Make use of suffering - Price of the Soul

Henri Frederich Aniel said “You desire to know the art of living, my friend? It is contained in one phrase: make use of suffering. I was meditating this morning on how the tightness continues to open onto greater joy. After the retreat in Seattle, I experienced a lot of this tightness but have learned to embrace it. Grateful that I found OpenHand as a lot of mainstream identification had led me to try to avoid it or to quickly heal it away.. This writing flowed out this morning after meditating on this.

The Price of the Kingdom

The soul had shared a tale
Of a kingdom deep inside
A land that's now for sale
Where peace and joy reside

But it's not a gentle place
The soil there must be tilled
We need some empty space
If we’re ever to be filled

Could I truly bare the cost
For me it seemed too great
So I wandered with the lost
In circles round the gate

But my legs grew ever weak
With hunger prowling near
So the Soul had come to speak
In a language I could hear

She told me she had tried
To lead me home to stay
With tender words she cried
Just look how much you pay

You may outrun the pain
When you turn around and flee
But it finds you once again
To bring you home to me

For pain had come to call
With a golden key in hand
If you just embraced it all
It would open to this land

She said the choice was mine
There was no easy way
It’s like running from a fine
In either case you’ll pay

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Wow Gary! I have had a day filled with "keys"... In the midst of a contemplation of the crossroads I feel, I received a call...The keys to my vehicle took a flight to Kentucky today in the pocket of my husband...jogging on the beach today and it was messages of rose tinted glasses and what fires your heart? Then a plastic pink water toy in the shape of an open winged bird without a head. And in the end I was handed a single silver key by a sweet little boy ... The key had one word on it ... "Love"... Your poem is very synchronistic for me... Thank you!!

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Thanks open. For me, nothing compares to finding the Soul. Turns out this Poem wasn't complete as there were a few stanzas yet to come out. The whole creative process is breathtaking for me, as it seems as if these works are already written and waiting for me to poke around and find them . Like discovering a tip of a vein of gold and digging a little here and there to figure out the layout and unearth it. I thought I was done with the poem yesterday but kept being drawn back to it as more was waiting to come out (below).. Any thoughts on this whole creative process?

The Price of the Kingdom

The soul has penned a tale
Of a kingdom deep inside
A land that’s still for sale
Where joy and peace reside

It's not a gentle place
The soil there must be tilled
We need some empty space
If we’re ever to be filled

Could I truly bare the cost
For me it seemed too great
So I wandered with the lost
In circles round the gate

My legs had grown so weak
With sorrow prowling near
So She had come to speak
If I had come to hear

She told me she had tried
To lead me back her way
With tender words she cried
Just look how much you pay

You may outrun the pain
But when you turn and flee
It hunts you down again
To bring you home to me

For pain had come to call
With a golden key in hand
If you just embrace it all
You’d find another land

She said the choice was mine
There was no easy way
Like running from a fine
In either case you pay

But if you bare the cost
You get more than you know
You’ll never wander lost
No matter where you go

So I hunted down the fear
And made the costly deal
It’s now so very clear
This kingdom that I feel

I see the pearly gates
And have the golden key
In wonder She awaits
It’s such a sight to see

:) :)