Reflections of a Child

Walking down the streets of a large city, you look around. What do you see? You see the towering buildings touching the sky. You see the extensive infrastructure and expensive cars stretching on into eternity. Towering above our meager lives, society casts a long shadow across the earth. Now take a step back. Look a little bit closer. Beneath the shadows of every immense building, and on the corner of every busy street you can find something much smaller, but ever so much more important. Lurking in the shadows there are the people who have been cast aside by this massive society. The poor, sick, needy masses who are left on the corner of a road pleading, pleading for someone to show them the smallest compassion. But day after day, they are tossed aside by people who see a world no deeper than their own selfish desires. Two years ago, a tiny girl stepped onto a street corner under the shadow of the selfish city. She was not homeless, not in need, not there to beg for compassion....

A fire dances on the ground, The darkened forest makes no sound, The sky is pricked with pins of light, And the lake reflects them to my sight. *** The water moves with a calm grace. As I glance down and glimpse my face, I try to look past the distorted reflection, I wonder if I'm able to gain perfection. *** This forest world is shadow filled,  The darkness breaks what'er I build.  Light and truth are seldom found,  In a forest with no wholesome sound.  *** Upon this earth is nothing worthy,  Of any form of transcendent glory,  But from the twilight I lift my eyes,  And perceive the stars upon the skies... *** I see light and truth reflected clear, And I to heaven now draw near!  The darkened shadows of the earth,  Are small when next to the stars rich mirth.  *** The fire here echos the fire in my heart,  The heaven above is but a small part, Of the beauty and glory of our lov...

The snow is falling in soft stillness, So peaceful for my mind, But the night soon rests on the heart Bringing the cold of the winter wind. In the twilight of the day, The wind wakens beings confined, And faeries begin to dance and flit, To the music of the winter wind. The shadow of a gentile breeze, Now seen dancing with the snow, Awakens something deep inside, A winter wind in the soul. In the deepest hours of the night, The power of dark is highest, The faeries turn to ogres now, The winter wind is whitest! The snow and shadow go to battle, the faeries slay the storm and kill, The ogres of the darkened sky, and the winter wind begins to still. The walls of wind encircle now, Like white ribbons in the air, The night still rules the storm and sky, Dawn finds the winter wind still there. As a new sun rises on the day, the storm, at last, is broken, But the storm of soul still swirls on, Your winter wind awoken. Thu...

I do often find myself, When thinking quietly, About the world around us,  What has nature taught to me? As I see the reds and golds,  Of Autumn's cheerful glory,  I see the falling leaves and think,  What is nature teaching me?  I watch the wind blow through the grass,  As the leaves fly from the tree,  I think of faith, and things not seen,  The ways nature teaches me!  I think of winter coming soon,  Like the Saviors misery,  Taking color from the world, What nature teaches me... But after winter, spring will come, With all it's brightness be,  Like Christ rising from the tomb,  And His nature teach to me!  Oh Lord my God, what is my part, In making all men free?  May nature fill my heart with light,  By what it teaches me. 

From white to red,  From red to white,  The Moon glances down  In the deep of the night. * * * * As I gaze toward the Heavens, And think of the strife, I can’t help but ponder,  The Lord, my Savior’s life! * * * * That despite all His glory,  He came to follow the plan,  And though He was so perfect, He bled for all of man. * * * * And just like the Earth, Blocking light from the Sun, The Noble of Birth Died for everyone. * * * * Now as I ponder The Moon so bright,  Though your sins be scarlet, Your burdens may be light! * * * * I know that I’m His, This life is not mine, He has shown to me His love, In the Moon, in a sign.  * * * * From white to red, From red to white, My Savior can heal me,  In the darkest night.

 Throughout the history of this world mountains have had significance. They have stood as powerful sentinels in the sky for all the generations of man. They are seen as a way to draw near to God. Many people have had their most sacred spiritual experiences on the top of a mountain. I for one believe that God gives us mountains, both of the physical kind as well as the spiritual, to help us become more like him. Meteu's (Met-tay-oo) Journey up The Western Mountain   In the Order of the Arrow ceremonies the Medicine Man, Meteu, calls upon us a challenge; to "strictly keep a pledge of silence" for, "Hours spent in thoughtful silence help us make the right decisions". He had heard the principles and admonitions of the Order "whispered on the western mountains". It was on a mountain that the Order of the Arrow began. It's principles where sent from God, and are very much needed in the world we live in.     Meteu talks of how he journeyed up the...