Category Archives: The Arts

A place for poetry, music, literature and art

Christ, Faith, Words

Just Remember Jesus Christ

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When things don’t work out like you planned
When tears fall on your cheek
When all your fears but one have died
And your heart is feeling weak

When the toughest choice you’ll make is made
When you’ve given all that you’ve got
When the heavens seem utterly still
And inside you hope they’re not

When all these things are pressing down
And you need courage to go on
Just remember Jesus Christ
Have faith and carry on

When you loved that one so dearly
Like no one you ever have
But in your heart that door has closed
And there’s reason to be sad

Just remember Jesus Christ
And give your pain to him
For he suffered for your sadness
Not only for your sin

The plan for you is mighty grand
His love for you divine
So just remember Jesus Christ
And trust his love sublime

(Written November 14, 2002)

Relationships, Words

Do We Forgive Our Fathers?

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Do we forgive our fathers?
Or do we take upon ourselves their blame?
Do we recognize them as our makers?
Or do we hide our faces when they’ve chosen poorly?

When the wind whispers acts of anger
Do we willingly enrage?
Or do we acknowledge the wind
And choose instead our hearts to believe?

Do we forgive our fathers
When the bitterness of their past bites and pains us so?
Or do we give them our loyalty
And let pass their short comings?

For they too are like us
With times that are best unseen
And they too are like us
Worthy of our love

So do we forgive our fathers
And in so doing forgive ourselves?
Do we drop the bottles
That keep inside our hurt?

Do we go forward and live
And in doing show we forgave?
And do we forgive our fathers
And in so doing set ourselves free?

(Written October 6, 2002)

Relationships, Words

The Mirror

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http://i9.photobucket.com/albums/a55/rosebud_05_/DickseeTheMirror.jpg

I am made up of so many people
My experiences are such
That when I look into the mirror
There’s no face I cannot touch

I see the people wondering
What I have become
There has to be an answer there
But searching, I find none

(Written April 6, 1996)

Attention & Focus, Gratitude, Runner's High, Words

The Runners High

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briskly and swift travels the aging man

ascending the mount to see God’s beacon shine

focused on words that illuminate his soul

grateful for the quickening of mercies divine

Tonight I ran for the second time this week and the second time in perhaps 6 months or more. After the St. George in 2005 I haven’t trained much. I did run the Wasatch Back Relay, but I pretty much ran that straight up without forethought…and my legs sure thanked me for it!

Today I had been having a brain cloud, as I’ve come to recognize as a fairly common part of Ryan’s existence. I almost didn’t run today because I’ve been feeling “almost sick” lately. Ya know that feeling of fatigue, muscle soreness, hot/cold “make up your mind” stuff? Well, I’ve been having that but guess what? Here’s what I experienced upon returning from a 15 minute run, 5 minute walk, then repeat session:

  • My mind felt clear and focused
  • I had more energy
  • I noticed patience came easier
  • Gratitude filled my being
  • (From the textbook) Overall sense of well being

I enjoy noticing the effects of my actions more these days. I haven’t always done that and it’s quite interesting and refreshing.

Gratitude, Hope, Self Discovery, Walk The Talk, Words

Simplicity

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Storms & struggles

Sadness & strife

These are but gifts

Blessings of life

We ride the cycles of happiness and sorrow. With every rotation we learn more of what it is to be human, to have strains, to have challenges, to have difficulties. To recognize that these down times are but part of the whole allows us to let hope into our hearts and understand, as my grandmother used to say, “this too shall pass.”

At times we run faster than we’re able. We fill our lives, and rightly so, with good activities. But there comes a point when the busyness of life robs from us the precious gift of reflection. In quiet moments we can look back on our behavior, let the solemnity of special moments sink in and we can assess our thinking on important topics. Simplifying our lives can provide us with many such opportunities. In these sacred times we can come to accept & love ourselves as well as see life more clearly.

Shelter, food, clothes and heat. These are the few basic things that Henry David Thoreau determined were necessaries for man while he lived a simplified life on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Walden Pond. I am thankful for my meager apartment and cramped room. I am grateful that I have clothes to wear, including my cowboy boots. I am pleased that my house is warm when the weather outside has other plans. I am grateful for my 5 pound bag of pretzels and chocolate milk that sustain somehow my life.

Breaking from philosophy and entering practicality: In considering a shelter Dave Ramsey counsels to spend no more than 25% of your monthly take home pay on your monthly home payments. Also, providing at least 20% in down payment on a 15 year loan will allow you the most flexibility if you need to immediately sale the home.

Thrift, industry, economy and frugality are traits that I seek. At present time I think I’m running about 50/50 on most of them. Hopefully my kids someday will be able to learn these from their bearded father.

Finally, I’m grateful for my agency. I needn’t choose simplicity because that’s what I was advised to do. Rather, I choose simplicity because I can conceive of its benefits in a busy and rushed world.

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Thoughts taken from Let Him Do It with Simplicity, a talk by Elder L. Tom Perry in the October 2008 LDS General Conference.