Monday, September 22, 2008

Swirling Patterns of Life's Colours

It's like I am watching myself in a movie. My life is unfolding before my own eyes and I am delighted. It's fascinating watching how new thing, new connection emerge. The colours of so many areas of my life are swirling together, no longer confined to certain compartments, they come together to make patterns and tessellations more wonderful that I could have ever imagined. Watch this space....

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Mamma's Gone


Mamma's gone, passed in her sleep.
Dadda's gone, operation incomplete.
What they have left is what lives in me,
my children, my siblings, their friends and community.

Yes, your Mum and Dad will be there,
Your brother Jack and family too.
Your best friends gathered
All to greet you.

Perhaps amongst the glow of reuniting
You'll turn around to face us
Saying, "Send my love to everyone,
I'll be waiting for you here, my loves."

Saturday, June 21, 2008

A lovely day, I had but one
Exchange of thought, meditation, group tw'one.
Simple pleasure, I think of you
Gratitude'l leisure, melancholy true.
- LGHY (21.06.08)

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I heard this lovely story, that basically goes like this:

There was a camel who wanted to become a ballet dancer. So she got a tutu and some ballet shoes and started to dance. Every day she practiced the 5 basic ballet movements, 100 times, each movement, each day. After a year of intense practice she decided it was time to have recital, to show all her family and friends what a great dancer she had become.

Well the show began and she put her heart and soul into the performance. At the end of her dance she took a deep long bow, but...there was silence. No applause.

One of the members of the audience stood up and said, "As a critic and a spokes person for this group I want to say that your performance was lumpy, bumpy, rough and to be honest, you are no dancer."

The camel smiled to herself and thought, "You are wrong. I know all the movements and I practice everyday. What's more, I love dancing."

The camel continued her dancing and loved it. She spent all her days enjoying her dance and it made her happy.

The moral of the story is this: it doesn't matter what other people think as long as you are doing what makes your heart sing that is all that matters.

Have a wonderful day!

Friday, May 2, 2008

100 Day Challenge

Jessica, my first born, yesterday directed me to a fabulous cyber community at
www.cocreatingourreality.com.
Primarily it's about goal setting, journaling and encouraging others on the same journey. For the more technologically literate, they encourage video clips as well as daily blog entries.

Well worth checking it out, especially if want to be inspired.

LGHY

My Spiritual Journey


As published in the May edition of
The Australian Christian
www.australianchristian.org.au


Why was the God of the Old Testament so different to the God of the New Testament? And why is the church not as accepting of the minority groups as Jesus was? And what about all those people who never heard about Jesus – are they going to hell because they were not in the right place at the right time? And what about Gandhi who admired Jesus and used similar principles to Jesus, but did not believe in Jesus as Messiah? And what about all those people born before Jesus – are they all going to end up in hell too?

These are the type of questions that worried me sick! I’d think about the responsibility I somehow seemed to be burdened with by God to preach to my friends and family. The notion that whether I did a good enough job or not in preaching to them meant they’d end up in heaven or hell! It truly made me feel physically ill!

Yet my love for God, and Jesus, and the Bible was intrinsically deep within me. I got my strength and my passion for life from those sources yet, simultaneously I suppressed the alleged responsibility for my loved ones’ salvation.

I was warned that it was a very dangerous thing to go to theological college. They are very liberal there you know! So I attended with a full complement of protection around me. At every instance where the theology of the lecturer began to conflict with my understanding of the Truth, I counter attacked with debate and Scriptural references. Some subjects such as Church History didn’t clash with my solid and perfectly boxed Theology and Christology, however most other subjects did.

I think the subject that changed my understanding most was studying the Scriptures in their original Greek language. My whole world began to crumble. Who was this God? Who was this Jesus? Who was I in all this?

Over the three year period when I was studying full-time, a whole new open-ended expression of God began to emerge. My theology changed from a God who was supreme judge, watching me at every moment to catch me out – especially when I didn’t take the opportunity to evangelise to my neighbours, friends or family; to a God whose love penetrates every person, every creature, every plant, and every mineral. I went from the anthropology of Original Sin to Original Blessing – that we are a blessing and sure we may mess up sometimes, but primarily God rejoices over us rather than condemns us. My understanding of God’s grace didn’t change, always being aware of God’s unfailing love, but before I still subconsciously felt that it was conditional on my behaviour, although it was always stated that God’s love was unconditional, there seemed to be fine print attached to it somewhere.

So after years of full-time theological studies, 2 years training as a Spiritual Director and being ½ way through a Master’s degree, where do I find myself now? I find myself excited and totally amazed by the grace of God - a grace that challenges us to be authentic in our journey; a grace that is with us in the muck and mire of life but also in the celebration and the festivities. I have discovered that God actually loves the real, warts-and-all Linda. Not just the Linda who tries hard to please; or the Linda who follows regular disciplines like communal worship and prayer; but the raw, sometimes uncultured, sometimes intuitive Linda.

I have tried to articulate it this way; every one of us has a unique heart-song that is sung in the depths of our inner being. It is not anyone else’s and although it is totally unique, it often harmonizes beautifully with the songs of others. It is totally the essence of you. It is underneath the ego, which often tries to protect it, (sometimes by using harsh amplification and sometimes by muting its true sound), however, it is truly the part of you that is created in God’s image.

Some groups of people may try to make our song fit with the corporate song of their organizations, and although there may be some parts of their tune that you do resonate with ours, the danger is that the group may drown out your unique sound which may not have the same timing as their song.

Some organizations say if your song doesn’t fit with ours, then your out! Maybe it’s to do with your sexual preference or your cultural norms, but in some places such phrases are not acceptable and such musicians are rejected from the band!

I believe that Jesus’ message was clearly about listening to the heart-songs of those who he journeyed with. He listened to the cry of the sick and the needy. He even knew the anguish of a poor woman who had been bleeding for 12 years – not through her words, but by the way she touched his robe!

Does this mean that all things are acceptable and everything is OK? No! Some actions hurt and disempower others and they are not harmonious and they cause dissonance and disconnectedness. To such people or organizations Jesus would speak their actions back to them, in hope that being touched by the light the darkness would diminish. He spoke most sternly to the religious leaders of his day, more than anyone else, pointing out their inconsistencies and heresies. However to individuals he got along side of them, listened to their stories and pointed a way back to harmony.

So where does this leave me now? It leaves me with a deep desire to journey with people in a way that gives them permission to express their true heart-song – that is whatever is authentic for them. A song that is not bound by peer pressure or by towing corporate line, but one that is in total resonance with its Creator. As I travel with so many people from different walks of life this is the consistent theme that presents over and over again. How can one offer friendship when they have never been truly befriended for who they really are? How can one offer forgiveness when he or she carries around so much self resentment and guilt of their own? How can we expect to live in peace when there is an internal war going on between the self that we think we should be and the self that we really are?

I may be naive, but I believe that as individuals begin to live in this space of self love and respect, allowing their true heart-song to sing, the world will actually be a better place to live! It is my desire and my passion to journey with people as they explore this eventuality. This is not some new philosophy by any means. In fact Jesus himself said, “Love your neighbour as yourself”. We’ve tried loving our neighbour first and it hasn’t worked. Loving ourselves is step 1, but the preparatory step is trusting that there is a force bigger than all of us whose desire is that we all be at peace and in loving harmony with each other - to trust that the Source did create us individually as extremely wonderful and unique being - that together we can all make up a magnificent orchestral symphony, with its incredibly interwoven textures of sound; high notes and low notes, loud and soft, whispers and shouts and through, above, below and in the midst of all that, we will find God who desires us to be truly authentic to our core-being. Perhaps the questions that can cloud the mind could be put aside for a time, to allow God to speak of them, directly to our inner being. And in that space, in partnership with God, our heart-song can sing the most beautiful song it can to the world.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

How Do You Know God?


(As published in the Southern Community Church of Christ Sentinel - May 4, 2008)

I have been at Southern for nearly two and a half years now. It takes time to get to know people. I have spent time with all of you, in some way or another. With some it has been a shake of the hand and a “How are you today?” With others I have sat in your homes and listened to the important stories of your past and the things that are pressing on you in the present. It takes time and intentional energy to get to know people.

It’s the same with God. God is all around us and influencing every aspect of our lives, but unless we take time to sit with and intentionally converse with God we can miss out on so much of what God has to offer.

At every funeral I have ever been to I have always learnt more about the person who has passed than I knew before hand. The wonderful stories of their lives are told with love and sense of treasure, by the loved ones of the person who has passed. They have spent intentional and intimate time with their loved ones and have walked the journey with them.

What if there was so much more that God wanted to offer you in your life, but because of busyness and lack of intentional relationship with God, you were missing it? What if you are carrying so much of the heaviness that life brings on your own shoulders, when Christ is right there, offering to make your burden light, yet you don’t see the invitation?

An invitation not accepted retains the gift intended. How do we know God? - by intentionally seeking God’s face; by intentionally being in relationship through community, prayer, worship, stillness, awe, unconditional love for each other…

“Be still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10a

Linda Hannah Young

Monday, April 21, 2008

My Lost Identity!

A few months ago my Passport was stolen at San Francisco Airport. After a harrowing experience of feeling like some sort of illegal alien, I was able to get an Emergency Passport and be on my way again. Last week I went to renew my Passport. After going through all the hoops of showing my birth certificate, marriage certificate and various other forms of proving my identity, I accidentally put down my folder whilst in a shop - again, my identity was once again lost.

After feeling pretty bad about it all I started to reflect on identity. Surely I am worth more than the papers that happen to inform the world of who I am! Have we been reduced to who we can prove ourselves to be?

Well unfortunately the papers have not been found and I don't know whether they ever will be, but one thing I do know is that we are all worth much more than any government, society or political system can reduce us to. I remember hearing John Lennon say that we as a society can't even go from one piece of land to another (Canada to USA) without silly bits of paper with funny rubber stamp imprints, anymore! "Imagine!"

Monday, April 14, 2008

Many thanks...

Thank you to all who have contributed to both my blog and my home email address. Your love and encouragement has been overwhelming.

Participated in a beautiful Open Heart Meditation last Sunday. The main message of the meditation was to always remember to smile - to smile at your heart and expect the Source of Truth to reveal something new to you. It resonated greatly with my exploration about the notion of us all having our Unique Heart-Song. A song co-written with our Creator that only we can sing to the world. When we learn how to let those melodic vibrations of our heart out to the world, it will merge with true heart-songs sung by so many others, to make this world a beautiful place.

I love the thought of being co-creators with God in bringing about harmony to the planet.

Stay tuned for more as this story continues to emerge.........

Friday, April 11, 2008

REVIEW: A Note for Children: an Imaginative Journey into Music





By Cheryl M.Reifsnyder, Ph.D.

(Reviewer and 1st place winner in the children's division
of the 2007 PPWC Writers Contest.)




Styled as a friendly letter from a worldwide traveler, A Note for Children introduces children to the whimsical land of “Treble Clef.” There, author Linda Hannah Young creates appealing and memorable characters who demonstrate a variety of simple rhythmic notations—such as the quarter note, Mr. Crotchet, who only walks (walk-walk-walk-walk,) and the half note, Ms. Minim, who only slides (sli-ide—sli-ide.) The imaginative character descriptions are coupled with colorful, computer-enhanced watercolor visuals and simple memory aids that will help children to learn and remember the meanings of different types of rests, notes, and more. Each concept is accompanied by a simple song that lets children experiment with their new music knowledge.




The book’s playful characters and stories grew from Young’s ten-plus years’ experience teaching music. Through story, she translates abstract musical concepts into appealing language and examples that children will understand and remember. Parents and educators will find this book an invaluable tool for introducing children to the basics of music notation. For students ready for additional challenge, the text is sprinkled with more advanced concepts and symbols to explore. Accompanying features include simple songs that reinforce learning points and a glossary of musical terms. The book’s end hints at a broader world of music, still awaiting the reader’s discovery.




http://www.anoteforchildren.com/

A Fresh Note...

Hey Everyone,

This is my first attempt at blogging. I am excited by all this new technology and it's quite a challenge attempting to learn it all.

I must say, although I have always been a 'vote swinger' I am so proud of Kevin Rudd and his comments about Tibet. He demonstrates that it is possible for politicians to be truthful and diplomatic at the same time. It just seems so unjust that a huge country like China should need to intimidate a small, passive country such as Tibet. Go Kev!

Please feel free to add your comments and keep the conversation going...

Linda