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live it to give it is all about love and connection. Being authentic. Living our lives and sharing it with others. Life is messy and so is this blog. Somedays my organized coach self shows up. Other days it's my vulnerable author. There's a mom that lives inside me alongside a wife, friend, social justice activist, creative muse, ponderer extraordinaire, and multitude of others. I'll introduce you to people who inspire me and offer a peek into my world that very likely intersects with your world. In other words, I will share life in its full, glorious mess with you. I'm honored you're here and I hope you'll come back soon!!  Cheers! Kayce 

 

Entries by Kayce S Hughlett (1181)

Saturday
Jul142007

Lists

The last few days I have woken up with lists running through my head. Why lists? Why not poetry or even prose? We live by lists. Do this. Do that. You are not successful if you don’t get things done. What defines “things”? What defines “success”?

Slowly this morning my list shifted away from ‘to do’s’ and toward ‘must do’s’. Watching a beautiful sunset. Listening to my dog breathe. Breathing myself. Stopping to smell the roses. Moving my body freely not always with intention or purpose. Listening to God. Prayer. Constant, ongoing, everlasting prayer in the way I live—the way I simply be.

Emerging. Moving outward. Why do we hide? Why do we hold back? Sunrise Sister posed the question “Why do we always cry at the happy moments?” Tears are a release of emotion. We hold too much inside and our hearts are created to live not hold back. Tears are sacred and beautiful. They are meant to be used. They wash away sorrow and make room for peace, joy and happiness.

To pursue happiness, we find ways to allow space and make room for it to find us. And so, we write our lists and mark them off—not to be successful in the worldly sense—not to show how much we have accomplished, but to make space for joy and living.

Sure there is still joy in completion of a task, a pat on the back, a line through a job well done, but for what am I making space? Hopefully, not more lists! So, I ponder this question today: What do I really have to do? Simply speaking, the list is quite short.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Luke 10:27

So, what’s on your list today?

image from here

Thursday
Jul122007

Unconditional Love


Often we confuse unconditional love with unconditional acceptance. Nowhere is this more profoundly seen than in relationship whether it be our relationship with God, ourselves or others. The parent/child relationship is a powerful example . Are we not often like naughty children who treat each other poorly, test boundaries and push hard to see if our parent will still love us no matter what we do? We test the boundaries of love to see if acceptance will still follow. Henri Nouwen says, “It is important for us to hold on to the truth that God never gives up loving us even when God is saddened by what we do.” No matter how hard we push God is there for us loving without condition.

Being the parent of two strong-willed teenagers brings this truth to light daily for me. Do I love my children? Absolutely! Do I love and accept their choices and behaviors? Not always! However, I can accept (when thinking clearly ☺)that the choices are theirs to make just as we have free will to choose our own path.

Does God love us without condition? You bet! And, I am certain there is sadness when I forget the beautiful core of my being and respond to the world in an unlovely manner. Whether I recognize it in the moment, the sadness is carried within me for I am created to respond out of love rather than fear and hatred. The key is finding the resonance between our actions and our soul. Scripture gives us the recipe.

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.” Luke 10:27

I return again and again to this passage. It is simple. It is pure. It is truth. It is the key to unconditional love. I will share more on this “key” in subsequent posts.

For today, spread a little love with others and with yourself…preferably without condition ☺.

madonna image from here

Wednesday
Jul112007

Hugs

What speaks to unconditional love better than a big, wonderful, unabashed hug??

Today I would like to share a couple of my favorite hug messages. The first is an excerpt from a newly received book, Just Like Heaven. (It was a long-distance "hug" from Tinman #1).

So this is heaven, thought Mooch the cat.

Then Mooch came upon a big dog chained in a yard.

The big dog growled (as unloved dogs often do)

and let out a BIG BARK.

In the past, Mooch would have gone all fuzzy with fear and run away.

But here and now, Mooch wondered, What would you do in heaven?

So he opened his arms and said...

"Hug Time!"

And they did.

Wow, thought Mooch. What a great place.

Isn't it nice when we experience a little heaven here on earth? I hope you will experience it a little more with my next favorite hug message.

Free Hugs. Click here.

Sending hugs & unconditional love your way this blessed summer day!

Tuesday
Jul102007

Love's Eternity

I own a lovely little book called Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning purchased at a delightful oasis in Post, Texas called Ruby Lane Books. (Ruby Lane is a whole story by itself better left for another day.)

Anyway...sometimes this little book calls to me which was the case a couple of weeks ago when I ran across the following sonnet (Number XIV). The "spirit" of this poem has stayed with me (I say "spirit" because I am not one to be able to recall anything word for word) and so today I wanted to share it with you and also capture it for myself. So, without further ado...Sonnet XIV

If thou must love me, let it be for
nought
Except for love’s sake only. Do not
say
“I love her for her smile—her look—
her way
of speaking gently, --for a trick of
thought
That falls in well with mine, and certes
brought
A sense of pleasant ease on such a
day”—
For these things in themselves, Beloved,
may
Be changed, or change for thee,--and
love, so wrought,
May be unwrought so. Neither love
me for
Thine own dear pity’s wiping my cheeks
dry,--
A creature might forget to weep, who
bore
Thy comfort long, and lose thy love
thereby!
But love me for love’s sake, that ever-
more
Thou may’st love on, through love’s
eternity.

My very simple analysis of this work is that it speaks of unconditional love. In other words, love me for me. Nothing else. Simple. Pure. Everything else may change, but unconditional love will hold "through love's eternity."

Many thoughts are stirred for me, so this could be a series in the making...or possibly not.

Love on.

Monday
Jul092007

Moments

Coming from one whose primary medium of art (at least here) is the written word it can seem odd to say that it is not the words of life that count, but the moments. While reading Mark Nepo’s words today, “when I think of those who’ve taught me how to love, moments come to mind, not words,” my mind was flooded with moments (many of them from the last few days.)

A hug. A smile. A laugh. The simple words of “eagle, eagle, eagle!” as the majestic bird flew past the shoreline. My son and his girlfriend head to head on the beach looking like two carefree children studying the tiny crabs. An arm slung over my shoulder and a kiss on my forehead—feeling cherished as a child by the son to whom I am mother. A joke and laughter shared that I cannot recall the words. Sitting with friends around a fire. Breaking bread together. The splendor of flowers at the market filling the air with fragrance and beauty. A car full of teenagers spilling out and wrapping me in bear hugs before they went off to play. Fireworks. Hard work. Quiet moments.

Moments. It is not the words I will primarily remember about the last few days, but the moments. The moments I knew that God was speaking to me through the beauty and wonder and glory of the creation surrounding me and teaching me that I am beloved.

What are the moments that speak to you of love?