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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

8/18/7 - It’s a Wonderful Life


It’s a Wonderful Life
8/18/7

One of my all-time favorite movies is “It’s a Wonderful Life” starring Jimmy Stewart.  I’m sure you’ve all seen it (we used to watch it as a family every year at Christmastime) and are familiar with the profound message of how important the influence of just one man’s life is.  But let’s talk for a moment about the word “wonder-ful.”  You got it—full of wonder.  But what exactly is wonder?  (Do any of you wonder?)  Webster defines wonder as: “the state of mind produced by something new, unexpected or extraordinary; a strange thing; exciting.”  Being in a state of wonderment is a wonder-ful thing, wouldn’t you say?  Have we as “adults” lost the ability to wonder like we used to when we were children.  Have we lost the magic of wonder?  Well “adult” forms the root word for such words as “adultery” and “adulterated” which words basically mean to be corrupted or separated from being whole like when we were a child who is innocent, pure and wholesome.  Have we become “adulterated” from our child-like state to take on this fractured, fragmented separate reality of an adult?  I wonder.
One of my all-time favorite things to do is to play with my grandchildren.  They still are young enough to enjoy the magic of wonder.  This past weekend I spent frolicking with my oldest daughter, Aubrey’s, children—Sean, Carly and Jaxen.  Carly, who is six, is my little shadow whenever I’m around.  She goes everywhere with me and spends most of her time in my lap being stroked and massaged.  At night she sleeps right next to me and one of her favorite things is for me to tell her my “special” stories.  This Saturday night’s story was about an angel named Chelsea.  (She’d just lost her older sister, Chelsea, last December 20 from a tragic truck accident and so it seemed appropriate to tell her a story about her “angel” sister Chelsea.)  As the story goes, Angel Chelsea was playing in the clouds one day, hopping from cloud to cloud just for fun and misjudged the distance between two clouds.  Down she went to earth to land “kerplunk” in a big city.  She was a bit frightened by all the noise and confusion of the big city but didn’t know how to get back to her cloud-hopping adventure.  Vaguely, in the back of her mind, she remembered a wonderful family she once knew named the Jessops.  She especially remembered a sweet little sister named Carly whom she loved to play with.  So she found a phone book and looked up the Jessop family who she remembered lived in St. George.  Chelsea tucked her little wings under her white robe and found a bus to take her to St. George.  But when she got to the house she remembered living in—lo and behold nobody was there!  No furniture, no people, no nothing!  Chelsea got scared being alone as it was getting dark.  She prayed to Heavenly Father to take her back home to heaven so she could look down from the clouds to find out where her dear family had moved.  (They had just recently moved to Logan.)  And in a blink of an eye, there she was back up on her clouds again looking down over Utah.  She scanned the horizon until she finally found Carly and Jaxen out playing tag in front of their new house in Logan.  She waved to Carly and Jaxen from the clouds to let them know she was there—but unfortunately they didn’t look up.  She wondered if they ever would. 
Now here comes the “wonderful” part.  The next day I took my grandchildren to Logan’s Aquatic Park.  Sporting a bikini (one of my goals at 50) Carly and I made at least a dozen trips up the hundreds of steps (I may be exaggerating) to slide down the long, twisty-turny waterslide together.  As we relaxed between sessions in the 3 inch pool side-by-side, we started to cloud gaze.  Almost immediately we both spotted a cloud formation that looked exactly like an angel—complete with wings—smiling down at us and waving.
“Grandma!” cried Carly.  “How did you do that?  It looks just like Chelsea waving down at us.  You must be magic, Grandma?”  I laughed out loud until tears came to my eyes and then said a little prayer of gratitude to Chelsea and all of our other guardian angels up there watching over us.
Miracles like these show up in our lives all the time—if only we believe in them.  I do.  Belief is a powerful thing.  It is one of the powers of creation and goes hand in hand with faith.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”  (Hebrews 11:1)

“And after that he came men also were saved by faith in his name; and by faith, they become the sons of God.  And as surely as Christ liveth he spake these words unto our fathers, saying: “Whatsoever thing ye shall ask the Father in my name, which is good, in faith believing that ye shall receive, behold, it shall be done unto you.”  (Moroni 7:26)

Perhaps a few of you think I’m a bit crazy after sharing with you my story about the “White Buffalo Calf Woman.”  You’re probably wondering if you should believe anything this “crazy lady” has to say.  Well, it doesn’t matter if you believe in me or not or anything else I have to say.  The heart of the matter is—I do.  In fact, I believe that any of us can have the power of God within our own fingertips to change the world—but only if you believe you do.  I suppose that’s what made Jesus “the Christ.”  He sincerely believed he was the Son of God.  Do you?
 I believe in heroes like Jesus and the White Buffalo Calf Woman who came into earthly existence to change the course of humanity.  Remember when you were a kid and believed in superheroes like Superman or Wonder Woman or Spider Man?  Where are today’s heroes?   Well, I have had several heroes in my life.  Ghandi and Mother Teresa rank high on my hero list.  But one hero many of you may or may not know about is John Denver.  One of the reasons he is my hero is because he co-founded the Windstar Foundation which was a foundation dedicated to teaching people sustainable living through appropriate technology.  I spent many weeks at Windstar in the Colorado Rockies near Aspen learning Bio-intensive raised-bed gardening, Aikido, and sustainable technology like the Biodome.  One of John Denver’s heroes (who is also one of mine) was Buckminster Fuller.  He coined the phrase “starship earth” and was the creator of the biodome I plan to create as part of my healing center.  He also did a lot of work regarding “phi harmonics” which is cause for some interesting research.  John Denver once wrote a song about “Bucky” Fuller that I’d like to share.  (You can download it on free music downloads if you’d like to listen to the music.) 

What One Man Can Do

I suppose that there are those
Who’ll say he had it easy
Had it made in fact
Before he’d even begun
But thy don’t know the things I know
I was always with him
It may sound strange
We were more than friends

It’s hard to tell the truth
When no one wants to listen
When no one really cares
What’s going on
And it’s hard to stand alone
When you need someone beside you
Your spirit and your faith
They must be strong

What one man can do is dream
What one man can do is love
What one man can do is change the world
And make it young again
Here you see what one man can do

As shaded as his eyes might be
That’s how bright his mind is
That’s how strong his love
For you and me
A friend to all the universe
Grandfather of the future
And everything I would like to be

What one man can do is dream
What one man can do is love
What one man can do is change the world
And make it new again
Here you see what one man can do

What one man can do is dream
What one man can do is love
What one man can do is change the world
And make it work again
Here you see what one man can do.

It is my belief that John Denver was a prophet for our times.  I even believe he was prophesied by the ancient prophet Ezekiel when he said:

And lo, thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play well on an instrument: for they hear thy words, but they do them not.  And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.  (Ezekiel 33:32, 33)
           
This scripture was given to me by my brother, Bruce, after I shared with him a song that John Denver had written years earlier prophesying some very tragic current events:

Though the cities start to crumble
And the towers fall around us
The sun is slowly fading
And it’s colder than the sea
It is written from the desert
To the mountains they shall lead us
By the hand and by the heart
They will comfort you and me
In their innocence and trusting
They will teach us to be free…

For the children and the flowers
Are my sisters and my brothers
Their laughter and their loveliness
Would clear a cloudy day
And the song that I am singing
Is a prayer to nonbelievers
Come and stand beside us
We can find a better way…
(From the song Rhymes and Reasons)

But one of my very favorite prophetic songs written by John Denver is the following:

The Gift You Are

Imagine a month of Sundays
Each one a cloudy day
Imagine the moment the sun came shining through
Imagine that ray of sunshine as you

Remember your darkest hour
With dawn still far away
Remember the way that you longed for morning’s light
Think of yourself as a candle in the night

Make believe this is the first day
Everything all brand new
Make believe that the sun is your own lucky star
Then understand the kind of gift you are

The gift you are…
Like the very first breath of spring
The gift you are…
All the joy that love can bring
The gift you are…
All of our dreams come true
The gift you are…
The gift of you.

You are the promise of all the ages
You are the prodigal son
You are the vision of prophets and sages
You are the only one

Dream of a bright tomorrow
Know that your dream will come true
Carry the dream in a sparkling crystal jar
Then you will know the kind of gift you are

The gift you are…
Like the very first breath of spring
The gift you are…
All the joy that love can bring
The gift you are…
All of our dreams come true
The gift you are…
The gift of you.

The gift you are…
Like the very first breath of springtime
The gift you are…
All the joy that love can bring
The gift you are…
All of our dreams come true…yes they do
The gift you are…
The gift of you.

The gift you are…
The gift of you.

In closing—here are a few beliefs you may want to reconsider changing:

            The only thing you can count on are death and taxes.
            Nobody ever gets out of this life alive!
            Everybody grows old and dies.
            You have to die in order for you to get to heaven.

Perhaps you might exchange these old beliefs for new ones like—now is the time to create heaven on earth and live the vision of other “prophets and sages” who prophesy about eternal life.  Now is the time to change the prophecies of the old prophets for new prophecies.  (Gregg Braden’s book, The Isaiah Effect is a must read!)  Like the one in the song that I wrote years ago which I’d like to share with you.  (One of my dreams and goals is to get all of my songs produced on an album.  Wish me luck and if you have any advice on the matter, please let me know!)

Crazy Lady

Some called the lady crazy
                        Got a dream caught in her eye
                        Some say she's full of fantasy
                        And they never could figure out why
                        And some who didn't know her
                        Say, "she's got the devil under her skin"
                        But if they’d ever got close enough
                        Would know the spirit that dwelt within
                       
                        She dreamed about a place somewhere
                        That she could call her home
                        She imagined a people
                        That she could call her own
                        She talked about a process
                        Of livin' in harmony
                        Where hate and envy disappear
                        And love flows gentle and free
           
                        I see flowers bloomin' in sunlight
                        Rainbow dews from heaven above
                        Birds and butterflies wingin' in midflight
                        And the air is filled with love
                        I see you and me together
                        Livin' in perfect harmony
                        Let's imagine it all together
                        It's as simple as you and me
                        You and me—one, two, three

                        Perhaps the lady's crazy
                        But her dream is bound to come true
                        And if it's just a fantasy
                        I hope other folks have one too
                        And if she's full of the devil
                        Then he must be a pretty good guy
                        'Cause I know that lady's heart is true
                        I'm that lady 'til the day I die

                        I see flowers bloomin' in sunlight
                        Rainbow dews from heaven above
                        Birds and butterflies wingin' in midflight
                        And the air is filled with love
                        I see you and me together
                        Livin' in perfect harmony
                        Let's imagine it all together
                        It's as simple as you and me
                        You and me—one, two, three
                       

Please join me in manifesting a new heaven on earth.  If you’d like more information on how you can help create the Rainbow Light Center, an eco-village or bio-dynamic intentional community, please e-mail me.  Aho and Amen.  Peace, love, and joy—Jesse Christian aka Janae Thorne-Bird 

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