Tag: soul
God made both spirit
And body
.
The inner
And outer soul
.
God knew me
In the womb
.
Calling from darkness
To light
.
And that was
My genesis
.
The beginning
Of my personal world.
.
The breeze
Brings blessing
.
From hills
And fields and sky
.
As if
The inspiration
.
Were the true
Vocation of the soul
.
Seeking wisdom
Unity.
Inspired by “The Prelude”, Wordsworth, Book 1, Lines 1-6
I travel
To the city
.
And a million souls
Ignore my existence
.
How hard
It is to hear
.
Then those words:
“You are my beloved”.
.
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.
.
Henri Nouwen has inspired me in so many ways that each book of his deserves its own mention!
“Return of the Prodigal Son” is a wonderful book that inspired a whole collection I wrote, called “Returning to the Father”.
Fleeing
Again and again
I have fled the hands of blessing
.
Made myself deaf
to the voice of love
.
Hardened my heart
to the close call of conscience
.
All this in the hope
I would find somewhere else
.
What I lacked
In the home
.
Of the soul
Safe in God.
.
Rembrandt’s painting of “The Return of the Prodigal Son” is at the heart of Henri Nouwen’s book. It is an amazing painting that deserves repeated viewing. And Nouwen wonderfully interweaves meditations on Rembrandt’s life, his own life and on the spiritual journey.
I love the way Nouwen harnesses the insights of modern psychology alongside his deep perception and experience of spirituality. The parable of “The Prodigal Son” of course runs all through the book, and Nouwen wonderfully elaborates on how the spiritual journey can involve rebellion, lostness and despair, as well as progress, homecoming and love.
Returning
I am on my way home
feeling the nearness of love
I have left the distant country
and am travelling
My feet keeping step
with the beating of my heart
As I journey
to the heart of the father.
They have already lived and died
who made our past
.
Or else they’re lost
in mist through which we cannot peer
.
I search for them
I read their ways
,
Reclining here
turning the pages of a book
.
I look for the life
and the thoughts that shook
their souls to their foundations
.
Their voices reach me
convert my ways
.
And suddenly I’m changed
by all they thought and did
.
All stored up, now
stored and ready
waiting to be released.
.
Enter by mystery
Not problems to be solved
.
But gracious portals
Places for the soul
.
To journey through
Understanding more
.
Their beauty
Their power to heal
.
As life steps forward
From grace to grace.
.
Inspired by https://alexandrianorthodoxy.com/2019/08/08/the-trinitarian-foundation-of-creation-and-salvation/
.
In desolation
And when
.
The desert
Burns
.
Seek spiritual
Springs
.
For which the soul
Yearns.
Enter the cave
Of the soul
And here
.
Do battle
With all demons
Of fear.
.
Read
In a different way
.
Not a rush
Through the surface meaning
.
But a leaning
Into the significance
.
Of a every word
An entering
.
Into the world
You had never heard
.
That now provides
An invitation
.
To yours
And every soul
.
Life’s
Transformation.
.
