Forgiveness “The Absence of Forgiveness Is an Arrow to the Heart of the Future”     2001  Like a Tree and Like a River Publishing       A Special Collection for My Friends at Bay Area Rapid Transit Oh, how what can be of good is never let to bloom when the swallowing of guilt sucks it down into its tomb When potential that is brilliant, of the best of could-be fates is discouraged or prevented because of unforgiving states. Yet, who can blame the tired, or those who fear what Kindness does responding to an ill event, however long ago it was? Forgiveness is essential, but so is being free of harm. Who wants to be insecure that a threat merits alarm? If one wants to be forgiven, they must not give cause to doubt. When we are safe to be most vulnerable, it brings our best potential out. Making friends with enemies in noble and divine. Even Scripture says forgiveness should be extended every time. When people want to argue, or people want to fight, the best of true intentions eludes judgmental sight. The glory of a person’s heart is not seen by scowling minds, and the eye that looks for evil, if it tries, it often finds. Any one can call someone ugly for something, before, they had done. Improving a soul to do better, is like making a crippled soul run. Forgiveness is a magical action. It can unleash some wonderful things. Every one is made to feel better by what Mercy’s tolerance brings. Joseph Stegner August 25, 2005
	Creation or Evolution? Either Way, We’re It! Creation, or Evolution? Do we really know? How old is the Earth, compared to us? How far can our looking back go? Some say it is sin to doubt holy words, and the Bible’s account is exact, and if  anything sounds to the contrary, fear makes it labeled “Not Fact.” As a man who has studied the Scriptures, and given much of my life to its quest, it seems that these times now upon us could use what might settle unrest. “In the Image of God We Are Made!” many accounts will attest. and it’s only our human shortcomings that make us not be at our best. We are alive, and are present in time ~ that instant before What Will Be. And here, as you read, you are as that link, with eyes, from the past, that can see. Evolved or Created? Some argue quite fierce, as if they are certain they know. Since Life is Alive, and Unending, who are we to say how our forms grow? It is written “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God. The same was in the Beginning with God”       (Words of St John) From nothing we came, and are manifest ~ from sperm, as the seed, in an egg. Yet, despite how we swam to the ovum, on the earth moves our arm and each leg. The skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus, if observed from above, at its spine, is similar in shape to our own, though bigger, in a far away time. (visit UC Berkeley Life Sciences Bldg/Museum) Look at the side of a mountain, one eroded, or cut to reveal layers of ages of change on this globe that only guesses can guess what was real. That will make some Faithful squirmish, and insist that they know what is true. Though “Almighty” means Anything’s possible, will insist an illogical view. Evolution or Creation? Does it matter in the end? Are we creating a world to be proud of? Or on excuses do we like to depend? Some will say that the day is long over wherein human’s reached to their prime, but if Life, and its Source, Is Eternal, who are We to put limits on Time? It matters not if I came from a monkey, a fish, or even a seal. What matters is the use of my being, whichever belief has appeal. I am only a mortal, though my love for my Maker is felt, so I will not fight that Creation, by my limited sight must be dealt. What began from a Word in deep space, or wherever Light suddenly shone, became all the matter existing, and from soil all food has been grown. Only one sun ignites the day sky, despite different things we believe, and Jesus, himself, said the Wicked and Just, from above, do equally receive. Is the question a matter of ego? Who knows what others do not? Who has the secret to Heaven, or the keys few others have got? Who has a friendship with Knowledge that shows a superior trait, while accusing a fellow creation of inferior intellectual state? Is someone the better when someone is worse? Does our body compete with its cells? Does the Ear have less value or function if the Nose cannot hear as it Smells? If only we unlocked our potential by focusing on what we can improve, instead of  arguing over the details that we don’t have the power to move. . Perhaps ONCE from man came a woman, but since then, from a Woman all come, and the milk of her breast is our sustenance, despite what in Eden was done. If indeed we are born of one maker, than silly it is to put down, for even those who are errored in thinking are descendants of the one with the Crown! Who is so bold to see royalty, and mock, or make fun of their face? Likewise the difference among us shouldn’t be our excuse to disgrace. We are All, each of us, breathing ~ in between What Has Been, and Will Be. Evolving on Earth, or Created, our hearts beat in pulses for free. The good we should do to each other shouldn’t need fear of Hell to induce. Our common bond sharing Earth’ s elements should be enough to inspire a truce. Some will continue “it matters a lot!” for survival should belong to the best, and resources shouldn’t be wasted on those who have failed Struggle’s test. Insisting that ALL are created might make an aggressor feel sick, when such might suggest opposition is the result of believing a trick . . . one whose deception began in the heart, and the way that a mind can perceive. Who wants to think what appears to be true is not what is best to believe? Look at the Wild, and ways of the feast when predators choose whom to eat. The prey who sustains who has won, by ‘selection’ was handed defeat. We are a civilized species, so we mustn’t use guides of the field to dictate how our human behavior should order the power we wield. If indeed our forms are Divine, and Divine is the Root of our Vine, then let us look forward to how it can be when our species unites with its mind, and places its efforts on getting along, and inhabiting the challenges we face . . . populating the Earth, the Sea, and the Moon, so Humanity, and Technology, keep pace. We have proven remarkable ability to extract and combine what we need to make what exists in the earth into tools that can shelter and feed. Let’s not give up and divide once again, and start fighting over what we can’t change. However we came to existence, we are here with One Earth as our range. Creation or Evolution? Which ever, we are IT! Like a key in the lock of our destiny, in the Present, we perfectly fit!       Joseph Stegner       August 24, 2005