October 3, 2019

WAVES

Non-stop, they keep coming,

wave after wave after wave,

wave after wave after wave,

wave after wave after wave ….

Rolling, rolling, rolling inwards,

Pounding the shore - crashing

onto the beach, wave upon wave,

wave upon wave, wave upon wave ….

Some days the breakers are extraverts;

some days the breakers are introverts.

Sitting on the boardwalk or the beach -

I see the entire shake of planet earth ….

I learn steadiness, I learn limitations,

I learn the unexpected, I learn edges,

I learn spray, I learn sound and fury,

I learn background, I learn horizon ….

I see the moon rise out of the ocean -

in the dark of night. I see the sun rise

up in the light of morning - day after

day, after day, after day, after day ….

I need this. I need this knowing,

the familiar, the forever, the non-stop,

the regular background, the steady,

the knowing each wave is new.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  3, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“After a certain number of years our faces become our biographies.” 

Cynthia Ozick, Paris Review.

October 2, 2019

I  PAUSE

Sometimes I pause ….

I pause when you say something that hurts ….

I pause when you say something loving ….

I pause when you see hot dogs and buns and your kind of mustard ….

I pause when you toast me from the other side of the room ….
I pause when I know you know I don’t like to lose in cards and I just did ….

I pause when I know you were misread or misunderstood again ….

I pause when I know you want to scream ….

I pause when I know you’re in a family situation again, just like a similar moment, last year at this time ….

I pause when you’re like a fox whose leg is caught in a metal trap ….

I pause when it’s a clear night and the moon is screaming, “See me!”

Sometimes I pause ….

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  2, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“One of the longest journeys in the world is the journey from Brooklyn to Manhattan - or at least from certain neighborhoods in Brooklyn to certain parts of Manhattan.”  

Norman Podhoretz in Making It, 

by Norman Poderhoretz [April 11, 2017] - 

at the beginning of the book.

October 1, 2019

SACROSANCT

If I hesitate when someone is labeled “sacred” -

how much more would I pause when some

particular person might be  called “sacrosanct”? 

Oooh! Why would we do that to someone or

even something - labeling or describing them

as “sacred” or “a sacrament” or “sacrosanct”?

We canonize people after they die - and that’s

a long process - and books about saints now

list moments like doubts, struggles, and fears.

Better would it be to see and to treat everyone

and everything as good as the God of Genesis

describes all that He has created. We are good.

Moreover, the second meaning of “sacrosanct” 

is a sort of put down - a saccharin - sugar coated

holiness - different than when Christ walked with us.

Being good, being sacred, becoming a saint

has to do with being a servant, a savior, a person

who shows us the image and likeness of God.

So two bottom lines when it comes to being sacred

would be: we are good - called to be the gift we

are; and we are called to growth towards wholeness.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

October  1, 2019 

Thought for today: 

"We hand folks over to God's mercy, and show none ourselves." 

George Eliot [Marian Evans Cross] 

1819-1880, in Adam Bede, 1859, chapter 42.

September  30, 2019

I  CAN  DO   IT

I wish people didn’t go to bed hungry ….
I wish people held doors for the next person ….

I wish people stopped beeping and fingering ….

I hope people can see who’s hurting ….
I hope people listen - really listen to the other ….

I hope people mean what they say ….

I want people not to garbage our streets ….

I want people not to make so much noise ….

I want people not to not use their turn signals ….

I love it when people compliment each other ….

I love it when people are laughing together ….

I love it when people forgive each other ….

I can do it.

I can do it.

I can do it.

 © Andy Costello, Reflections 2019