Archive for the ‘stories’ Category

Don’t we ask ourselves this?

Even those of us that embrace stream of consciousness writing?

Yes, stream of consciousness writing can mean different things to many people, but I’m not sure I ever knew that until this moment.

I never took the time to think that stream of consciousness, as pure as I believed it to be, save correcting typographical errors, was in fact subject to many filters.

You may have filters that I don’t that edit less or more.

Does that make your writing any less pure?

I have spent much time the last few months, but more so, the last few days, enveloped in silence within sound.

Silence within sound? What kind of message is that?

Silence within sound, in this moment, to me, means, not feeling the need to infuse the moment with words.

I became lost within a group of people these last few days.

Simple communication gone awry, left on a corner in a remote town, I began to walk. But you see, I was not “left” by these people around me, we just used our words differently, yes, the same string of words. They watched me walk to a store, and when asking if I wanted a ride, I said, no, I like to walk. So when I came out and could not see them, I walked, assuming they thought my words, I like to walk, meant I would walk…and walk…all the way back to the hotel.

So I did, I walked.

They found me, a block from the hotel, flabbergasted and worried, thinking they had lost me.

I reflect now on that walk, how some blocks looked longer than others, but how as I walked, there was nothing pressing on me, you see, my Blackberry had an unfortunate encounter with a toddler and a garden hose weeks ago, and I still have not replaced it. Unheard of in my day to day profession, but, I wanted it to happen, I think now, I willed that garden hose to to hit my Blackberry.

I am now listening to Pandora, having searched for Diana Krall, and I did indeed get one selection, but what came next?

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow”.

I am still the child that walks alone, singing to the clouds and clicking my heels, as I told RubyShooz moments ago….serendipity? or mere chance?

Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high,

there’s a land that I heard of….

Well, on this walk, the walk of the lost, I heard this song, and I heard God, and I said, ok, so this is what it is to be connected to the eternal, to be without worry, this is it, isn’t it?

Now any one else seeing it, may have seen a mad woman dressed in black with bottles of wine in brown bags wondering what had gone wrong in the world.

Yet, the crazy thing is…everything had gone right.

I was where I was.

And that was ok.

I also provided endless laughs for the crowd over the next several days…the best version, how does a woman get lost in a liquor store within only three aisles?

I smile.

I have not stopped.

At the same time, I hear a litany playing in the back of my mind, another childhood memory:

“Lamb of God,

You take away the sins of the world,

Have mercy on us.”

Over and over.

I veered today out of the way of a shadow on the road, but it was the shadow of a chipmunk, do you know how small the shadow of a chipmunk is on a country road where you are permitted to go fifty miles an hour?

But I saw it, and no, I didn’t hit the chipmunk. Thank God.

So, why do we write or not write here?

I have no clue.

All I know, is I did it my way this time.

Does the need to document miracles reflect the lack of faith?

If so, does it matter?

The occurrences of miracles are reported, with fanfare, and other times, remain unreported, but for the jubiliation or transformation of a few.

I tend to believe in something greater than us.

I believe we have cut off, intentionally or otherwise, channels to a greater, better knowledge. That is why many of the thoughts of yesterday, we laugh at, as tomorrow, we may be the subject of more than a few chuckles for our historic beliefs.

So be it.

My curiosity though, at least the one I entertain in this given moment, is has there ever been a reported healing of someone who has lost a limb?

I have read of those that have passed religious testing, vision, hearing, ability to walk, disease, but I cannot recall one story of a limb being regenerated.

If anyone out there is similarly interested in miracle stories and has one they can share, please do so.

In the meantime I will keep searching. Today’s returns gave me some alternative views of the use of the word miracle. “Miracles” returned the following from Wikepedia:

“Miracles may be:

• Miracles, a 1989 film starring and directed by Jackie Chan.
• Pocketful of Miracles, a 1961 film directed by Frank Capra.
• Miracles, a 2003 American drama television series.
• Miracles, a song by the Pet Shop Boys.
• Miracles, a book by C.S. Lewis
• The Miracles The Motown vocal group led by Smokey Robinson”

However, when I dropped the “s” and searched for miracle, this is partially what I found on Wikepedia:

“A miracle, derived from the old Latin word miraculum meaning “something wonderful”, is a striking interposition of divine intervention by a God in the universe by which the ordinary course and operation of Nature is overruled, suspended, or modified. Although many religious texts and people confirm witnessing or prophesying various events which they refer to as “miraculous”, it is disputed whether there are scientifically confirmed occurrences of miracles^[1]. People in different faiths have substantially different definitions of the word “miracle”. Even within a specific religion there is often more than one usage of the term.

Sometimes the term “miracle” may refer to the action of a supernatural being that is not a god. Thus, the term “divine intervention”, by contrast, would refer specifically to the direct involvement of a deity.

In casual usage, “miracle” may also refer to any statistically unlikely but beneficial event, (such as the survival of a natural disaster) or even to anything which is regarded as “wonderful” regardless of its likelihood, such as birth.”

For those of you not favoring the existence of miracles, try The Skeptic’s Dictionary.

I found that site, Skeptic’s Dictionary, by the ever even-handed, Wikepedia.