A Christmas Past

Standing on the summit with all those who share in my pain and oppression, we cast our eyes to the valley below.

There, camped, are our oppressors. Those who scheme and devise wicked lies against us in order to shame us into despair and hopelessness. Those who publicly rape our emotions and dreams.

Examining their faces, their posture, their every move, we become horrified . . . We recognize each one of them. They are our kinsmen, our neighbors, the mirrored image of those we fight to save. Frozen in fear and confusion, all clarity, knowledge and understanding seeps into the ground below as if an arrow had struck our hearts and we lay bleeding.

And as that last drop of life giving blood trickles down our cheeks we begin to know with a new knowledge and understanding that comes not from ourselves or advice of counsel, but a Knowledge and Understanding that comes from whence the wind blows, and we know we are not alone.

Please pray for me and all those who share in my suffering and oppression as we continue to live in a world consumed with self-interest. That through our faith in one God - the God of Moses, the God of Issac, the God of all - that Peace may thrive in this Season of Advent and throughout all our lives.

May God Bless.
Gloria Valentine

Originally written on December 16, 2004

I wonder
what
Leo Tolstoy
would
have to say
if he
were
still
alive
today?

-Gloria Valentine

Thoughts on Tillich ... The courage to be.

"True worth is in being, not seeming." 
- Alice Cary
 
To be "cut off from creative participation in a sphere or culture"*. To be cut off from what was sustaining and conducive to one's creativeness by external forces beyond ones ability to control or change resulting in "anxiety of meaningless ...the loss of that which gave meaning to all meaning."*

The danger that results, should that which once cut off one from creative participation is removed, is that one now finds themselves in a present period that is so different from the period before the initial cut off, that even though now free to go back to that which was conducive and sustaining, one finds those things no longer exist or are now no longer relevant. Tillich gives the example of artistic expression before the industrial revolution and I would add that possibly more recent, pre-9/11.

"The courage to be is rooted in the God who appears when God has disappeared in the anxiety of doubt."*

Could it be said that throughout history, those unnamed souls who find themselves collectively in such time periods are the ones who carry the torch throughout the darkest moments of man's existence? That those who live their lives in a non-transitional period, live and create in times of unknown/unrealized luxury while those who exist during periods of transition are the unknown/unrealized pillars and light bearers - keepers of the flame - of human existence, both creatively and spiritually?

-Gloria Valentine

*"The Anxiety of Emptiness and Meaninglessness" from "The Courage To Be" - Paul Tillich

How can I express what can't be contained?

Messier 81

Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number. - Job 9:8-10

How are you?

The ambiguous ambiguity of my epitomized paradoxical life I am finding very disconcerting. It may just be a phase I am going through or some period of transition, I do not know. But whatever the reason, for now I find myself captivated by the thoughts of having a theological understanding of psychopathy. And how are you?

- Gloria Valentine

The Calling ...

Where are the two witnesses that stood with me on that cold winter dawn and in awe and admiration cast our eyes toward the moon in all its glory just before the rising sun overtook it? Where are they?

Where are my two witnesses, my olive trees? The two who stood with me before God?

I need you.

-Gloria Valentine

Father God, Creator of all things
Let me be that first light of dawn for those trapped in darkness.
The first light of dawn that awakens and stirs.
The first light of dawn that evokes all of our senses.

How I long to return to the deep woods
at the first light of dawn.
To see it, hear it, taste it, smell it, feel it.
The simultaneous coming of light and going of darkness.

I want to be that first light of dawn
that breaks open the eastern sky
and overcomes the darkness.

The first light of dawn that stirs life and
awakens the soul of all living things.

The first light of dawn.
Like the voice crying out from the wilderness,
saying that time has come, prepare ye the way!

The first light of dawn that tells darkness
it is time to go.

The first light of dawn that tells the fog
it is time to lift.

The first light of dawn that stirs the wind
to gently rustle the leaves and grasses.

The first light of dawn that awakens
life from its slumber and proclaims
"Arise, oh sleeper".

-Gloria Valentine

Inspired by Hosea 6:1-3

Oh that we might know the Lord,
let us press forward with prayer
that we might savor in His presence forever.

Like the rains that fall high in the mountains
may His presence wash down upon us
and lift us like the mist that rises after the rain.

Take me to the foot of Your Holy Mountain
so that I might lift my eyes to the summit
and fully know that You are God.

Take me to the foot of Your Holy Mountain
where Jesus awaits with extended hand
to lead me to the summit where You abide,
where Your very essence will engulf me completely.

-Gloria Valentine

Our Demons

We all have our demons
our thorns in our sides
but that doesn't make us
any less
effective.

We are all vessels
each made by the Potter's hand
for a distinct purpose.

Where would our
salvation come from
had there not lived
a man named Judas?

How can Light enter into Darkness
if it does not first disguise itself?

How can one know Good
if they have never known Evil?

It is written, in order for Him
to ascend, He first had
to descend.

Judge not, lest ye be judged
Hallelujah,
because sometimes
I just don't know.

- gloria valentine

Romans 9:20-22

Agony

It is agony
knowing those things
which I cannot speak of

It tears me apart
on the inside

And although I may
never again be allowed
to enjoy the things
of this world
I realize that the things
of this world
are merely temporal
and fade quickly
like the flower in bloom

And it saddens me
to know
I may never
hold that flower
in my hands
again

- gloria valentine

If there is to be a revolution in this country
in order for it to succeed
it must come in the form of revival.

- gloria valentine

In the not so long ago

In the not so long ago
exiled from all that
sustained and encouraged 
thrown into a dungeon
of negativity
in hopes of
breaking
crushing
and defeating
but
it didn't happen
and however dismantled
I may be
I still have all the pieces
and I don't know why
I think you would care
but
I do.

-gloria valentine

I no longer see wherein the hope lies.

The Ashes of Time

The song
The sound
The sand
The Ashes of Time
The wind ever blowing
Forming
Reforming
The sand
The ocean
Crashes
The cliffs
The shore
The sand
Forming
Reforming
The Ashes of Time
Forever returning to whence it began
The song
The sound
The sand
The Ashes of Time
Who will be chosen?
What soul formed by the Creators hand will stand witness to the Grand Finale?
The last to hear
The song
The sound
The last to see
The sand
The Ashes of Time
The wind ever blowing
The ocean crashes.

-gloria valentine

Pony up boys, 
Pedro says it time to take a ride.