Mirrors of the Soul: "Is Lent A Mistake, Jesus?"

do we focus on your death and miss your life, jesus?

it is easier, you know, to think about you dying,

to think about all your sacrifices as coming from some divine pre-formed plan

than to think that it was simple, tragic, brutality of our humanity.

what if you hadn’t died, jesus?

what if you had just grown old, and wiser; what if you had had a family, even had babies!

would we remember you?

maybe.

we are told that if we focus on imitating some of your sacrifices during the lenten season,

we will appreciate the magnitude of your death. maybe we would feel enough guilt to worship you?

is that what this is all about? to worship you?

do we ever think about your humanity, just your humanity?

and the adventure of your life? do we ever meditate upon the love of life that you may have had?

sometimes, jesus, i think about your high risk choices, your playfulness with children, your

ability to have deep, vulnerable friendships with beautiful, diverse and insecure folks.

how did you do that? i want to know! i want to be able to be that real, that carefree, that

courageous to cast my fate to the wind and just…live…live!

so what if it means i die. doesn’t the fear of death keep us from living?

doesn’t the fear of death keep us from taking risks?

doesn’t the fear of death keep us from being adventurous?

maybe that is what your life is about…just a man, a beautiful man who simply lived his integrity;

who simply lived who he was…

VENUS RISING II

"She has a friend!", someone said to me, "Venus has a friend!" and, now, in the early, pre-dawn hours, it is true. I saw it earlier last week, this "new star" joining the bright, pulsating, orange/white light of Venus. This inspired me. What/"who" was this?

Well, I checked www.space.com and discovered the "who" is Jupiter, no less! These two planets reflecting our sun, together in the pre-dawn darkness. So prominent on the eastern horizon, "ya can't miss it!". Plus, the information read of a most unusual extra event: the partial crest of the moon will join them on February 4 in a display creating, of all things, an isosceles triangle! Great! Geometry-in-the-Sky!

Who would've thought? Is there play in this universe? In you? Is there music in your soul? Is there whimsy in your heart?

(Get up early for once, will ya?)