The Prophet
Like lightening in a bottle,
the prophet speaks against all odds.
A force of nature striking the gods of Babylon into a thousand splinters.
Undefinable by the org chart,
untamable by the bureaucracy,
wild at heart,
tender of hand,
the prophet speaks of
injustice and hope.
The prophet sees with eyes on fire a land of promise and plenty
yet is fierce in conversation about what is
as one who is in this world but not of this world.
No wonder most prophets get stoned or fired.
Present
Looking out the window
morning light paints natures master piece,
the ducks leave
a ripple wake on a mirror surface,
magnificent mountains form
sentinels to the valley’s secrets,
and naked oaks arms out stretched to winters sun
cast braided shadows on frosted earth.
If you breathe the air deeply
it touches your soul.
Inside,
through the double doors
another canvas is being painted.
Tension is released in laughter,
comfort is challenged,
and mind and body are stretched
as the chilling wind of change cuts through
games of posturing and pretence.
Within,
a pebble is tossed into a deep well of listening
as an elusive word forms,
terrifying yet life giving,
an invitation
to a gracious revelation
for those who will dare to be present to it.
Homecoming
Home is the mountain
you look to when you’re lost in the city,
of agendas and politics of power.
Home is the river
that runs forever into the sea,
of change.
Home is the whanau
that loves you when you fail
to impress.
Home is living at ease
in your skin.
Are you nearly there yet?
The company you keep
“Let me keep my distance, always, from those
who think they have the answers.
Let me keep company always with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.”
– Mary Oliver
I keep my distance
from those who have no doubts.
Their certainty a blunt instrument
to beat me with “oughts, shoulds and musts”.
Their lines in the sands “sand traps” set to snare.
Their black and white prison bars
taking freedom of thought captive.
I welcome as true friends those who
see with wonder and amazement
a world of unimagined possibilities.
They laugh “with” not “at” me and
set me free from sand traps and bars of black and white.
In their company I humbly bow
to an invitation to
be
and to
become.
Solitude
“The individual who has experienced solitude will not easily become a victim of mass suggestion” Albert Einstein
Just may be . . . the reason you have not found your own voice is you have not been silent long enough to hear it.
The stranger in me
Behind and before,
within and without,
height and depths,
comings and goings,
beginnings and endings,
near and far,
in darkness and in the light,
you know,
the stranger in me.
“O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.” Ps 139:1
The color of death
Autumn’s opus,
crimson,
red and rust,
green and gold,
the glory of season past.
As
grey limbs bear their naked soul,
a leaf falls,
blown by the wind,
till its place,
it knows no more.
Lost
I had it, then I lost it.
Sometime between 11.00pm and 4.00am.
Somewhere between my head and my pillow.
Lost.
Never again to be thought of.
Never to see the light of day.
A brilliant idea.
Leadership as animateur
An animateur (animator) is one who “brings to life”.
Animateurs are leaders who bring to life new ways of seeing, thinking and acting. An animateur needs to have the ability to stand outside the “play” to see beyond and to solve but also step into the “play” with total engagement.