Hard Lessons Learned While Growing Up

There are definitely monsters under the bed
and in the closet. But, they are terrified of grown-ups.
If you see one, call a grown-up immediately.

When you are sick, learn the art of waiting.
I know it's hard to stay still with that thermometer in your
mouth for so long, but, believe me,
the alternative is worse.

Bumblebees, though brightly-colored and pretty,
do not like to be petted. If you insist, they will make
you go “Ouch” and you will cry. A lot.

Cats are not dogs. They do not like to be picked up
and forced to sit on your lap. They will not allow it, actually.

Mommy and Daddy can not be with you all of the time.
Either learn to get yourself out of jams or do not
get yourself in them in the first place.

God is bigger than the bogeyman. And a lot nicer.
So remember to say your prayers at night, every night of your life.

You can't be everything to everyone.
You can only be the best 'you' that you can be
for whoever needs you at the moment.

Not everyone you meet will be nice to you.
Someone will call you names.
Don't retaliate. They are probably hurting inside.
Someone will break your heart.
Don't stop loving people. Instead, love them more.
Someone will betray your trust.
Keep on trusting, but be smart about it.
Eventually, someone else will earn your trust again.

Scraped elbows, skinned knees,
cut fingertips and stubbed toes,
heal more quickly than
bruised egos, wounded pride,
and broken hearts,
and they hurt a whole lot less.

Someone you love will leave you. Forever.
Let your grief wash over you for a time, then, carry
your memories like a light inside you and they will
make you happy when nothing else can.

It's okay to fail. Wisdom is born from failures.
It's not okay not to try.

Eventually, you will get older, frailer, sicker.
There is nothing you can do about it.
Eventually, God will call you to come home.
This doesn't have to be scary.

There are many other things I'd like to tell you,
many other lessons you will learn.
These will be your lessons, unique to you.
Trust your instincts. Follow your heart.

And when you have learned something useful,
pass your knowledge along
to someone else who needs it
as they walk on the road to wisdom.

For the road is long
and we only stop learning
when we reach the end of it.

For Love of "Todo y Nada"

(in honor of my Carmelite patron, San Juan de la Cruz)

You are my all.
You are my everything.
All that I am
I owe to You alone.
I am nothing
unless my being resides fully in You.

Bring me to nothing in myself
but to everything in You.
Teach me to know nothing of myself
unless it is through You and
in knowing You.

Because in You I live
and move
and have my being.

in You alone, O God.


8/19/08

Draw Me #3: Past Tense

now that You have drawn me
so close to You that my breath
is no longer mine but Your
breath which gives me Life
as it did from the first moment
of my life.

now that You have drawn me
into Your loving arms to still me:
still my fears, still my breaking
waves of tears with kisses
that brush my soul with rainbows
and drench me with dew.

8/19/08

dying the first time (draw me #2)

close to me-
You draw near me,
drawing me
close to you.

teaching me,
all that you know;
of suffering pain,
and scorn.

i want to die
the most painful death-
which is the first death:
to myself.

then when i die ‘en corpus’
as St. John said,
“the second death
will harm me not.”

for that is when You
will draw me...
into Life.

8/19/08

Captive (Draw Me #1)

I am held firm
I can not break free
You have wounded me
through and through
and have left me in
the dust, still captive

You flood me in my
cavern, overflowing
the cistern so deep and
so used to being full that
the pain is great upon its
being emptied and filled again
with new water

Such wonderful torment!

I become insensible
to the world that
surrounds me with
so much noise like thunder
rattling in the air
going nowhere
going nowhere

Since You have wounded me
in this capture
will You not now release me?
Since I now can’t leave You
take me to Your garden
and let me rest there forever
in Your arms for I am wholly Yours

Such sweet captivity!

Take me to Your garden
though it be a desert
and I will live there forever
belonging only to You
I’ll be a jar made of clay
made to be emptied

and filled again.

8/17/08