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Love and Synergy - Contemplating the Contemporary Romance

4/29/2012

Let's talk for a minute about love and synergy and what that may mean for us living in a contemporary world.

    One of my favorite pieces of art work is a striking painting which hangs in my boudoir. The painting by Alex Corrbrey entitled, Synergy is an abstract representation of a physical and spiritual union of a couple. This work adorns our bedroom wall because it symbolises our commitment to work through the pleasure and pain of creating something beautiful - beautiful children, an exemplary ministry, a hub of creativity and a home that reflects our spirituality.
    This thing called love which culminates in the ultimate synergistic act of marriage is sacred, spiritual, sensual and even scriptual. Love in its proper setting is a harmonious waltz, a symbiotic exchange, a tantric embrace, and a synergistic partnership ignited.
     So what does this mean for contemporary seekers of love's flame? Is it any different from the days when Adam and Eve strolled in the garden, when Sarah and Abraham's union gave birth to a nation? Is it a different tune than the lyrical love poem sung in the song of Solomon? {My Lover is mine and I am his}
    Have we lost the ability to harmonize as members of the opposite sex, coming together in the sanctity of marriage to create something much stronger, more powerful than what we could achieve in a solitary and depressing date with a toy. Will our preoccupation with self , hedonism and holding on to our 'self - accumulated' wealth, prevent us from entering into a wholly holy and trusting relationship with our friend as lover.
{Song of Solomon- Woman- "Take me with you, lets run together" Man - "come away with me from Lebanon my bride."}

Synergy II by Alex Corbbrey

Depending on who you talk to these days, love is not so. It may have morphed into a bitter pill fraught with the dangers of disharmony, false testimony
and the ever looming prospect of alimony. When did the alchemy of love of Solomon fame - apples, mandrake flowers, wine, honey and pomegranates sour into a toxic chemical romance. Case in point {Song of Beyonce - the 2012 Most Beautiful woman in the world. She croons, "To the Left, To the Left, let me call you a taxi to pick you and some of your stuff up from the curb - and when the cab comes, quick quick get in it, cos my new lover will be here in a
minute}

    Is love so fleeting because it is so replaceable? But let's do take that minute while we stand in the gap by the curb reflecting on the multitude of infidelities that got us to this spot  on the street corner. As we stand on the sidelines of our relationships eyeing our box of worldly possessions and how much is left in it, let's just pause and shine the light of truth on God's original intentions.
     What was in the manuscript of His pre writing for Humanity's Love Story . Did His idea web not include taking a rib from man and weaving into a woman so as they would become one? Was the story not one based on
synchrony, harmony and synergy - a symphony of two, working in a paradisiacal partnership of mutual respect and romance?
    What happened to the notion of happiness in our relationships when others will admire a lovestruck woman and say, "Who is that young woman that shines out like the dawn? (Song of Solomon) and of the man they will liken his countenance to the sun, shining like a bridegroom emerging from his bedroom (Psalm 19:5).
   Each morning when the new day dawns I still bask in the glow of my partner's embrace and I still kneel and pray that I will continue to set him as a seal on my heart and he in turn will stand firm in our commitment that many waters will not quench our love nor can the floods drown it. In sickness and in health, till death do us part or till that day comes when we stand before His throne to be presented as a bride of the Lamb.
Love and Blessings
ZPora

Love and Synergy - My lover is mine and I am his.... (Songs of Solomon)

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Of Poetry Prose and Parables

4/21/2012

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Psalm 119:35 - Make me walk among the path of your commands for that is where my happiness is.

Saint Jerome Patron saint of Literature

April is National Poetry month, at which time I must pause por ponder on how our lives have been enriched by the power of the spoken and written word. Poetry is a good place to work out your salvation and to deconstruct your 'trouble'.
The following quote is poetry explained like only a poet can, by Tracy W. Smith, the winner of the 2012 Pulitzer prize for her book of poems, Life on Mars. She says, "For me a poem is an opportunity to kind of interrogate myself a little bit and see what ways I'm complicated by situations or even... I don't know... like somehow connected to in ways that might be uncomfortable. " Here, Smith also alludes to poetry as a platform for demystifying difficult discourses.
        My love and appreciation for the creative arts is surpassed only by my love for the Master Creator, our awesome God. My love affair with men and women who had their way with words begins with my grandfather Ivan (my mom's stories of his wit and sarcasm made me yearn to have sat at his feet). Then there was my high school English Literature teacher who we affectionately called Aunt Beryl. It was she who whet my appetite for the rhythm and rhyme of the written word, encouraged me to lend an  attentive ear to Shakespeare, and who nurtured my impulse to dabble in the writer's inkpot.
        Then on my own I discovered Maya Angelou. I found myself longing for the opportunity to sit at her hearthstone and listen to her heart speak just so her gift of words would somehow seep surreptitiously into my bones.
        In college I stumbled upon Zora Hurston from whom I've often and unabashedly so, stolen the phrase, "I've been in sorrow's kitchen and licked out all the kitchen pots" in my attempts to put a name to pain.
And then like an unfaithful lover, I might then turn and seek comfort in the arms of Kahlil Gibran's truth. When you wrestle with the idea of death and dying of a loved one and your hurt collides with Gibran"s enlightened soliloquys one cannot help but find solace and renewal of spirit. Gibran writes;
"Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you
truly dance"
         At other times when I seek to interpret and interrogate social  injustice issues of hunger, genocide and poverty, I resort to the words of the brilliant,  Ben Okri. In his poem, An African Elegy, he writes about the audacity of hope amidst pain and struggle:

        We are the miracles that God made
        To taste the bitter fruit of Time.
        We are precious.
        And one day our suffering
        Will turn into the wonders of the earth.

        Life's meanderings inevitably leads to the subject of Love. At such a juncture one must for a time make acquaintances with the mistress who so masterfully orchestrates the ode to love's seedier side. Enter stage left, Ms. Elizabeth Smart who weeps for her lover by Grand Central Station,  ere joining the ranks of the children of Israel who wept by the rivers of the Babylon when they remembered Zion.
        Though the theological debate rages, much of the Bible IS a study in prose and poetry. The lyrical expressions of joy, sorrow, praise and penitence of David; the mournful dirges of lamentations; the Love Songs of Solomon which accurately suggests that, "many waters cannot quench love nor can the floods drown it"

        Then there are those awesome literary exchanges between Job and God. One must remember that God is aka, The Word so Job could not really compete in that poetry slam. Here's a snippet of their conversations. God speaking:
        "Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
         Tell me, if you understand
         Who marked off its dimensions?
         Surely you know!
         Who stretched a measuring line across it?
         On what were its footings set,
         or who laid its cornerstone—
         while the morning stars sang
         together and all the angels shouted for joy?"
         Job 38
No wonder His son Jesus also had a way with words and loved to speak in Parables (spiritual truths embedded in earthly prose). Jesus' communication style helps us to stretch our thinking and consider His message of Salvation. In the following parable He reminds us to shine for his Glory in the Parable of the lamp under a bushel (Matthew 5:14- 16 NIV)
        You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.
         Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
         Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
         In the same way, let your light shine before others,
         that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

So even as we celebrate a Month of Poetry
let's gather and reason
about the Master Poet for all the seasons
of our lives
let our christian fire burn brightly
A reflection of His great Glory.
Love and Blessings
Zpora

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The Zone of Proximal Enlightenment (TZPe)

4/10/2012

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The Zone of Proximal Enlightenment (TZPe) is a phrase I have coined based on my observations of my life and others. Anyone is capable of entering this zone, simply by allowing your spirit to enter into a sacred listening stance. There are so many advisors talkers, opinion makers , yellers and detractors, but who says we have to let all the noise figure so greatly in our lives. Why not attempt a paradigm shift wherein all the distractions become ground and our spiritual awareness ignites and takes center stage. Find a quiet space on a regular basis to commune with your Maker and thereby create a zone of Proximal Enlightenment where your spirit is highly attuned to something bigger and greater than self. In thinking about this zone, I will posit here, that it is not a finite state.

Our enlightenment is never quite finished. We are human beings, susceptible to fluid emotions, crises, epiphanies, despondencies, but always evolving.
When your spirit is plugged in to a Higher Love
however, your response to extraneous variables is tempered. You occupy a space of calm in the storm. When we allow our humanity to be governed by this zone it permeates all areas of our lives; generosity, prosperity, sexuality,
spirituality - the list goes on. While you seek after this 'altered state' I would add that this is no easy feat. Just remember that the anatomy of hope
is best viewed through the lens of deep sorrow. This Life journey of ours will consist of firing and tempering. We may sometimes find ourselves writhing in pain on the threshing floor, but the more often we consciously seed into The Zone, the more likely that our lives will be a perpetual harvest of unexplainable Joy.
Hope to meet you There
TZPora

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Food Fellowship Family Friends & Fun

4/1/2012

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A Shared Meal is a good opportunity to share the Good News

Last weekend I got together with some friends for a cooking class. It got me thinking about how much food has the potential to unify us across places, religion and cultures. When we sit at a table and break bread together there is something rather disarming about that shared meal.
As we chopped, stirred and mixed, we talked and laughed in the same language even though we were from different religions and from far flung corners of the globe - From as far as Peru in the South to Honduras, Caribbean islands, USA , as far North as Canada and as far East as Turkey and Uzbekistan - a global melting pot so to speak. We drank chai together after our meal and as the conversation swirled around me, my mind drifted to a quote by Greg Mortensen, author of the book, Three Cups of Tea - "First cup of tea, you're a stranger, Second cup, a friend, by the third you're family. And as I write this I'm reminded of Easter and our Lord's Last Supper " While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” 27 Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
I am looking forward to dining with my Savior, my Lord and friend at that sumptuous meal in His kingdom where we will all partake as one big family of God.
I can hardly imagine how much fun it will be....
Love ZPora

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Love and Synergy - Contemplating the Contemporary Romance

Of Poetry Prose and Parables

The Zone of Proximal Enlightenment (TZPe)

Food Fellowship Family Friends & Fun

Zpora

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