oh my holy one
your whisper softly brushes
the surface of my soul
your deep compassion
calls up the love within me
your gracious smile
plays across my heart
and spills out of my eyes
you within me
that is where hope begins.
[photo by Andi Erdner per cc 2.0]
There is an image,
An exchange I witnessed,
That has been percolating
In my memory for years.
You’ve probably seen it, too:
A young mother
With her infant bouncing on her lap.
They are enthralled with one another.
What flows between them,
Almost visible as their eyes connect,
Palpable in the air between them,
Is the exchange of life-giving love.
The infant is held by something
So much stronger than her hands.
The mother is upheld
With something just as strong.
Their gifts to one another
Are so tangible
So vital
So real.
Yet each is filled,
Not emptied.
Full of a love that will not be contained.
A rush of life between them.
This is love incarnate.
Love enfleshed; love fulfilled.
This is how life is passed on.
Birth is just the beginning.
Perhaps this shows me why
The Christ came to us.
To look us in the eye
And give us life.
God breathed upon the clay.
Christ looked on us with love.
The Spirit, now within us,
Empowers life’s eternal flow.
It is like breath:
Receiving in; giving out.
Each delightful exchange
Brings life anew.
[image cropped from photo by Robert Moores per cc 2.0]
The heart of it all
Is not a piece of flesh
But a warm and generous embrace.
Life is not centered on substance,
On things – or even beings
But on relationship.
The most precious thing in my life is not a thing.
It’s harder to see relationship
But I am learning.
It’s not the smile, but the connection it brings.
It’s like learning to see life itself.
It is a mystery that you cannot hold still.
It is a mystery that holds you … still.
[photo by Maltz Evans per cc 2.0]
the interesting thing about life
is that you must live it
now
you can’t save it up
or hoard it
or even spend it into debt.
it’s now … or never.
I keep trying to plan it …
but that doesn’t work.
it just won’t stand still while I get it right.
worrying doesn’t work, either.
in the end, I can only live right, right now
and only if I remember to do it
consciously
mindfully
rather than just exist
so
let’s live 2018
see the beauty of the moment
seize the glory of the day
be kind to the earth and all it holds
be present with one another’s hope and pain
be grateful –
grateful for the very goodness at the heart of it all
we are part of that goodness
let us live it
now
[photo by Sonny Abesamis per cc 2.0]
There is life in the chimes outside my window
As they ring their solemn joy into the dawn.
There is life in my grandmother’s rolling pin,
As it makes the pies that have fed the family celebrations across the years.
I hold that life in my hands as I shape the dough.
There is life in the rocks that we gathered to build our fireplace.
They hold whispers of that gathering
As we gather, again, around their warmth.
If chimes and rolling pins and rocks can come to life – can I?
Quiet Hope 