Keep on breathing

The Bible tells us that “We live for 70 years, (or 80 years if we are healthy),
Yet even in the prime years there are troubles and sorrows. 
They pass by quickly and we fly away.” (Psalm 90:10) 
Princess Alice, who was the mother of Prince Phillip, The husband of Queen Elizabeth, 
once said, “When you reach seventy,you are no longer a participant but only an observer. 
Your only responsibility is to wait patiently and stay out of the way."
In "Paradise Lost," an epic poem by the 17th-century English poet John Milton, 
The Archangel Michael spoke to Adam as he and Eve were ushered out of Paradise,
And he gave them some advice. He said, “If you watch what you eat and drink,
And don’t overdo it you can live a long life. Then, when you get old,you will die 
A more peaceful death. However, your eyesight and your hearing 
Will get weak, and you won’t have much fun anymore. 
You will lose your youthful enthusiasm for life and become melancholy. 
Don’t hate your life or love it too much. Just live the best way that you can, come what may. 
Learn to be patient and happy. That is the best way to live. Don’t worry, God will still love you,
No matter what, if you keep your faith in Him. His Holy Spirit is present in everything living thing.
And He is just a heartbeat away, listening for your prayers which He will answer bye and bye. 
Even a short repentant sigh or a good deed done in His name will go a long way, 
For He is always listening and watching." I would only add: "In the meantime, 
Muddle through, carry on, stick it out, stay alive, and keep on breathing." 
(Bob Mrotek 2024) 

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You and I and everyone else

You and I will die and everyone else will too.

And those we leave behind will carry on.

It matters not how and where we are born,

Nor what race or creed we were born into,

Nor if we are male, female, or other,

Nor how and when and where we die.

What matters most is how we lived

And what we stood for in the end. 

Do yourself a favor, be happy with a lot, 

Or with a little, or with everything, 

Or with nothing, or with someone else, 

Or by yourself, but be happy and 

Be very grateful that you are alive. 

In the end, you will be even happier

That you did! This is the day that

The Lord has made, let us rejoice 

And be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24) 

(Bob Mrotek 2024)

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Staying alive...

Whether you're a man or you're a woman,
You're just stayin' alive, stayin' alive...
Feel the whole world breakin' and everybody shakin'
And you're just stayin' alive, stayin' alive...
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive!
Well my spirits get low and then they get high,
'Cause the Lord says today ain't my time to die.
Got the blessing of Heaven on my side
I'm a believing man and I just can't hide.
I know it's good and I hope and pray
That I live to see at least one more day. 
Tomorrow is another day, and the Lord might say,
Sinner you better get ready,
Oh you better get ready Hallelujah.
Sinner you better get ready,
Better get ready 'cause sinner gonna die!
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive,..
Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive!
(Bob Mrotek 2024) 

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Oh, my wandering soul...

 Oh, how busy is my ego, that tries to pin down things

That perpetually wax and wane, and come and go, to and fro.

Like the flower of youth that does or does not bear fruit,

Then fades away into the ever lengthening frozen river of time.

It does no good to focus on happiness in this vale of tears and tribulations,

Lest the storms that rage in my mind damage the peaceful garden in my soul.

I am like a donkey who is maneuvered, by means of the carrot of pleasure

And the stick of pain, to satisfy my material desires.

When I die, I will retreat into the spirit world searching for unity.

My sight will be united, together with all shapes and colors.

My hearing will be united, together with silence and all sounds

My mind will be be united together with all languages and thoughts,

Like rivers coming from the ocean flow back into the same ocean.  

I will die at the right time; me to die and you to live on.

Which of us goes toward what is best is known only to God.

Oh my wandering soul, fragile host and companion of my body,

To what places will you go when it is our time to surrender?

Come Holy Spirit, Creator blest, and in my heart take up Thy rest;

Come with thy grace and heavenly aid, to fill the heart that you made. 

​(Bob Mrotek 2024) 

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Politics from the depths of Hell

Feisty young millennials all in a row

Ready to challenge you blow by blow.

They are sophists all and pundits too,

Who can take either side, or leave it,

Love it, or hate it, or beat it 'til it's blue.

It depends upon what the going rate is.

There is no room for right or wrong

It is whatever it is that it needs to be,

I'll give you a clue, it's all about ratings.

Claws that scratch and eyes that flash

One glance could set the other on fire

And talking points increase the ire,

Spoken in haste and driven by greed,

Woe to the truth and woe to the target,

In any case may both be damned.

Winner take all and loser cast blame

After all, you know it's just a game,

From the very depths of Hell.

(Bob Mrotek 2016) 

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Past Perfect, Present Inclusive, and Future Uncertain

My name is Bob. The word Bob is the past perfect,

Present inclusive, and future uncertain form of the infinitive, "to be."

I am the square root of the human factor and the answer is "me."

I entered this world upside down and hanging by my heels,

While someone slapped my fanny and at that very moment,

I began my lifelong habit of complaining about injustice.

I will leave this life right side up and supine, griping about the same.

My religion is God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth,

With whom I communicate through His Incarnation, Jesus Christ,

At the impetus of His Holy Spirit, the spark of life.

We are perhaps living in "the end times" and long for a return to "normal."

But "normal" can be good or bad depending on personal perspective.

Nostalgia is a spiritual longing for a time and place,

That in reality, never was and to which we can never return.

It is an echo of something in a past life that we desired but never attained,

And our grief for a lost opportunity, a place in nowhere that can never really be.

It is a distortion of memory like a picture out of focus.  Nostalgia is meaningless.

Most things did not actually happen like we remember, only the good parts.

The world has overtaken George Orwell's "Animal Farm" and "1984,"

But not quite yet Aldus Huxley's "Brave New World," but no doubt soon will.

At night, I wander about the stars and planets seeking my path to enlightenment.

St. Paul tells us that it is up to everyone to find their own salvation,

Jesus tells us to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect.

Saint Augustine tells us that it is our intent that counts the most.

That sounds like a good plan to me. If you try you may never get everything right,

But you will never get everything wrong either. If you don't try, you get no return at all. 

(Bob Mrotek 2024)

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Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

Thank you for this new day in which

To serve You for Your greater honor and glory.

This is the day that the Lord has made.

I will be happy in the Lord in whom I trust,

Who is my rock, my foundation,

My salvation, my refuge and my strength,

My wisdom and understanding,

My sword and my shield, and my hope

For the resurrection and eternal life, and 

Dear God, I will love You forever, because 

You created me, gave me life and sustain me,

You forgive my sins, and You first loved me.

"Ad Mejorem Dei Gloriam" 

For God's Greater Glory

(Bob Mrotek 2024)

The Frozen River of Time

The past never dies, it just freezes, and it trails along behind us

In the frozen river of time like the long tail of a blazing comet.

It is the finger of fate that writes upon the wall and then moves on.

It is the history of our past and cannot be erased by piety nor wit.

Everyone has a record in this history, some long and some short.

It is a record of our world line and all of the squiggles thereupon.

Be mindful of what fate may record in your haphazard biography.

Be careful about what you say and do and to whom you do it to.

Make good choices now so that you won't have to wince later.

We are marching in a grand parade through time immemorial,

Where countless millions have gone before and millions go after.

Many try to leave a mark so that they will never be forgotten.

What will the last one do when there are no more to remember?

Perhaps those fortunate who make it to Paradise will be able to

Watch it all again like episodes of a long streaming video series.

After all, we will have plenty of eternity to watch reruns.

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Look forward, not backward!

Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of the Holy Spirit.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
Seek not to make them just like you,
For life goes forward and not backward.
They don't care about your memories.
They care only about their own desires.
You are the bows from which your children
Are sent forward as living arrows.
Pray that your arrows go swift and far
And meet the mark that the Lord intended,
For even as He loves the arrows that fly,
He also loves the bow that is good and true. 

​(Bob Mrotek 2024)

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Year after year...

Year after year the material desires we long for recede before us

Into the future and we, with arms outstretched, chase after them.

The sad thing about loving material things is they can't love you back.

The "American Dream" as some people call it, the dream of solvency

And equality with liberty and justice for all, will never come true.

Life is not a bitcoin. Time is the one true currency.

When you look up at the clock it's already suppertime;

When you look up at the calendar it's the end of the month;

When you look up, the year is over and many years have passed!

Once a year we hold a festival and all with one accord unite

In brotherly affection and good will, and afterward the rat race continues.

And so we beat on against the current, borne back ceaselessly.

As it was so, it will ever be, and as it first began, so it continues.

But...It doesn't matter how hopeless to us that life may seem.

Don't let a day pass without an effort to make the world a better place.

More shall be given to those who give of themselves.  

For peace and harmony and the greater glory of our Creator.

Between stimulus and response there is a space, and

In that space is our free will power to choose good or evil,

And how we respond determines our freedom and eternal life.

We must love God with our whole heart, and soul, and mind,

And love our neighbors through non-violent self-sacrifice.

Therein lies the mystery. The answer lies in fervent prayer.

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