rainforest

Gideon’s Challenge

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Rainforest Fern PlantsActs of Service…

Support
comes in many forms
from the philanthropy
of the rich
to the young boy
offering a hand up
to a stranger.
It isn’t in what
you contribute
that matters…
only that you do
with a
generous heart.

I feel like I run into a lot of people that feel that because they can’t afford to contribute money or resources to a cause, they think anything they contribute is worthless.  It always bothers me when I run across this mentality, because in my opinion?  Every little thing you do with a generous heart is a contribution.  Whether it’s to a cause or just because you feel the need to lend a hand, it all counts.  It’s all important.  And every single little contribution spurred by a generous heart lifts us all up a little higher than we were before, whether you see the results of it personally or not.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_6139Words of Affirmation…

You coax
You cajole
and you chip at those walls.
You nurture
and love
and each day
you encourage.
You tell me you are proud
of the man
I have become,
but it is thanks to you
I have become
the man that I am.

Your influence touches every aspect of my life.  That is what twelve years can do.  Every piece of my life has a bit of you in it… and every piece of me does too.  You have taught about emotions and about vulnerability, about strength  and so much more.  Without you?  There very simply would be no me… not the me you see today.  Because it is with you that I have grown.  Not alone. Together.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

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Lilac BudsQuality Time…

It’s like
drops of water
in a bucket.
A minute here,
an hour there,
each moment
adding to another
and another.
Over time
we build a life
together
overflowing
with love.

Quality time doesn’t always come in large chunks of hours on end spent together. In fact, it rarely ever comes in that form. Instead, the truth about love is that quality time comes a little bit at a time, a moment here and a few seconds there, an hour here and a few minutes there.  This is how love develops.  This is how love grows.  This is how you fill a life to the brim with love. You sprinkle it throughout until love eventually becomes the whole of it.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

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Cladonia gracilis – Black Foot CladoniaPhysical Touch…

Fingertips
and breath through lips
you skim against skin
and goosebumps rise.
Awake
Aware
with bated breath
I wait.

More.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

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IMG_5880Bond…

Attached.
Connected,
we ride the waves,
floating in the depths,
crashing on the shore,
caught between
rock and stone
chipped and broken.
Even then,
together
for always,
until dust we become
and beyond.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography

Gideon’s Challenge

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SelfSelf…

Rough and ragged.
Flesh once smooth
now
scored and scarred.
Damaged walls protect
inner softness.
What lies within
concealed.
Supportive and nurturing
and yet
thick walls hide
what lies beneath.

Like the tree I have thick walls, although unlike the tree, as I age those walls become thinner. You chip away at them again and again, tirelessly exposing the meaty softness of tender wood beneath. And yet, there is always more bark… more walls to work through.  The bark of this fir tree marks a part of my ‘self’ that I strive to defeat… strive to find balance with. Each year we are together, I get a little bit closer to finding that balance between damaged mess and flawed perfection.  Each year, you help me find another step along that path.

Thank you.

Photo © ZenStatePhotography