Where Good and Common Meet.

At 7 years old
I am a little man child
Part Gi Joe, Rambo and reruns of Alf the alien, the 80s TV show
With chubby cheek curiosity
and a little frame
Filled with laughter, filled with fear
I dream of being captain planet
or at least a cartoon artist.

Its 1991, And we go back to visit home
Western Samoa
a Cyclone has just Cut through the pacific islands
Like a blind startled bull
Charging through homes like they were dominos

Leaving family trees with less leaves and snapped off branches in its wake
Samoa grieves

Side note:
We have all lost something
as i have grown to learn that life takes as it gives, and gives as it takes
The trick is to keep your hands open
This is what instability and change teaches you

As the storm continues,
My mothers 11 brothers and sisters,
Aunts and uncles huddle into
My great grandma and great grandpas house
Made of german conviction and tried and tested brick

Outside the wind howls like a wolf catching the scent of a hunt
And like a comb,
Combs over the acres of once proud tall coconut trees
They bow to the ground in reluctant submission

Inside I’m a lamb shook
Bleating into the winds
Eyes crying up a storm

My great grandma
With wisdom silver
And pillows for arms
Embraces me in the darkness

Be still my grandchild,
Be still.
The storm is brewing, violent
Behind your eyes
Its going to pass, as it always has.
And just as its left, it will come again

Fear is a natural response to inner turmoil
I know those days,
Where any sense of grounding
Is drowning in the turbulence
Of  washing machine stomach
Wanting the muck and mire to come out of your everyday attire you grow tired
of all this crash and bang of apocalyptic pyrotechnic traffic jam stuck
balled fist

stop punching at the wind
and pushing against the waves and ocean swell

Remember?

life takes as it gives, and gives as it takes
The trick is to keep your heart open
Let instability  and change grow you
And show you, who you really are
you are a navigator
Not passive passenger
You will bend in submission but you will not break

choosing to be rooted, to be grounded is
Actively resisting words of fear
Resisting Attitudes of hate

That may push and pull
Blow up against you
Or brood inside you

Speak peace and grace to your storm
I speak peace and grace to your storms
This is what we have
This is where we are right now
Huddled close

It is dark, i know, but this is where good and common meet.

And sometimes i feel 7 again
like a little child inside a big man
Less GI Joe or Rambo but more Alf the alien
With bearded chubby cheek curiosity
and a big frame
Filled with laughter, filled with fear
and Sometimes i fantasise of being captain planet
or at least, at least a poet.

Luke 18:9-14
Ecc 3:11-12
Mathew 8:23-27

Where Good and common meet, is in the dark.

Its our darkness we must come to accept and at the same time awhi and tautoko the light or the good, within ourselves and others.

Our light is attractive and good, but at times, i have found myself admiring the light of others, and yet being painfully aware of my own personal darkness, I have further hidden or denied my own internal struggles, hardship, pain, fear or hurt.

To hold another human in a wholistic view and still chose to extend love, is an act of God, of Love.

To come to a place where we can accept, confess and bring to the forefront our darkness. To view it as a part of the journey, this enables one to be able to see, become present on the journey, and with that as a reference point, we can extend grace to those who also are on a journey, extend grace to those whose struggle is hidden and yet, they choose to radiate, to keep giving and putting out good in the world, in spite of their momentary loss of footing.

Our light is a beautiful gift, but our darkness is not seperate from it. In fact at times our darkness can inform our shine, our struggle/challenge/hardship or adversity can illuminate our desire for goodness. To give, to offer to the world, goodness.

Ecc 3:11-12

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.

Dietrich