Tag Archives: sufficiency

A blessing as you wed

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happy coupleMay your days be filled with the fingerprints of love,
The quiet, almost imperceptible affirmations
That keep you steady in the midst of bustle:
The cup of coffee shared on grateful mornings,
The hug when you are weary,
The hand you reach for in the presence of beauty,
A sigh at the end of a long day,
Your heads upon a common pillow.

May these small moments coat your days
With the tangible presence of grace – of lived affection.

May the wonder of this day’s celebration,
Echo far into the future’s future
As you grow in each other’s presence,
And find your true selves, truly held,

Within your heart’s true home.

[Celebrating E&M 11 26 16]

the hole in my soul

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holeThere is a hole in my soul that needs filling.
Stuffing it with newspaper just won’t do.
Neither will ignoring it, or just walking around it.

The hole is a wound,
Not from the slash of a blade,
But from the steady friction of the world.

I need the salve of your hope.
I need the wisdom of the great physician.
I need … you.

Oh, my little one, you have me.
Always and forever.
I am before and beyond.
I am within and throughout.
I breathe inside your breath
And leave the dusting of my presence
Wherever you are.

The trick (though it is no trick)
Is to be there. Fully there.
Fully embodied; fully infused.

This reality is already yours.
Now, before you retire.
Now, before you even start your day.

I am yours and you are mine.
That is true regardless.
But when you open to that truth
That is the magical moment (though it is not magic);
That is when your heart quickens with the breath of hope.
That is when wisdom invades your words
And grace flows from your touch
When you become the conduit of my love.

Oh, Holy One,
I long for this to be true.
It seems I always stand on that precipice of longing
But I lack the courage to fall into that reality.
So, year after year, I come to the very edge of promise
And turn to go without fully embracing its truth.
I leave the blessing for the busyness of my days.
I postpone your call, to answer the phone.

Pick up the phone.
That’s me on the other end.
You can answer my call in that conversation.
Trust – it comes with action.
Doubt is just the mud on your shoes.
Keep walking – it will be worn away.

[photo by Daniel Meyer per cc 2.0]

 

Do you not know?

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patterns of light
Do you not know
Oh little one
That worship shapes your soul?
That words continue to call worlds into being?
That coming is joy, not duty?
And that, oh, I do love you.

Do you not know
Oh little one
That I love you into being even now?

Come. 
Listen to your heart and come.
Let go to the joy
Let go in sweet abandon
Let go into my arms
I will catch you
And embrace you
Come.

Would that I could dance with you.
That I could slip into the melody
Lose myself in the embrace
And stop concentrating on the next step
Or trying to do it right.

Would I could simply receive the embrace
And let go into love and music.
Would that I were not just me.

Ah but my little one
I made that ‘me.’
I love that ‘me.’
And I embrace that ‘me’
Even now.

You can step on my feet as you dance
I do not mind
So long as you dance.

I just wish you could embrace the mistakes as well
It would be more fun 
For us both
If you would let me remove your worries 
And just dance, love, be.

I can handle the rest.
Believe me.
Believe me.

I do love you. 
And all the whole I call you to be.

It is love that calls . . . 

And joy that answers

Ah! Amen.

3 12 08

[photo by 李小克 Klaire Lee per cc 2.0]

hope for this day

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dance

This day,
This day,

Oh Holy One,

Let me unclench my fists so that I might receive your grace.
Let me stop trying to run ahead, and turn, instead, to dance with you.
Let me give the baton into your hands and just enjoy the music.

Let me give you my fear in exchange for your hope.
Let me open my heart as a conduit of love.
Let my fingers carry your blessing to this moment.

Let me trust that you are, indeed,
Bending the arch of the universe
So that all will joyfully come home to you.

May your dreams come true.
May I dream them with you.
And trust enough to laugh along the way.

Amen.

[photo by Dixie Lawrence per cc 2.0]

After vacation

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backpackI’m trying to get my head to reactivate after vacation.
Nice that it turned off …
Now … how to turn it on?

That’s always the fear –
That if I put something down,
I’ll lose the capacity to pick it up –
Or I’ll lose it altogether.

Yet, like a backpack,
You can’t carry it forever.
Sometimes you gotta stop for a while.
Sometimes you need a rest.

And when the rest is over
You must pick it up again.
It’s the hardest part of the journey.
Always a bit awkward.

So, Holy One …
Are you there?
Where am I?
Touch my soul awake.

At last, I find your smile.
Like a Cheshire cat, I see that first.
Hovering in my imagination.
Eliciting my smile in return.

I lean my heart back into your presence
And find the echo of peace
That waits there for me
Hovering at the edge of possibility.

And, at last,
Sinking back into your yes
I find myself, again.
Thank you.

[photo by Ville Koivisto per cc 2.0]

prayer’s quandary

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prayerHow is it that I imagine
(Though it seems I often do)
That I could ever out-love God?

Somehow I think that I must remind God
To pay attention to those I love
And respond in the ways I would direct.

I hang on to those urgent, begging prayers
As if they are lifelines
As if their path is the only one worth walking.

And in that clinging urgency, I lose the opportunity
To join the deeper, fuller love that God
Is always, already, pouring forth.

When will I learn that true prayer
Is the place where I find God’s love welling up within me
And where I send it forth into the world?

Prayer stitches my soul into the fabric of life as it is
Adding one more fiber to the tapestry of love that God is weaving
And learning to rejoice as it unfolds.

[photo by Via Tsuji per cc 2.0]

still

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wrapped in a blanketI finger the edges of my soul
looking for the imprint of your presence.
The veil hangs straight and still
no ripple of movement
and yet – peace.
Somehow I know that you are here.
Still. Still. Still.

Stay with me, still
And still my heart
So that even passing evidence
Lingers at the tip of my awareness
Just beyond knowing
But not beyond faith.

You love me, still.
Still, I love you.
I rest, with the fullness of that peace
Folded round my shoulders
Swaddling my heart
In you.

 

[image modified from a photo by MIKI Yoshihito per cc 2.0]

Retroactive Wisdom

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If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. – James 1:5

boxes in the hall

I’m still overwhelmed. Even consistent meditation cannot extract me easily from over-obligation. I wonder if I can ask for wisdom, retroactively?

The foolishness I reel from today actually rolled out of my mouth nine months ago or more, when I said yes to too many projects. When my calendar pages looked so clean and clear. I forgot that they really, already, had obligations attached – like PTA meetings, and science fair projects, and a mother-in-law’s birthday, things that should carry the joy of relationship, but, in the context of too much, become one more burden that I might drop. Silly me, foolish me… to think that I might forget that I would be living day-to-day realities in even the unmarked calendar months ahead. Continue reading →

What if …

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stump in a green woodI am deep within the woods, encompassed by green and damp and shadow. The quiet hum of nature surrounds me and the path I walk opens up just a bit to a small clearing with a stump in the middle: a forest altar. I have not seen this particular one before, but know their holy purpose.

I bring myself – I bring my heart – into this place and try to let go of the rush of my day and the noise of my encapsulated life. I try to drop the urgency of the routine so that I can be here. Whatever else, a moment’s touch with truth is necessary for my day. There are many layers I have put up around my soul to keep it from this touch, yet the touch is life. Continue reading →

quiet heart

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small flower

Hello, Holy One.
I say your name and smile.
The brush of your presence lifts my heart.

I am softly grateful for a moment of quiet,
For a whisper of love,
For my soul’s anchor buried deep within your heart.

I feel its tug.
My fingers follow the chain, link by link
To the very center of it all.

And there, where the deep surrounds me,
Where I am enveloped by quiet,
I find stillness and peace.

Silence without fidgeting; hope beyond words;
The invasive quiet that comes the moment I release it all into your hands;
For these I am grateful.

This quiet place is the home of my heart.
This deep connection is the essence of being.
I am filled with wonder, with you.

It is only the barest brush with mystery.
Yet it feeds me with a richness that is
Beyond, below, above, within … all.

amen