The 60-Second Sabbath

Haiku

words like winter wind
spirit-piercing shards of ice
arrows to the heart

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Original Revelation

Perhaps the Big Bang
was God's way of saying, 
"Ta da!
Here I am!"
God struts onto the stage of Eternity for the first time:
    the Divine Debut,
    the Cosmic Coming Out.

Applause! Applause!
Rise and throw roses!
Cue the trumpets, confetti and high-kicking angels!

Herald the premiere of wonder,
the convulsive, lunatic launch of love!

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

The Halves and the Halves Not

I am a word half-spoken;
    you are that word's other half.
I am a heart half-broken;
    you are that heart's other half.

I am a dream half-thought;
    you are that dream's other half.
I am a lesson half-taught;
    you are that lesson's other half.

I am a ghost half-seen;
    you are that ghost's other half.
I have lived half-being;
    you are that life's other half.

And so we become whole.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Toward Wholeness

There's a man within
whom I've ignored,
discounted;
he's never been heard,
never been asked to contribute.
Perhaps I've feared him
or believed him irrelevant.

But now I'm intrigued:
    Who is he?
    What does he have to say?
    What can he teach me?

So I ask,
    "Who are you?"

He answers,
    "I am the One you seek."

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Ristra

These fresh peppers--
fire-engine red and leather-supple,
all youth and loudness--
gather,
jostling and laughing,
enjoying the attention.

They age,
color mellowing to burgundy,
skin stiffening.

Relaxed now, they fall silent,
awed by the heat building within,
ready to release the fire
for which they were bred.

Young peppers flash;
old peppers burn.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

Ego? Egad!

I.

My ego
needs less stage-time.
He needs a caring cast member
to escort him into the wings,
assuring him that he's doing a fine job
and can now take a break,
have a smoke and chill.
The play goes on;
we will retrieve him if needed.

Sadly, he thinks he's the star;
he believes it's his story.
But his is only a bit part.
This he doesn't get.

II.

All my life's a stage,
and I thought
(until recently)
that I was the one with the small role.

I'm actually the director.

"Cut!" I say,
and the action stops,
the dialogue pauses.
"You, insecurity,
and you, who are you again?
Oh, yes, mistrust.
This scene will play better
without you both.
off the stage.

"Okay, people,
let's take it from the top."

III.

According to Kristin Neff,
your ego is
a "destructive cycle
of emotional reactivity."

Got ego?

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Existence/Experience

When my father died,
I looked through his vast library,
and ran my fingers over the polished surfaces
of the furniture he had built,
and asked,
"What was the point?"

Then, when my mother died,
I looked at her wall of needlepoint,
and thumbed through her boxes
of worn and treasured recipes,
and asked,
"What was the point?"

Just today,
at long last,
my question has been answered:

    The point of
    existence
    is the joy of
    experience.

Existence.
Experience.

Now it makes sense.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Whiteboard

Picture your life
as a whiteboard
on which is written
all you've been told
about life and meaning--
    all you should believe,
    all you should do,
    all you should be.

Thus crammed with
a lifetime of scribbling,
the board is unreadable,
a jumble of words running together, overlapping
    fighting with each other,
an unintelligible collision of sentences
    fragmenting, jumping, merging...

Before it
you feel crushed, immobilized.

Pick up the eraser
(have courage)
and slowly wipe the surface
clean.

Stand back.
Observe your life emptied of its chaotic legacy.

Now,
with intention,
trade the eraser for a marker.
What one word (perhaps two) will you write
on the whiteboard of your life?

Or perhaps no word at all?

The board is yours.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Self-Compassion

I recommend
a lot less self-critique
and much more self-compassion.

We're far too quick to bash ourselves--
or feel like crap when others bash us--
but seldom respond
by honestly acknowledging
that these things hurt,
and what we really need
is understanding and comfort.

"Yes, that hurt.
What she said or what he did--
not nice and not appropriate,
and it makes sense that you feel the way you do."

Whatever you need to hear at the moment,
say it.

Say it out loud.

Be gentle, tender, nurturing;
cradle your face;
wrap your arms around your body.

Be God's voice and hands
to ease your pain.
You do this for others,
why not for yourself?

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Gift

You can give me
    no greater gift
than helping me seek
    my own truth.

Text and image © 2013 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.