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With You

With you there is a love
that fills the air we breathe:
a gentle understanding,
a common thread we weave.

With you I’m not afraid
to show the essence that is me:
the good, the bad, the ugly.
For, through all, your love I see.

With you my heart’s desires,
treasured dreams that I hold dear,
are safe from scorn and laughter
so I trust and freely share.

With you I have a friend
who ever seeks to understand
the hopes and joys and challenges
which make me who I am.

And though it may be hard
to believe what I now say:
“I love you more than ever
on this precious Christmas day!”

By Jeanne Loehnis, 2005

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I Get To … Again!

Huh? Well, I am aware that I wrote an article awhile back called “I Get To!” and it highlighted the difference between I Get To and I Have To. 

Today is a bit different. Just a bit. It is Saturday and, following a good night’s sleep and waking to a body that feels good and healthy, I face a day of fun! Today, I get to enjoy family, play, go to a movie, do some yoga. I get to treasure the moments, breathe in deeply, go with the flow, make a little music. I get to wrap the last few Christmas gifts and have them ready for today and one more connection in February. I get to write to you!

I notice that gratitude is overflowing. So many gifts, so many blessings.

What is on your “I get to” list today?

What flavor is your gratitude?

 

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On Marriage And Love

The sacred journey of marriage begins again today
as two people who love deeply come together to say “I do”.
This wedding celebration marks the beginning of a journey of two unique individuals
who wish to experience life together through shared joy, sorrow, new life, death and
who will experience times apart and delight in sharing these with one another.

We see today two people who have discovered a deep fondness for one another,
a caring and concern that goes beyond friendship
to a devotion that each wants to spend a lifetime deepening.

When two people embark on the marital journey,
they desire for one another only the very best that life has to offer.
They willingly commit to support and to celebrate one another
through life’s successes and
through sickness, challenge and despair.

When two people express the deep commitment
to live together in the sacrament of marriage,
they ask Spirit to be the light in their darkness,
the spark of hope in their despair, the candle at their celebrations.
They acknowledge that the source of their strength
is the eternal Love of God that indwells all.

How can we know that the love we share
is sufficient for the journey?

When we see in each other the Divine Spark and
want more than anything to watch it grow,
then we have found a partner to spend our lives with.

When your happiness, fulfillment, and creativity matters to me
because it makes you happy,
then I love deeply.

When your challenges draw me closer,
that you may find in me the strength that you aren’t yet aware of in yourself,
then we love deeply.

When, despite all attempts to agree, we find ourselves with differing beliefs
yet we respect each other’s position and continue to live in harmony,
that is love.

When life has thrown us a curve, and
everything we have and do and believe in is pulled out from underneath us, and
we can hold one another, grateful for the life that we share,
then we know love sufficient for the journey.

by Jeanne Loehnis, 2003

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My Family of Choice

Every person has,
from the moment of their birth,
a family of origin:
a Mom and Dad on Earth.

Some know well the blessed pair,
and sisters, brothers too!
Some are close to relatives;
for them would anything do!

Yet as the years go by we see
our family does grow!
Friends and sacred confidants
as sisters we do know.

Treasured far beyond compare
this family of choice:
those whose strength and love and joy
become for us a voice

reflecting back to us each day
the blessings that we are.
Sacred sisters are the very
mirror of our heart.

Thank you, sacred sister, for you.

By Jeanne Loehnis, 2006

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Love Received

Dear friend in yonder house alone,
I’m here, waiting by the phone.
Often, when it used to ring,
we would laugh and we would sing.

We’ve reached an impasse. Will we cross?
Dare to risk impending loss?
Or choose the safe path? Surely then
we will lose – if we don’t bend.

Yes, everything must learn to sway
or it will falter, then give way
to hurt and suffering and pain.
Alone to face life’s hurricane.

Sometimes space is healing balm,
reflection time amid the calm.
And as the candle slowly burns
sweet memories of old return.

Yet time itself does not all heal,
bend and change must we as well.
Trust once lost is slow to grow
without the gift of bending low
and starting where the souls are one:
joined by God, forever strong.
Certainly we’ve not forgotten:
of heavenly Source were we begotten.

We are one, my friend and I.
And tho’ the winds blow strong and high
we’ll focus on the Truth; we’ll soar!
Your pain is mine; my joy is yours.

When I release the label, “friend”
and see instead, you as my twin,
of the same Divine true Source:
I want the best for you, of course.

And willingly I will provide
strength and love. I’ll be a guide
for you to follow to the Light
where Spirit can for you set right

the course your journey must extend
I will be here; I will bend.
I’ll walk beside, within, and then
I’ll hold you safely to the end.

By Jeanne Loehnis, 2006