My shiney new Gun

 I believe that thoughts are things. Before the words are spoken or the actions taken, the thoughts arise. I have a choice which thoughts I will nurture, feed and grow, and which I will let pass like clouds in my Sky.

I believe I am responsible for contributing to this world through the energetic frequency of the thoughts I send out that will ripple across our shared waters.

With this in mind, I've found, to my utter amazement, a tool I can use in order to take aim at my target.

I sought to hold the shining, silver steel. Cool in my hands.  Glistening with promise. 

I wanted to be mindful of what I was projecting onto the screen of our shared experience. I sought to reconcile the ways of war within me. The judgements and criticisms and the blaming of others. The festering internal fears and an inability to understand the ways of those I disagree with. How often I attack through my thoughts, rather than seeking to see things more clearly.

These were the weapons of war within me  I prayed to lay to rest. And that's when I made the purchase.  Several weeks ago. Before more bullets laid to rest the bodies of innocence. 

 It was impulsive. And it drew me like a magnet. 

Now it holds even more meaning as I take aim. The cool steel in my hands. The lives forever changed. The thoughts that led to this moment, bullet by bullet, bathed now in light and offered for the salvation of this world.

When I first saw it, I marvelled at the sheer Alchemy of such a thing. The transformation of Fear into Faith. Bullet into Bead. Pain into Prayer. Violent actions into Virtues of Compassion.

And so I purchased my Rosary. Made from the melted down steel of a Gun. Shining and silver in my hands. The cool steel glistening. 

There is no crucifix on this Rosary. It does not bear the image of my slain and beaten Brother or his manner of death. But it speaks to me of His Living message to Love one another. At the end of the bullets now turned into beads,  is the image of an Angel. Who prays with us all. That we may one day remember who we are. And that Love is the greatest power there is and ever has been.

On my melted down steel of a Gun, I pray for forgiveness. For all that I have and have not done that adds to the violence of this weary, troubled, broken yet beautiful world. I long to be melted down, too. Hollowed out. And bullet proof. My thoughts no longer triggered.

 I do not pray to a far away virgin who champions only the protection of those not yet born.

I pray to the Mother of Love who holds us all in the womb of creation and Blesses what we have yet to birth within ourselves. This Mother champions the born and the awaiting and the yet to be realized. She champions The children of immigrants. The children of the poor. The children with black and brown bodies and The children of those who do not yet see. The children shot down by that within ourselves that we do not yet reconcile. 

Violence begins long before we pull the trigger.

I will pray on my gun metal beads, that I may strive each day to lay down All weapons that exist within me.

On the shores of Saint Michael, I surrender my swords And I pray to the God of Love. And I pray to you all.  May there be Peace on Earth. May there be Peace within.  Thought by thought. Bead by Bead.