Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Even More, Even After appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

By: Steve Schultz

There is so much you can learn from dogs

They say the dog is man’s best friend.

Yet we fail to emulate the virtues of dogs’ forgiveness and love

For it’s the “Dog House” that man must mend.

We’re so full of ego, anger, and revenge

As “No Vacancy” signs light up from every roof top.

We fill up room after room with insidious resentment

And wonder why our rage just wont stop.

Any place you hold a grudge

Is a place you’re not holding Love’s hand.

Let me speak this message more clearly

So the freedom of forgiveness you’ll truly understand.

The “Dog House” is our purgatory

A figure of speech where we house those who did us wrong.

But sending and keeping those who hurt us there

Only makes the hurt we feel prolong.

Trying to get back or plotting to get even

Will never heal you or make you whole.

Negative one plus negative one equals negative two, not zero

Mathematics shows staying mad doesn’t heal your soul.

So you must open the doors and the windows

Letting all the past pain and grief be set free.

To have the heart of a dog requires an empty “Dog House”

If you want to lead with love and live happily.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Empty Your “Dog House” appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Revising A Poem appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

There’s a fever on my heart
One that won’t seem to break,
Soul shattered to a million pieces
What’s the threshold of pain one can take?

Oh, what I’d give
To again, hear you speak,
All you do now is listen
Under the ground do you feel my feet?

But then the breeze comes on me
And the chimes from the trees start to swing,
I kneel to touch your tombstone
There’s another lesson you’re about to bring.

‘I’m not here!’ You whisper
And I’m shaken to my core,
You tell me the only way to see you
Is to love the living even more.

For tombstones don’t talk
Nor do they need your hug,
Go breathe life into the living
Let the lonely and the hurting know how I loved.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post If Tombstones Could Talk appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

I want a place that adults told me about in my youth,
Where kindness is expected and goodness is truth.

A tree house surrounded by a backyard with a fence you can hop,
Neighbors who throw back the ball and don’t want your play to stop.

I want a school filled with paintings, not police.
A plate of food that leaves you full, not obese.

A table lined with unlimited chairs
With a family who at dinner still sits and shares.

I want a fort with walls made of sheets,
A morning where my dad still put on my cleats.

A society that doesn’t profit off the ignorant and the sick,
Playgrounds with chimes where no child is ever last pick.

I want a hug where you don’t have to let go,
A place where you can feel the sun through the snow.

A world where people show compassion, smile, and care,
Where you’re encouraged to achieve your dreams with a simple dare.

I want a place where people don’t ridicule, criticize, and demean,
A bike ride with your friends until the stars start to gleam.

A Christmas where you don’t have to visit two places to see your mom and your dad,
Where it’s okay to be vulnerable and loving and everyone wants you to be happy, not sad.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post My Christmas Place appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

Can you love instantly,
Can you love beforehand,
Can you love forever,
Can love, you understand?

Can you love authentically and earnestly too,
Can you love enthusiastically, even loving those that don’t love you?

Can you love from a distance
And love up close,
Can you love without conditions,
And love with no remorse?

Can you love without judgment and without manipulation,
Can you love without expectation of reciprocation?

Can you love large,
Can you love small,
Can you love boldly,
Can you love all?

Can you?

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Can You? appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

By: Steve Schultz

If I could go anywhere, where would I want to be?

A place where each person loves unconditionally.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post One Bar Poetry appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

Where I grew up there was chalk on the sidewalk and games in the street.
Baseball, basketball, flashlight tag and hide n go seek.

We loved the competition, as we played day after day.
Life was recess; our imagination had the greatest say.

We’d tussle and argue over who won or who lost,
But after a short separation, we came back together with a new ball to toss.

Our laughter and screams serenaded the block.
So present minded we never looked at a clock.

We were builders, tree houses and forts
We used scissors and saws, materials of all sorts.

We looked after each other and really deeply cared
Always got into trouble, after a double dog dare.

We learned our lessons; it was all in good fun.
Childhood went so quickly, we were always on the run.

What happened to the magic, what happened to the euphoric screams?
Children stay inside now, locked in front of computer screens.

Every child has a tablet but not a seat at the dinner table.
I fear families staying together will become merely a fable.

I’m searching for the fossils, artifacts of truth.
The streets are silent now; need a stethoscope to hear the echoes of my youth.

If we don’t turn down the volume and once again value that sound
The chimes of children playing, of innocence abound.

Then we’ll lose something sacred, the grit that teaches a community to commit.
Through trials of adolescent games is where children learn not to submit.

Parents must stop interfering and let them learn to fly on their own.
Remind our children that it’s safe to go play outside the home.

Let’s make cars have to stop three or four times because children are at play.
Let us remember our own childhood spirit every single day.

Where we were happy for no reason and could turn a stick into a spaceship.
Where every dream was possible and just for the joy of it, our walk became a skip.

I want us to know our neighbors again, unlocked doors, raised as if we were all in tune.
Be the little boy who believes if he just stretches his arm long enough, surely he can touch the moon.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Silent Streets appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

What I always longed for
And never had
Is what you gave me
So I’m trying not to be sad.

For now you’re leaving
Off to the next junction
This new journey
Will be an advantageous function.

Where you’re going
Will benefit you
And make you better
Better than the lad I knew.

So when we say goodbye
And bid our adieu
I’mma be smiling
And shed a tear or two.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post Adieu appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.

Steve Andrew Schultz

LeadLoveElevate.com

The post WORD appeared first on Lead Love Elevate.