

I long to write again
But like the tin man
My heart (for writing) seems lacking
Haven't I said it all?

I mean it gets old
It's no longer refreshing
Writing is a gift that seems to have peaked
Something that once flowed very well

I'm frozen up
I need some oiling
To get the process churning
Frustrating, when I want to move

But I feel stuck

Dear Santa

I know you don't exist
So I've no requests on a list
You see, my parents had me believing
And I never thought they'd be deceiving!
My mom confessed to me, one time
Oh, the shock that blew my mind!

No, I'm not- for good- traumatized
I just don't care much for lies!
Truly, I'm sick of all the attention
Nauseating, and really much to mention
A jolly, fat guy parading through the sky
Has been nothing but a childhood lie!
You're as bad as the tooth fairy
Suit of red and white--AND hairy!

Godlike powers to know who's been bad or good
And reindeer taking you to every neighborhood!
Come on, hey!
I say, "No way!"
Sure, there is a kernel of truth I can pick
A generous man of old - St. Nick!
He really gave gifts to pass around.
For his kindness, he was found.
So get lost, Santa Claus, just go!
I'm cynical, yes, I know!
Kids might hate me!
They might berate me!
But when they grow up, they'll get my drift
That you are nothing but a myth!!!

Okay, it's off my chest
I can give it a rest!
So, really, why do you dominate the Xmas scene?
Makes me wonder what it really means.
Is it really for the children or the child inside?
Who's it truly for, the simple fun it provides?
Yeah, I do get it, your silly charm.
Actually, it's done me no harm.
I long for what Christmas should stand for.
Love for others, the needy and the poor.
But I think you get in the way!
Shopping up a debt isn't right, I say!
Comprehending a love that came here on earth.
Two millennium ago, that wondrous birth.
That gets lost in the hurry
All the frenzy and the scurry!
Cliche-but I've just pinpointed the reason
At least for me, for this season.  

Quite sincerely
Dorothy

P. S. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Are you wounded?
There are endless ways that life can mar your heart
I need not read off the written list
For it would wind around the world
Again and again and again
Resembling a paper mache ball

Are you wounded?
Feeling beyond repair?
Oh, I hear you
And I don't know
Your persistent, internal struggles
Nor you truly mine
But I'm writing to testify now
That I'm still here

Though words can often seem empty
I'm proclaiming today: Never give up
When you think you've felt too much
Know that the sun rises every day without fail
And like its beacon of light
A glorious, universal flame
Take heed of its returning presence
And do likewise

For there is always someone else
Who is just as hurting as you
Or even worse
Who needs your light
To shine his or her way  
And banish the suffocating darkness
So share your torch
It just might initiate a spreading trend  

Don't let your pain be in vain

I was reminded today how quickly things can change
One day there is sunshine and then came the rain

The sunshine was nice, beautiful and warm
But with the morning came a dark, wet, cold storm

I thought of how in life it's often the same joy in one season
And in some seasons pain

But as I thought of the sun but gazed at the storm
I thought it was just as beautiful as the warm day before

The cold hurt a little and I had to layer up but the view before me hadn't changed that much

In life it's the same, storms bring cold air
We have to layer up not with clothes but with prayer

No matter the season life is beautiful still
No matter the hurt or pain we might feel

We should always lean on Jesus he is our shelter from the storm
And remember his love for us will always keep up warm

So when clouds roll in and you find yourself in fear
Layer up and know that HE is near.

- Crystal Sacco
4/26/15
Written after spending a weekend at my in laws cabin in Colorado. Saturday was beautiful sunny and warm all day. And Sunday morning came and it was very cold and snowed/rained all day! Both days were BEAUTIFUL! :)