Tag Archive | Life

To my children…

Apr6

Try to enjoy life
What seems of huge consequence
Will wash away like a sandcastle in time

Look at the positive
The negative will always be there
Looking at the sunny side
Will bring light and warmth into your life

Don’t be too hard on yourself
There are many things you do well
We always need to improve
But with ourselves we must be patient

See what you have
Rather than what you don’t
Count your blessings
They are easy to ignore!

You may think you know
How things are or should be
But understanding life is not easy!

Things are not black and white
We realize we are mistaken many times!

What we thought we understood
Will suddenly seem all wrong
Confusion will replace clarity
A thunderstorm, a period of calm

Strength will leave us many times
But when we feel weak
We are learning to be strong

We will gradually realize the
Value of trials
Anger and confusion will be replaced by
Understanding and calm

The world has a way of teaching us
That we are very small
And to survive and thrive
We need sunshine
The sunshine of Faith and patience
And the heat of trials

Lida Berghuis
April 5th, 2013

Laughter and tears

Apr3

The one who laughs a hearty laugh
Has probably cried many times

True joy doesn’t exist
In one who has not suffered at all

Joy springs from understanding
From having endured difficult times

Let your laughter ring out
During times of joy and wonder
Let your tears fall when broken hearted

Laughter the sun
Tears the rain
Both are needed
In our life on earth!

Lida Berghuis
April 3rd, 2013

Sadness is the paint!*

Mar27

The trials and sufferings of life are the medium
The canvas, what we must find to reveal the beauty
That can come from the trials of life

The paint is not enough
Sadness does not translate by itself
Into a work of art
The canvas, what we much search for
There is work to be done
Habits to let go of
New understanding to emerge
Virtues to be developed
Wisdom to be gained

Then we will realize
The gifts sadness has brought
The paint it has provided us with
And we can use this gift
To make a beautiful piece of art!

The trials, the paint
Our understanding, the canvas
The work of art a testimony to our growth!

Lida Berghuis
March 27th, 2013

*Mark Nepo, The book of awakening

Lessons taught by pain!

Mar19

I always knew humility was not my forte!
There were times I felt very self righteous
I thought I had the answer to many questions in life
I knew I didn’t know everything
But I thought I knew a lot!

The confidence I felt
Came from not having lived long enough
To experience real pain and real suffering in life

I had not fallen hard yet
Unable to get up
I had not been brought to my knees by the trials of life

I had not been thrown into confusion
And questioned the fairness of life

I had not come to the point of questioning the point of life
Considering all the suffering it entailed

But life has a way of showing us how small we are
How mistaken we can be
How easy it is to break and lose faith
How hard it can be to get up again!

And perhaps that’s good
Because these are lessons
That can’t be learned the easy way
These are lessons
That require the sobering effects of pain!

Lida Berghuis
March 19th, 2013

Fragile 2

Mar18

Sometimes I think I feel too much
Absorb the energies around me too much
Positive people lift me up
But negativity drags me way down!

Somehow I feel this life
Is not meant to be easy
It will always be a struggle
With brief periods of respite!

Struggling and learning is part of life
But I sometimes wonder where to get
The energy to carry on after having fallen down!

Sometimes I feel so fragile
I feel like a flower petal that can be crushed
Blown away
And rained upon!

Sometimes I feel I’m not strong enough
For the needs of this world
That my skin is not thick enough
To withstand the bruises and the cuts!

Struggling is part of life
Joy is part of life
And the things that keep me going
Are art, the love of family and friends
My faith, and the beauty I see all around!

Lida Berghuis
March 6th, 2013

Investing when the return is not certain

Mar17

All worthwhile things in life involve risk!
Can’t wait for certainty to take that big step!
Can’t analyze every angle
And be completely sure
Of the outcome of the decision we make
Can’t guarantee success!
That’s the element of risk
Or faith, perhaps!

At the cross roads of life
We can weigh the pros and cons
We can imagine where we may land
We can guess what each step may bring

But in the end
We take a risk
We choose a path
Not totally certain of
Where it may lead

It’s being comfortable
With uncertainty
Living for now
Because we can’t be sure of the future
No matter how much we plan

A road that seems to lead to a garden
May end up in a dry patch of land
A path that does not look promising
But compelling
Will lead us to undiscovered places
Unexpected places
Places beyond our imagination, at that!

So we can calculate
We can analyze
We may wish for a “certain return”
But life does not work like that!

March 17th, 2013
Lida Berghuis

That’s life!

Mar10

“Surprise and challenge in
Heartache and joy out!”

I think this pretty much explains life
There are always surprises, big and small

What we plan does not work out
What works out, better than what we planned

Challenge is on-going like the waves of the sea
There is respite, but not for long

Heartache always visits us
But what we’ve got to do is to let go
Feel it deeply and let go
Accept it as part of life

Joy always returns and washes the pain away
The sun always returns another day

Lida Berghuis
March 9th, 2013

*Mark Nepo

Not logical at all!

Feb25

Love is not logical
Love is not practical
Love is not easy
Love is not convenient at all!

It arrives when it wants
It remains despite our protests
And doubts!

And it will be clear
Without a shadow of a doubt
That something extraordinary
Has happened
It can’t be ignored
Or put off!

Love is a journey
Not a destination to be reached!
The journey fraught with challenges
And road blocks
With joy and exaltation
With tears and laughter
With confusion and doubt!

But the one who stays on the road
Is not scared off
Does not give up
Reaps the rewards

And what are the rewards of love?
Joy and wonder!
Growth and the flowering of the soul!
A new lease on life!
And seeing the world
Through the rose coloured glasses of love!

Like the sun
Love is blinding
Powerful
And it can burn!

Like the sun
Love gives warmth
Sustenance
Brilliance
And life!

Like the sun
Love is essential
Has always been!

Love is not logical
It’s not practical
It arrives without notice
And refuses to leave!

Lida Berghuis
February 14th, 2013

Everything is unknown till we live it*

Feb21

In the journey of life
I used to seek instructions!
Maps!
Guides!
Sign posts!
Even letters from God!
To show me the way
Map the route out for me
Take uncertainty away
and change gray to black or white

I was afraid to take a
step forward
Lest I stepped the wrong way
I used to crave certainty
As if it was something
I would find
If I looked hard enough
Prayed long enough
Or contemplated long enough

But I’ve learned
Certainty does not exist
Cannot exist
That I won’t have all the answers
Before I make a decision
I won’t know what tomorrow brings for sure
And that’s OK!

I now feel that
There is nothing called a
Perfect path or the only right way
Steps can be traced back
Or side roads will appear

I feel that there will always
Be a place to land
Even if I step into the void
And just because
I don’t see the landing place
It doesn’t mean that
It does not exist!

Lida Berghuis
February 15th, 2013

*Mark Nepo