Turn Love Inside Out

New Place for my Posts

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:26:00 +0000

Hi, I am moving my posts to Wordpress.

kerensgallery.wordpress.com

I am consolidating my personal internet activity to my current website www.kerensgallery.com

and...while I am not sure what to do with them, I have these
http://twitter.com/Kerensgallery (new)
http://www.facebook.com/kerensgallery (renamed)
http://www.myspace.com/kerensgallery (needs updating)

I would love to hear from you
Thanks
Peace
Keren

Looking for Freedom in Forgiveness

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:04:00 +0000

The LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

Peace
Keren

Judging with Forgiveness: Denouement

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 01:04:00 +0000

“PLEASE SAVE ME!"…Bursts through the eternal abyss,
please please let others know!
Will somebody hear and go to my father's house?
Is the chasm so great between life and death?”

The plaintive cries awaken my memory's soul…
...Who will go to his father’s home?
A voice in my own reverie …
Another sound, with my own name ...
a Painfully Sincere Cry from my own time,…

LAZARUS
Come out!
Untie him, untie him
Set him free

Without cost you received
Without cost, give back
again and again and again

*****************************************

(This may need some editing but, pretty much in final form).

Judging with Forgiveness: Crossing the Chasm

Gathering up my broken pieces.
I sort them into two piles:
Forgotten and Remembered.
The memories remain with me,
the forgotten are forgiven.
I weep and I long for the pieces lost
and not yet found.

Remembered
Memories contain elements of reality,
and a connection to infinity.

Memories happen not just in the mind,
but in the heart and body;
in genetics and dreams;
in the conscious, the unconscious;
in the conscience, and the soul.

Their truth is experienced in places and in times seen and unseen, close and faraway.

Memories are remembered with a life of their own, and also through the touch of angels.

Memories, like mirrors, provide reflections of life.
Memories offer a glimpse into eternity.

Forgotten
I see you dancing in that space
where time obscures but not erase
where taken hearts are released
and anxious breaths find peace

The rhythm of a gentle beat
Forgotten,
forgiven,
and free

Lost Pieces
“PLEASE SAVE ME!"…Bursts through the eternal abyss,
please please let others know!
Will somebody hear and go to my father's house?
Is the chasm so great between life and death?”

The plaintive cries awaken my memory's soul…
...Who will go to his father’s home?
A voice in my own reverie …
Another sound, with my own name ...
a Painfully Sincere Cry from my own time,…

LAZARUS!
Come out!
Untie him, untie him
Set him free

Found
Without cost you received
Without cost, give back
again and again and again

Bearer of World Peace

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 17:57:00 +0000

Today is the Feast of the Assumption of Mary (celebrated by Roman Catholics on August 15) The "Assumption of Mary" is a belief held by Catholics, Orthodox Christians and some Protestants, and maybe even others.

The belief is that Mary’s body and soul were not separated by her earthly death; that when her life had completed its physical purpose, instead of her body decaying and her soul ascending, her body and soul together were assumed into heaven.

One pure human life, by accepting the Word of God as spoken to her, became impregnated with the Holy Spirit and bore His Son to give life and salvation to the World. As she lived with her son, and witnessed his ministry, his death, resurrection and ascension, the Holy Spirit eventually consumed her entirety. Simultaneously, she assumed the entirety of the Holy Spirit with total acceptance of the very atmosphere of God.

Mary’s eternal life and her purpose continue as the “carrier” of incarnate divinity. Mary is the bearer of World Peace; Jesus is the Peace. Mary was, is, and will be a key figure in bringing the Spirit of Peace to the World, even in our time and in times ahead.

Catholic and Orthodox Christians honor and venerate Mary; yet not only we love her, she is greatly loved, admired, and wondered about by many people worldwide. Even in Islam her example of piety, purity and acceptance of God’s will is admired

This from Wikipedia:

“Mary in Islam (مريم "Maryam" in Arabic), the mother of Jesus, is considered the most righteous woman in Islam. She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur'an - her name is mentioned more than it is in the New Testament... In the Qur'an, no other woman is given more attention than Mary. The nineteenth sura of the Qur'an is named after her and is, to some extent, about her life. Of the Qur'an's 114 suras, she is among only eight people who have a sura named after them. In Islam, she is generally referred to as Maryam, Umm Isa (Mary, the mother of Jesus). For Muslims she is a symbol of submission to God and piety.”

Mary unites! Christians may or may not be in agreement on some aspects of Jesus’s life, ministry and how we should follow Him, but we probably all agree that His Mother was specially chosen by God-the-Father for the very purpose of bringing Him into the world.

Peace,
Keren

Rambling Reflections on Peter's Shadow

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:20:00 +0000

Is physical “presence” needed? or is spiritual presence all that is necessary? or perhaps both?

Shaktipat:
A guru can bestow Shaktipat in several ways to the student.
Including, but not limited to:
Laying of hands, a touch;
a look, a glance, eye contact;
a breath from mouth or nose….
a sigh;
Words written, or spoken, or thought
Kisses?? ….. Hmm… I dunno but I'd like to think so :o)

Shaktipat...wisdom...light
perhaps better expressed as enlightenment…
with a definite feminine flare….
(Indeed, there are other forms of Shakti)

Shaktipat can be bestowed from one who can bestow (a guru) to one who can be open to receive (student)...by any means or form.
A thought can bestow Shaktipat.
A desire.
An intention.
A flower or a chair

Jesus enlightened in so many ways
..here are just a few..
touch - words – distance - prayer - mud & spit - clothes - confronting - tears - shouts .... not to mention death rising breathing etc.

He was a healer...
Peter became a great healer, as well as did his shadow.

Feeling the Presence of Love

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:06:00 +0000

Can you feel me loving you?
Can you feel my love for you even when it seems I am distant from you?
I can feel you touching me and reaching for places in me that nobody yet has touched.
Can you feel me touching and loving you even in places where you maybe have never been touched?
When we are together our glow can light the world.
Am I with you?
You are with me.
Tell me you feel my touch even if I seem distant.

Toward Unity with Respect to Differences

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:21:00 +0000

"The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit.”

Unity, with respect to differences, among all people is my motto. Unity, with respect to differences, among Christians would be a good place to start.

Judging with Forgiveness, verse 3

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:29:00 +0000

I see you dancing in that space
where time obscures but not erase
where taken hearts are released
and anxious breaths find peace

The rhythm of a gentle beat
Forgotten,
forgiven,
and free

*****

Let me be Love as It Happens to Me

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:32:00 +0000

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for all the ways you reveal yourself to us. Thank you for the people and places you lead us to that through your grace hold and support us.

Let me be Love as it happens to me.
Let me be light to dark or somewhere inbetween.
Love take me where You will.

In the Name of Love
Amen

Judging with Forgiveness, verse 2

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:59:00 +0000

Memories contain elements of reality,
and a connection to infinity.

Memories happen not just in the mind,
but in the heart and body;
in genetics and dreams;
in the conscious, the unconscious;
in the conscience, and the soul.

Their truth is experienced in places and in times
seen and unseen,
close and faraway.

Memories are remembered with a life of their own,
and also through the touch of angels.

Memories, like mirrors, provide reflections of life.
Memories offer a glimpse into eternity.

******

(NOTE: this verse has to do with "NATURE of memories" - Not an individual person's ability to remember).

Peace, Keren.

Judging with Forgiveness, verse 1

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Gathering up my broken pieces.
I sort them into two piles:
Forgotten and Remembered.
The memories remain with me,
the forgotten are forgiven.
I weep and I long for the pieces lost
and not yet found.

Look at Me ... believing...

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:32:00 +0000

What do you see when you first remember to believe?
***
You made me, I was born, You gave me a gift called "Life"
***

In the beginning, to keep you with Me, Life included the price of containing all that I have and all that I am.

The freedom for you to choose good and evil made empty what matters to Me.

Yet, when you remember and Life fills your soul and makes its place in your heart...

When I look at you believing, I see Me.

*****

REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

More From Saint Anthony

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:56:00 +0000

Hold your Faith with gentle fingers.
Give it room to breathe and move and grow.
Gripped with expectations it will wiggle squirm and perhaps even cry.
Take it with you everywhere you go.
Lay it next to you when you sleep.
It will wake you up when it is time to hold it.

Gerbera Love

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Gerberas are high on my list of favorite flowers.
Brightly colored and expressive; they present a cheerful facade.
Smiles on clowns often mask a sorrowful heart.
The Gerbera Truth is revealed in those with dark centers.

Love (Agape, Eros, Caritas, etc) is the ultimate expression
of our deepest recognition of unity...
oneness.

Peace
Keren

REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

In Honor of Saint Anthony - The Finder

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:21:00 +0000

Today (June 13) is the Feast Day of Saint Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) a Franciscan, and a Miracle Worker.

Born to a wealthy family, he declined the life of a nobleman and entered the Augustinian Abbey of St. Vincent – a scholarly order. He immersed himself in study of scripture; the writings of the Holy Fathers; and in prayer.

At one point he met *five Franciscan brothers who were traveling to preach to Muslims in Morocco. He later learned that they were martyred. Hearing the call to give away more of himself to follow Christ, he decided to join the Franciscan order, received approval from his superiors, and joined the Fransicans.

Once, he was he was chosen to give a homily when no one else was available. He was told to just let the Holy Spirit speak for him. He was nervous but the words sprang off his tongue, capturing the hearts and attention of everyone there.

Saint Francis of Assisi himself wrote Saint Anthony and asked him to be in charge of teaching theology to the brothers, who would then go out and preach the gospel to the world. However, he is now better known as an orator, rather than teacher. He spoke loud and clear and in a manner understandable by all people: the poor and the rich, the young and the old, the dull and the wise.

He spoke against heresy and moral duplicity. One time he preached for several days to a group of religious leaders and was welcomed on the last day by an empty room. Undeterred he went down to the seashore, where the river met the sea, and preached his faith to the fish - thousands of fish appeared to listen.

He had great compassion for the poor and oppressed, and many miracles are attributed to him. A few days before Saint Anthony’s death he saw and felt himself holding the baby Jesus. Someone looking through the window at the time indeed saw him with a baby.

Saint Anthony is best known as the Patron Saint of Lost Articles.

Saint Anthony’s life and ministry teach us how to be “Finders”:

- to carry our Faith the way we would hold a baby - firmly but with gentle fingers

- to listen for the call to follow Jesus and always be open for another yet deeper call

- to ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate us through prayer; in studying the Holy Scripture; and in studying the lives of Holy People

- to look for the simple truth in every situation, and

- to seek to taste the simple truth from our own tongue.

Saint Anthony was canonized less than one year after his death. He was made a Doctor of the Church in 1946 by Pope Pius XII.

(* note) The five Franciscan brothers martyred in Morocco were canonized by Sixtus IV in 1481: Saints Berardo, Pietro, Accursio, Adiuto and Ottone.

Gentle Fingers Gentle Toes

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:55:00 +0000

Heavenly Father,
It is Monday again and as usual
I would rather stay home and play
instead of go to work today.
Please bless me with fortitude and resolve
and glue my ear to your heart.
Give me gentle fingers as I do the work
You have placed in my hands,
and gentle toes to touch the places
where I step.
In praise and thanksgiving
and in Jesus name
Amen

Among Us

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:04:00 +0000

Among uncertainty and hope – I met You
Now, when I am near You…within Your presence,
I am in that place, and we are there together
where I let You love me in Your way,
while I love you in all the ways I am able
and even in ways I am not.

Among anxiety and calm I find Peace
Among despair and happiness I receive Grace.
***********
REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

Prayer

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Mon, 25 May 2009 15:01:00 +0000

We are more alike than different Different ways of expressing love and feeling in relationship with our Creator perhaps, but all the same at the core.

My church has a labyrinth.
It is an ancient form of prayer. Representing our journey to the center and back out again.
We walk it in groups sometimes.
Feels like a dance to me.
We are all in this together.
It is an outdoor labyrinth, surrounded by a columbarium - where the cremains of deceased parishioners reside.
It is patterned on the Labyrinth inside the ancient Cathedral of Chartres, in France. Where Black Madona resides.
I walked it yesterday.
There are times when I am walking it alone, I feel the presence of my deceased father, who died when I was 20, (30 years ago) - and is buried 200 miles away.
He and I walk it together, and somehow it becomes a wave-beaten shore at sunrise and we are searching for seashells.
Just Him and me. Holding hands, not saying a word.

I have only been "praying" for 5 years.
I keep discovering prayer where I didnt expect it.
I still dont have a set time of day to pray.
Always I pray spontaneoulsy when someone asks me to and when something enters my heart that calls for prayer.

I like to compose prayers like poems.

I like to pray for people and ask them to pray for me, but I am not a warrior.

I love to sing. Singing is a form of prayer.
When I paint I pray - more like meditation - I go completely into a zone.
I am usually very grateful when I am singing or painting.
These are prayers of praise and gratitude.

I pray the rosary with a group of about 30-40 people every Saturday morning.
A very diverse group - some people dont even speak English.
All colors of the rainbow, and from all corners of the earth.
Our voices in unison crying out to the blessed Mother "Pray for us, now and at the hour of our death"
Outside the little chapel, people are lining up for reconciliation.

I have only fallen to my knees in desperate prayer to Jesus a few times in my life. This past March, my husband was in ICU after two surgeries in less than 24 hours. He was having horrible hallucinations. I was terrified. I was on my knees begging.

Once a week I do Eucharistic adoration.
I stopped going for a while but I am now trying to get back in the routine.
You could also call it meditation. Or contemplative prayer.
You sit in silence for an hour, in the presence of Jesus.
At the beginning of the hour, I usually offer a problem I am having to Jesus, or a prayer for someone else - usually it is all about me.

Peace
Keren
******
REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

Afraid of the Dark

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I am less afraid of the dark as I become accustomed to its light.

In art terms, most beginning painters/drawers are said to be "afraid of the dark", they dont use enough dark to portray their subject.

Realistically, you cannot portray light without dark.
They work together.
Dark describes the shape of an object,
Light..its most salient points.
Both capture attention.
There is an edge where dark meets light.

I like a little edge.
Opposites may attract or repel,
but mainly they define.
There can be great power in differences
that are united for the whole.

Peace
Keren

REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

Parting is such sweet sorrow

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Blue is my favorite color to wear
I like red too. Red is the color of Love.
I miss you, my friend, already even though I know
there is some time before you will go.
Now and forever you remain in my heart,
and in my sweetest dreams.
Please call me whenever you like.
I’ll call you if you give me your number.
Our souls connected long ago.
Thank you for teaching me that
time apart somehow enhances
the connection.

Peace
Keren

A Reflection on Trust: The Eyes of God-Who-Is-Love

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:41:00 +0000

Do you really want to know Me?
I will let you look into My eyes, and
I will not be suprised,
if you will see,
within the space of a lingering glance,
a reflection of yourself.
Then you will be looking with My eyes.
Then will you trust Me?

Love them Shepherds! (more)

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 12:11:00 +0000

Friday
I started a new/old job this week and am grateful to be back.
I have been pretty busy, reestablishing routines, many new faces, many familiar ones too. It is a busy time here. Lots to be done.
My friend (he thinks he is my boss) who brought me back is pleased as I am since I have the experience, I can come in and pretty much pick right back up where
I started when I left 4 years ago. Experience is a wonderful thing, that cant be taken from you, but you have to have it first.

All that said..I havent been able to post my shepherding reflections, but it occured to me pray for vocations instead.

Heavenly Father:
Please continue to send us good shepherds, shepherds who will tend to us for his/her lifetime. A Shepherd with experience awakening and tending to souls, and touching hearts in the name of Jesus, is a gift not only to his flock but ultimately to the world. I cant imagine a greater calling.
Amen

Tuesday
Last night, in a class for people wanting to learn about joining the church, after the obligatory discussion on levels of ordination...the discussion turned to next Sunday's readings..for Good Shepherd Sunday.

I have a few thoughts to post the rest of this week here, just to collect them, so I will come back to it several times this week.

*******

"When souls meet each other, what truth they can exchange! It is uttered in silence, yet always surely reaches its goal."
Bowl of Saki, by Hazrat Inayat Khan

There are many ways to be present to eachother. Today in a large city parish, a good shepherd in the human pastoring sense, cant possibly individually work with each person that comes into his fold, cant break the legs of each of his wayward sheep and carry them on his shoulders, but his tending to our hearts, and souls can be imparted by desire to care.

In some pastors this is abundantly felt. I have ben fortunate in the few churches I have attended, the pastors seem to have their flock in their hearts. The church I attend most truly has a pastor like this. It is a gift.

More later gotta go to work.

Unity: Believing in Love

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 23:23:00 +0000

I believe that God/Love meets each of us where He knows we will recognise and know Him in our own way.

For us who know and love, or want to know and love, Jesus as God who is Love...

It seems all Jesus (also known as Love) wants us to do,
is to believe that what He is telling us is true;
that He is who He says He is;
and we am too...

"That they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be one in us, . . . so that the world may know that you have sent me."

*******
Fine print...
"The desire to recover the unity of all Christians is a gift of Christ and a call of the Holy Spirit."
Finer print...from the Catechism of the Catholic Church
*******

REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/
here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

There is a lot more community feel to the Divine Nobodies site.
I hope you join me there too.

Feeling God: Feeling Love

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:25:00 +0000

I believe we are ultimately saved by our Desire for Grace (Grace could be defined as "closeness to God").

*Have you ever cried your guts out and been washed with grief over the loss of a loved one or a friend?
*Have you ever loved someone so truly and so deeply and not been loved back by that person, but still somehow in some way loved him/her anyway?
*Have you ever made a mistake and wanted to start over again?
*Have you ever been filled with compassion or pity for a very poor or sick person?
*Have you ever been stabbed in the heart i.e., hurt to the core by a situation but still loved the situation enough to want to make amends with it even though you may not be able to
*Have you ever longed for something you couldn’t quite name or put to words, but it burned inside you anyway?
*Have you ever laughed so hard you cried?
*Have you ever given part of yourself to something and never expected anything in return?

to me…that’s feeling close to God.

There is more
*Have you ever been head over heals in love and had someone love you back in the same way?
*have you ever felt "taken away" from the world even for a moment when looking into the ocean or beautiful sunrise or view?
*Have you ever felt moved to draw a picture or sing a song or write a story or a letter or a poem?
*Have you ever desired to create something together with someone else?
*Have you ever loved someone so much you wanted to give them the world?

that’s feeling close to God

There is alot alot more…

********************************************************************************

REMINDER:

Soon...www.turnloveinsideout will not be a website anymore...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot though,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/

but here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

I am planning on keeping this blogspot too,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/

There is a lot more community feel to the Divine Nobodies site.
I hope you join me there too.

Fulfilling Love: Capacity for a Hole

keren@kerensgallery.com (Keren) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:18:00 +0000

There is a hole inside, or at least the potential for a hole inside, of each of us.

I pour my heart and soul into the hole
and it flows out.
This hole is open ended.

I want, I work, I wait, I wonder..

With my heart and soul I could build a floor, some walls, a roof on the hole.
But then I would need really need some windows.
I open the windows -
my heart and my soul would flow out again.
What about a door to let some back in?

I wonder...?

Peace and Love
Keren
**********************************

REMINDER...

I am planning on keeping this blogspot too,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/

but here is where the www.turnloveinsideout.com group is going. Including me!

Visit divinenobodies

I am planning on keeping this blogspot too,
http://turnloveinsideout.blogspot.com/

There is a lot more community feel to the Divine Nobodies site.
I hope you join me there too.