MOMENT OF IMPACT

God,
help me become more deeply aware
of the words that I choose
and the impact they have,
especially the impact I miss
at the moment I’m speaking them.

I use words so loosely.
I spread them about so profusely,
while striving to convey exactly what it is
that I've convinced myself
is so important
for someone else to hear.

But often, in my exuberance
to persuade others of what
their take on reality should be,
I trample bullishly
through the lush garden of their own equally
(if not more valuable)
words, thoughts, feelings.
In short, I tread foolishly upon their perspective
which might actually be
your cleverly disguised wisdom,
given to me,
through them.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord…(Psalm 19:14 NRSV)

GIVE IT TIME

This is all the inner journey
in and into You
is asking of me:
Give it time.

Which translates:
Give it my here and my now
Give it my full-bodied and focused attention
Give it my willingness and my willfulness
Give it my humility and my humanity
Give it my energy and my honesty
Give it my best and my worst.

Suddenly,
it sounds like a lot,
like way too much.
But, ironically, I know
it’s not.

In fact
it’s nothing,
a pittance compared to what You give me
if and when
I do it.

SOUL POND

Like a small smooth stone
I descend
Into the cool quiet pool
Some call prayer.
Noiselessly I merge
With an ancient world.
Though ever new to me
It has been here all along;
The old in the new
The inner in the outer.
Rippling the surface
For only an instant,
I sink into its depths.
Here I find
My self,
The self that is nowhere else
To be found.
In fact, here I learn
Self is too small a word.
And here I discover that you, God, lead me.
Beside stilling waters
You restore my hot and restive soul,
Recreating in me a pure heart,
A quieted mind,
And a newborn sense
Of the who
that is me.

MY UNDOING

As you know all too well, God,
many things have the power to undo me;

Maybe it’s something bad that happens
Maybe its an offensive remark sent in my direction (or so my ego thinks!)
Maybe it’s my own emotions getting the better of me

And that's on a good day

Sometimes life is seeking my demise—
or so it seems

But I want you to be the one who undoes me, God.
You are the one whom I can trust unreservedly
With you I feel wholly safe

You undo me lovingly
with my well-being
in your mind
and in your heart

In fact,
what feels like you undoing me is really the opposite…
it is you doing me
It is you building me up not tearing me down
It is you putting me together not taking me apart
It is you bringing me to life...
and love

You give me your stalwart strength
You give me your ever-expanding perspective
You even give me your serenity

It is you re-creating your very self in me…through me…out of me.

Be my undoing, God.
Please.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me." Psalm 51:10 NRSV

THE GOD EXPERIENCE

The “God experience” is what the Bible is all about.

This is what the story of Sarah, the wife of Abraham, and her impossibly-late-in-life pregnancy was all about: (“The LORD appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day...Now Sarah was listening...” Genesis 18:1ff).

It is what the story of Moses’ receiving the Ten Commandments on the mountaintop was all about: (“The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone…” Exodus 24:12ff).

It was at the heart of Elijah’s hearing that “still small voice” in the sheer silence: (“He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."  I Kings 19:11ff)

It was what Jesus’ mother experienced in her encounter with the angel Gabriel (“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin…The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." Luke 1:26ff)

It was what Jesus experienced on the day of his baptism (“And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water…a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased." Mt 3:15ff)

It was Peter’s experience on the Mount of Transfiguration (“…Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became dazzling white…” Mark 9:2ff)

It was the Pentecost experience (“When the day of Pentecost had…All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” Acts 2ff).

It was Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus (“Now as he was going along and approaching Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?" 5 He asked, "Who are you, Lord?" The reply came, "I am Jesus…” Acts 9:3ff)

From the Book of Genesis to the Book of the Revelation, the whole purpose of the Bible and every individual part of it seems to be to reveal what an actual and authentic experience of God can look like in our lives.

Further, its purpose is to put on display what an actual relationship with God looks like.

Finally, story after story, the Bible demonstrates what transformative power such personal experiences and such a personal relationship offer us.

What are we waiting for?

THE SOUL'S QUIVER

It is difficult if not impossible…

…to unhook completely from our ego’s incredible grip upon our psyche.

Insofar as we are able to do so, it is only through that within us that is even more powerful than our ego.

That would be our soul.

The soul, the medium or essence of God within us,

fights only with love.

Like God, it doesn’t do battle with the ego…or at least, it doesn’t play the ego’s game.

Its weapons include forgiveness, mercy, compassion, inner clarity, joy, peace, thankfulness, awareness and self-control.

These are the “arrows” in love’s quiver.


"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control." (Galatians 5:22-23a NRSV)

ON WINGS OF WILDNESS

Into the wild I come
And You are here
You throw mountains together
And fling planets apart
You bless my life with just such wildness and freedom.

Giving me hope, a wild, wild thing,
You bring me into the wild place of your love
You break me forth from my self-said bounds
You crown me with laurels of ever-expanding thoughts.

Like a sea, your wildness seeps into and out of my being
Inundating me, undulating me.
You take me, toss me, turn me, trust me.

There is no wild place that you do not call home
No place where you are not at ease and in repose
Even in the midst of all that is dead within me
You bring me safely through the worlds of “Unknown!” and “Beware!”

You carry me on the wings of your wildness there...here
The wind of your Spirit beckons me,
“Come away, my beloved”
And I come.

You call me into the wildness that is in all
Gladly, gladly I come.
For I know, you are calling me
Into You.

"My beloved speaks and says to me: "Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away; 11 for now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone. 12 The flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. 13 The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. (Song of Songs 2:10-13 NRSV)