nostrum

tentacles of water plunder

lapping, curling, arms abduct

strip bands of ground we've never seen

a pinch or spool, rib of dust

soil and stone and green

they knit and knead what the winds will bring

paint and music fail to tell

the sense of wet and whelming motion

generations fold in swells

modeling an angered ocean

trash and rubber, gasoline

float to hope or further flight

beg the Onde 'slow your hunger'

save me, save us just tonight

--

all the naps

Three

John 16:7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.

12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

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The sufficiency of something is determined first by its needs/lacking and then by the measure of nearness to their satisfaction. God Himself doesn't need or lack anything, so He is - entirely without us - sufficient. He is the Truth, and is sufficiently Truth without any supplement. However, He has taken the burden of our lacking, because we are insufficient.

Without His doing, we would be nothing but needs and lacking, holes hopeless of being satisfied or sufficient by any true measure. We make up "measurements" to perceive a semblance of satisfaction or of hope of being intrinsically True, but the entire source of the entire satisfaction of our entire lacking is God through Christ. In Him we're made sufficient by the only true measure.

God placed His Holy Spirit with and in us. Though (1) God has always been and always will be sufficient for the Truth to be True, and (2) though Jesus was sufficient for us to be brought into a place of value, acquitted and expunged for breaking and attempting to replace Truth with our selective perception of it, we (3) also have this Counselor interceding on our behalf and navigating us as we are invited not just to know there is a Truth, not just to be restored or to observe this Truth, but to also participate in and celebrate as this spirit leads us to who this Lord is and some of what He is moving and doing to restore the kingdom of heaven through that righted relationship.

To teach only part of this begs the question - why miss out?
If God is Truth, you could stop there. That He's Truth is sufficient.
But if you know of God, why don't you ask Him about yourself?
Why overlook the Truth of what Christ accomplished for you?

Justified, we live. Christ's sacrifice is sufficient for us.
But why stop there and overlook the Holy Spirit?
This Helper is so helpful, Jesus wanted to leave so the Helper could convict and guide and counsel us.
What could be better and why would you leave any part of that out?

*The Latin word sufficere (origin of sufficient) means to put under or to meet the need of, while sufferre (origin of suffer) comes from suf(below) + fere(to bear).

place.

On May 1st, I heard Norm Suchar speak (ED of the Center for Capacity Building, National Alliance to End Homelessness). Some notes I took:

An argument for error in systems and programs: power is healthiest mobilized - it moves back and forth between cycles, systems, and levels. Error requires reconciliation and keeps power moving back and forth.

We consistently unlock problem-solving abilities in people who need help by making the conversation "I believe in you" instead of "there are repercussions."

Income and incarceration are both statistically insignificant risk factors for concurrent episodes of homelessness in the United States.

Regardless of income level or criminal history, people treated with dignity and confidence problem-solve and acquire and maintain stable spaces to live. We don't need to be discouraged by imperfect attempts or campaigns; we need to press on and continue to deepen our respect for the needs and lives of others. We need to love them with perseverance and determination.

Pietro

Sunlight is drawn over my frame like a sheath,
Wind firmly holds my weight.
Lemonbalm, Lavender, Fresh Water around my feet.
You Have Known everything that makes me strong. You Have Known what weakens me.
You put me in lasting comfort, in real safety. Without building up stories You console me.

Excited For ideas that find me in the middle of the night, the ones that wake and grip me equally with concern and intrigue. Without illumination, we can sense the joy on each other's faces, building and planning and decorating dreams - journeys, mechanisms, surprises.

I searched every corner and thread of You, every ripple and scent,
for me in You.
I looked with all of my strength for some sign in You that I am worth all of this, that I deserve.
I look for You to show there is good of me.
Forgiving this, You stay.
All I know is You Are Here with me.

moment.um

The first time I remember a fancy party, I remember I danced. A boy asked my dad if he could dance with me, and my dad told him to ask me. I said yes, and we made the shape of a sunburst on a hardwood floor with our feet, waddling purposefully to the music with adults towering over us. Looking up, I saw tall women with simple earrings and their bouncing hair tethered by pins. The boy ran away when he was older. He used a new name. His parents split and they had a tough time understanding him, and he hid on the other side of the country. He runs and runs and runs and runs and runs and I want to learn the words he would pick to describe how running makes him feel. His animation, his welling up. I pray his bones are thrust into forward form by joy and by knowing how much love his father showed him when he flew out to one of the marathons. I pray that it doesn't stop or still, chilled by doubt, regret, or anxiety. I pray that they fill each other with warmth, that the perception of unlovableness is set aside for the thawing, stretching, moving, pressing on of love.