God made both spirit
And body
.
The inner
And outer soul
.
God knew me furled
In the womb
.
Calling from darkness
To light
.
And that was
My genesis
.
The beginning
Of my personal world.
.

Tag: darkness
God made both spirit
And body
.
The inner
And outer soul
.
God knew me furled
In the womb
.
Calling from darkness
To light
.
And that was
My genesis
.
The beginning
Of my personal world.
.
I journeyed through the dark streets
through many days of advent
And arrived at a place
of still greater darkness
And in the darkness there came a vision
It was not the brightness of Christmas lights
Or the glory of angels
But the communication of God
Pregnant with meaning
wrapped in a newborn babe.
.
God is
In all things
.
God was
In darkness
.
And in
Mystery
.
The silent voices
Speaking to me
.
In bleak and blank
Experience
.
To leave the solitary
Experiment
.
Connect with all
That links the soul
.
To infinities
Of consolation
.
The blessing
Of the spirit’s life
.
And my
Salvation.
.
Sometimes there is a turning
To darkness
.
A fleeing
From the light
.
When the spirit longs
For a freeing
.
From the night
Of selfhood
.
From only-ness
The loneliness
.
Of a sole existence
Touch my spirit now
.
With those rays
Of bright hope
.
Those ways
Of love and gentleness
.
Those journeyings
To peace.
.
My vocation encompasses my being, my thinking, my planning, my decisions, the words I say and everything I do. It encompasses everything. And it is a vocation, because it is a life I am called to.
“God called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”
1 Peter 2:9
But even though the vocation and the light is wonderful, it is clear that I am not “wonderful” all the time. Human error, past hurts, shortcomings, character flaws, selfishness, moodiness – these all take their toll on my vocation, so my being, my thinking, my planning, my decisions, the words I say and everything I do is often not what I would want it to be if I really was completely out of darkness and a being of total light.
So vocation creates a powerful tension in the spiritual life: a tension between being a person with faults and failures, and being a person called to praise and pray, laugh and love.
To help me, I have disciplines, beliefs, values, choices, grace, nurture and relationships, experience and nature – and these are for another post.
Out of the darkness
I came
.
And all was light
A world shimmering
.
With sun
Sky and stars
.
A universe
Bright.
.
In a world
Of lovely light
.
An emptiness
A darkness
.
Threatening to absorb
All life
.
Unless you stand
And fight.
.
Inspired by Duccio’s painting of The Temptation on the Mountain, as explored by Sister Wendy Beckett in ‘The Art of Faith’
.
Free to choose
to remain in darkness
.
Or move nearer
the light of love
.
Which now shines
so brightly
.
Regardless or not
of our acceptance.
.
from ‘Returning to the Father’, a sequence inspired by Henri Nouwen’s book about Rembrandt’s painting of Jesus’ parable of The Prodigal Son
In the morning
I approach God
.
The darkness
Still has not left
.
This heart
Or this mind
.
But I pray
For the light
.
Of spirit’s
Presence
.
To set my soul
On fire.
.
The road
Runs on ahead
.
And though I limped
With my own soul’s pain
.
I journeyed
With others
.
Each similarly
Wounded on the way
.
And we each moved
Ahead
.
Through darkness
Towards a horizon
.
Dawning with a promise
Of eternal day.
.