Aidan (? - 651 AD )

Aidan Gives Away A Horse



Aidan loved to talk to the Angles about Jesus. He would not ride a horse. He felt it deprived him of opportunities to share about Christ while he traveled. It was easier to talk to people, he reasoned, when you were on their level.


One time King Oswin of the Angles gave Aidan an expensive horse. Aidan had not ridden very far before he gave the horse away to a poor person. The King was angry with Aidan for doing this. Aidan asked the King if a horse was more important to him than one for whom Christ had died. The King, who was a Christian, repented and asked Aidan's forgiveness.

What Can I Do For You?

You have given everything to me.
What can I do for You?
You have given me eyes to see.
What can I do for You?

Pulled me out of bondage and You made me renewed inside,
Filled up a hunger that had always been denied,
Opened up a door no man can shut and You opened it up so wide
And You've chosen me to be among the few.
What can I do for You?

You have laid down Your life for me.
What can I do for You?
You have explained every mystery.
What can I do for You?

Soon as a man is born, you know the sparks begin to fly,
He gets wise in his own eyes and he's made to believe a lie.
Who would deliver him from the death he's bound to die?
Well, You've done it all and there's no more anyone can pretend to do.
What can I do for You?

You have given all there is to give.
What can I do for You?
You have given me life to live.
How can I live for You?

I know all about poison, I know all about fiery darts,
I don't care how rough the road is, show me where it starts,
Whatever pleases You, tell it to my heart.
Well, I don't deserve it but I sure did make it through.
What can I do for You?

                    
                            Bob Dylan

What can i do for you video 

The only thing that is Eternal is Love.

This Love *is* the Beloved *and* the Lover. 
You are not to make any effort in this relationship. 
When you are in front of your Beloved 
this Beloved will not ask you to make any effort. 
This Beloved will take care of you 
and whatever she does you will accept it. 
At that time you will not think what is going on 
because in Love there is no dialogue.

In Love there is no dialogue, no question, no answer. 
Simply both are quiet.

You are quiet and your Beloved is quiet 
and something great is about to happen Now. 
You have to wait.

When you don't make any separation 
between the Beloved and the Lover 
you have found the secret: 
That you have never been separated from anything.

This is all you have to do. 
Did you get this secret?

     From: 'This - Prose and Poetry of Dancing Emptiness'
                       by Sri H. W. L. Poonja  (Papaji)

graphic: the lover and the beloved.. from the Song of Solomon 

There is a candle in your heart...

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.

Rumi

 From: Hush Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi

From: Hush Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi - See more at: http://allspirit.co.uk/rumicandle.html#sthash.RYNOWmlb.dpuf

Rumi Poems

There is a candle in your heart...

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.
- See more at: http://allspirit.co.uk/rumicandle.html#sthash.RYNOWmlb.dpuf

There is a candle in your heart...

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.
- See more at: http://allspirit.co.uk/rumicandle.html#sthash.RYNOWmlb.dpuf

There is a candle in your heart...

There is a candle in your heart,
ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
ready to be filled.
You feel it, don't you?
You feel the separation
from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that
Love
comes to you of its own accord,
and the yearning for it
cannot be learned in any school.
- See more at: http://allspirit.co.uk/rumicandle.html#sthash.RYNOWmlb.dpuf

Standing Outside The Fire

We call them cool Those hearts that have no scars to show The ones that never do let go And risk the tables being turned We call them fools Who have to dance within the flame Who chance the sorrow and the shame That always comes with getting burned But you've got to be tough when consumed by desire 'Cause it's not enough just to stand outside the fire We call them strong Those who can face this world alone Who seem to get by on their own Those who will never take the fall We call them weak Who are unable to resist The slightest chance love might exist And for that forsake it all They're so hell-bent on giving ,walking a wire Convinced it's not living if you stand outside the fire Standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire There's this love that is burning Deep in my soul Constantly yearning to get out of control Wanting to fly higher and higher I can't abide Standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Standing outside the fire Life is not tried, it is merely survived If you're standing outside the fire 

                                Written by: Garth Brooks, Jenny Yates 

Living Faith

Our faith must be alive. It cannot be just a set of rigid 
beliefs and notions. Our faith must evolve every day 
and bring us joy, peace, freedom and love.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

 Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk, teacher, author, poet
 and peace activist. He lives in the Plum Village Monastery in the 
Dordogne region in the South of France, travelling internationally to 
give retreats and talks. He was a close friend and associate of Thomas Merton.

His book "Living Buddha Living Christ" is an international best seller.

If you do you will know

What will a man gain by merely 

reasoning about the words 
of the scriptures? Ah, the fools! 

They reason themselves to 
death over information about 

the path. They never take the 
plunge. What a pity! 

~Ramakrishna

 Ramakrishna, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyay, was a famous mystic of 
19th-century India. His religious school of thought led to the formation
 of the Ramakrishna Mission

For a second there is meaning!

I lay on the bowsprit, facing astern, with the water foaming into spume
under me, the masts with every sail white in the moonlight, towering
high above me. I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of
it , and for a moment I lost myself - actually lost my life. I was set
free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray,
became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high
dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and
unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the
life of Man, to Life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way.

And several other times in my life, when I was swimming far out, or
lying alone on a beach, I have had the same experience. Become the sun,
the hot sand, green seaweed anchored to a rock, swaying in the tide.
Like a saint's vision of beatitude. Like the veil of things as they
seem drawn back by an unseen hand. For a second you see - and seeing
the secret, are the secret. For a second there is meaning!

 This is from: 'Long Days Journey into Night' Eugene O'Neill

 Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an Irish American playwright and Nobel 
laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first
 to introduce into American drama techniques of realism.

King Oswin of Deira ( ? - 651 )

Oswin succeeded Oswald as king and ruled Deira a southern province of Northumbria for seven years. Educated by Aidan he was greatly beloved by his people. It is recorded that he was "of rare humility and virtue" and that "courtesy shone from him".

Not only had Adian mentored the King, they were dear friends. Oswin once tried to give him a horse to make travel easier. Adian gave the horse away to the first begger asking alms.

Bede records an insident that took place shortly before Oswin's death: "They went in to dinner and the bishop sat down in his place whilst Oswin warmed himself by the fire. Suddenly, the king unbuckled his sword belt, knelt at the bishop's feet and begged his forgiveness, and promised never again to question how much of his bounty the bishop gave to God's children. The bishop was deeply moved, raised Oswin to his feet, and begged him to sit down to his food.

As the king and his party grew merrier, so the bishop became sadder until he shed tears. His chaplain asked him what was wrong, and the bishop replied, "I know the king will not live long, for I have never before seen a humble king. I feel he will soon be taken from us, because this nation is not worthy of such a king".

He was murdered the 20th of Agust 651 at Gilling in Yorkshire England on order of his jelous cousin Osway.

Kathrine Drexel (1858 - 1955 )

Thoughts from Kathrine Drexel


It is a lesson we all need – to let alone the things that do not concern us. He has other ways for others to follow Him; all do not go by the same path. It is for each of us to learn the path by which He requires us to follow Him, and to follow Him in that path.” (St. Katharine Drexel)

“The patient and humble endurance of the cross—whatever nature it may be—is the highest work we have to do.”

“Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from being an image of Jesus in his sacred life on earth!” (St. Katharine Drexel)

Let us open wide our hearts. It is joy which invites us. Press forward and fear nothing.

Love makes us speak

Love makes us speak; 

love makes us moan;

love makes us die; 
love brings us to life; 

love makes us drunk and bewildered; 

it sometimes makes one a king.

Love and the lover have no rigid doctrine. 

Whichever direction the lover takes, 

he turns toward his beloved. 

Wherever he may be, he is with his beloved. 

Wherever he goes, he goes with his beloved.

He cannot do anything, cannot 
survive for even one moment, without his beloved.

He constantly recalls his beloved as his beloved remembers him. 

Lover and beloved, rememberer and remembered, 

are ever in each other's company, always together. 

~Sheikh Muzaffer

Sufi mystic 

Much of sufi poetry and imagery is reflective of the Song of 

Solomon in that it places God as the Beloved and the seeker 

as the intoxicated lover and concerns it's self with the union

of the lover and the beloved.

The Lover and the Beloved

Indeed, no lover seeks union without his beloved seeking him.

But the love of lovers makes their bodies into bowstrings,
while the love of beloveds makes them happy and plump.

When the lightning of love for the loved one flashes in *this* heart,
know that there is also love in *that* heart.

When love for God has doubled in your heart,
without doubt God has love for you.

You have never heard one hand clapping without the other.

The thirsty man laments, "Oh sweet water!"
The water also laments, "Where is the drinker!"

This thirst in our souls is the attraction of the Water -
we belong to It and It belongs to us.


Jalaluddin Rumi's Mathnawi, book 3, vv. 4393-4399,
from "The Sufi Path of Love," translated by W. C. Chittick, p.209.

Graphic:  Song of Solomon, illustrations, music, pictures: brookwww.song-of-songs.net 

Sufism  is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a ṣūfī Sufis believe they are practicing ihsan (perfection of worship) as revealed by Gabriel to Muhammad: "Worship and serve Allah as you are seeing Him and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you".. Sufism is opposed by Wahhabi and Salafist Muslims.(adapted from Wikipedia)

Higher Love

Think about it, there must be higher love
Down in the heart or hidden in the stars above
Without it, life is a wasted time
Look inside your heart, I'll look inside mine
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be

Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?

Worlds are turning and we're just hanging on
Facing our fear and standing out there alone
A yearning, and it's real to me
There must be someone who's feeling for me
Things look so bad everywhere
In this whole world, what is fair?
We walk blind and we try to see
Falling behind in what could be

Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?

Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Bring be a higher love
I could rise above on a higher love

I will wait for it
I'm not too late for it
Until then, I'll sing my song
To cheer the night along
Bring it...Oh bring it...

I could light the night up with my soul on fire
I could make the sun shine from pure desire
Let me feel that love come over me
Let me feel how strong it could be

Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Bring me a higher love
Where's that higher love I keep thinking of?

 Higher Love video

      Steve Winwood (Winwood/Jennings)

Psalm 139:7-12

Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths,
 you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side 
of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” 
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day,
 for darkness is as light to you. 

 graphic:  rach.users.livejournal.com

If I ever needed someone

Lord if I ever needed someone,
 I need You 
Lord  I ever needed someone, 
I need You   
To see me through the daytime 
 And through the long lonely night 
 To lead me through the darkness 
 And on into the light
 
To stand with me when I'm troubled 
And help me through my strife  
When times get so uncertain to turn to You  
Turn to You in my young life
 
Lord if I ever needed someone,
 I need You  
Lord if I ever needed someone, 
I need You
 
Someone to hold onto  
And keep me from all fear 
Someone to be my guiding light 
And keep me ever dear
 
To keep me from my selfishness 
 To keep me from my sorrow  
 To lead me on to givingness 
 So I can see a new tomorrow 
 
Lord if I ever needed someone, 
I need You  
Lord if I ever needed someone, 
I need You
 
Someone to walk with  
Oh someone to hold by the hand  
Someone to talk with  
Someone to understand, yeah, yeah
 
Oh, when I need You Yeah
, I need You very much  
To open up my arms to You 
Feel Your tender touch
 
To feel it and to keep it 
To the right here in my soul 
 And care for it and keep it with me 
 Never to grow old
 
Lord if I ever needed someone, 
I need You 
Lord if I ever needed someone,
 I need You 
 Lord if I ever needed someone, I need You

                              Van Morrison

If i ever needed someone Van Morrison unplugged 

 Van Morrison, is an  Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are described as transcendental^.  Some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moon dance and the live album It's to Late to Stop Now are critically acclaimed and appear at the top of many greatest album lists.

To Love is to reach God.

To Love is to reach God.
Never will a Lover's chest 
feel any sorrow.
Never will a Lover's robe 
be touched by mortals.
Never will a Lover's body 
be found buried in the earth.
To Love is to reach God. 

~Rumi 

                          Translated by: Shahram Shiva

 Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhī, also known as Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī, 
and more popularly in the English-speaking world simply as Rumi, was a 
13th-century Persian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic. 

All things are full of God

ALL things are full of God. Thus spoke  
  Wise Thales in the days  
When subtle Greece to thought awoke  
  And soared in lofty ways.  
And now what wisdom have we more?        
  No sage divining-rod  
Hath taught than this a deeper lore,  
  ALL THINGS ARE FULL OF GOD.  
  
The Light that gloweth in the sky  
  And shimmers in the sea,        
That quivers in the painted fly  
  And gems the pictured lea,  
The million hues of Heaven above  
  And Earth below are one,  
And every lightful eye doth love         
  The primal light, the Sun.  
  
Even so, all vital virtue flows  
  From life's first fountain, God;  
And he who feels, and he who knows,  
  Doth feel and know from God.         
As fishes swim in briny sea,  
  As fowl do float in air,  
>From Thy embrace we cannot flee;  
  We breathe, and Thou art there.  
  
Go, take thy glass, astronomer,         
  And all the girth survey  
Of sphere harmonious linked to sphere,  
  In endless bright array.  
All that far-reaching Science there  
  Can measure with her rod,         
All powers, all laws, are but the fair  
  Embodied thoughts of God. 

                           By John Stuart Blackie 

John Stuart Blackie (28 July 1809 – 2 March 1895) was a Scottish scholar and man of letters.

What do you want me to do

 

And I've tried to do what people say 
And I'm going nowhere fast\
And I'm turning to you at last
 
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do, Lord?
 
I can see the lights of home
But I can't get there on my own  
I can see the landing strip 
But I need you to steer my ship
 
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do, Lord?
 
I've been a fool and I've been a clown  
I let the enemy turn me around 
I've wasted love and I've wasted time  
I've been proud and I've been blind
 

What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do, Lord?
I've got a lot of things to change 
A whole man to rearrange 
And if you show me how  
I'll begin right now
 
What do you want me to do? 
What do you want me to do?  
What do you want me to do, Lord? 
What do you want me to do, Lord?
 What do you want me to do, Lord?
 
I'm listening 
          I'm listening  
                    I'm listening 
                             I'm listening  
                                      I'm listening

 Mike Scott

What do you want me to do video: 

 Michael 'Mike' Scott is the founding member, lead singer and songwriter of The Waterboys. He has also produced two solo albums, Bring 'em All In and Still Burning.