The richness
is in standing still
.
Waiting for the light
of silence to fall
.
Gracefully
into life.
Tag: spirituality
Understand More
Weaving silence
into a life
.
Opens the mind
to hear a new depth
.
Of meaning
in the storm’s eye
.
Understand more
the soul’s mystery.
I Have Found My Way
I have found my way
and it is a different way to the world’s way
.
A way that leads to life through death
a way of grace and reconciliation
humility, obedience and self-renunciation
.
I have found my way
I have found a new identity
.
Now I can begin again
to live and work
.
to write and sing
I can begin again
.
And I can now be understood
by love of one known greater than myself
.
Who gave his life for love of me
his life and love now newly understood
.
Renouncing all his pleasures
all the comforts of his soul
.
Relinquished all in the death of hell
he felt upon the cross
.
In the dark a single cry
‘Why – O my God – why?’
.
Forsaken, not gone astray like us
punished for all our wanderings
.
The Jews had forty years – I had twenty
in the desert before he gave me plenty
.
Of grace, of love, of fellowship
with others, sisters, brothers newly found
.
Discovered and recovered from the grave
a flock and then a kingdom saved
.
To serve their lord and shepherd
Faithfully
.
And now we come to live together
to meet the world and serve forever
.
The king
Of all the heavens
.
Having fellowship with the light
fighting still the endless fight
.
The darkness that surrounds us
that will not quickly leave us
.
Shining like stars despite our sin
struggling still to let him in
.
I have found my way
and it is a different way from the world’s way
.
I have found my God
My feast
.
And now I bear the yoke
that brings at last my peace.
.
A Silence That All Surrounds
Compassion and mercy
at the heart of all
.
And so we pray
with souls that know well
.
In a silence
that all surrounds
.
That by the bountiful
presence of God
.
We may be sustained
and re-found.
Wonderful and Beyond
One thing after another
points to what is wonderful
.
And beyond the realm
of the everyday
.
It may be a sunrise
or vision so beautiful
It may be beyond
what any can say
It may be the silence
or the words so truthful
They disciple your heart-ache
on the spiritual way.
Inspiring Paintings: Much Very Ordinary in the Spiritual Way
There is much
That is very ordinary
In the spiritual way
.
Faithfulness
Perseverance
Kindess
.
Self-control
Patience
And love
.
May guard
Your soul
Each day.
.
Share this:
Inspiring Poems: The Wreath
A WREATHED garland of deservèd praise,
Of praise deservèd, unto Thee I give,
I give to Thee, who knowest all my ways,
My crooked winding ways, wherein I live,—
Wherein I die, not live ; for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to Thee,
To Thee, who art more far above deceit,
Than deceit seems above simplicity.
Give me simplicity, that I may live,
So live and like, that I may know Thy ways,
Know them and practise them : then shall I give
For this poor wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.
This poem is particularly amazing in the way that the words are threaded from one line to the next, like a kind of wreath. See how “praise” is repeated, then “give”, then “ways”, and so on… I’ve marked the first few in bold below.
A WREATHED garland of deservèd praise,
Of praise deservèd, unto Thee I give,
I give to Thee, who knowest all my ways,
My crooked winding ways, wherein I live,—
Wherein I die, not live ; for life is straight,
Straight as a line, and ever tends to Thee,
To Thee, who art more far above deceit,
Than deceit seems above simplicity.
Give me simplicity, that I may live,
So live and like, that I may know Thy ways,
Know them and practise them : then shall I give
For this poor wreath, give Thee a crown of praise.
George Herbert, who wrote this poem, was probably also thinking of the “crown of thorns”; but he has a “crown of praise” instead to give to God.
The Fire and the Phoenix
When
the spirit touches
.
All of life
Is loved
.
There is the fire
and the phoenix
.
And the whole soul
is strangely moved.
Life's Overwhelming Existence
Even in the tenderest
Corner of the soul
.
Being lives
Indestructible
.
Receiving
From God
.
The strength
To participate
.
In the whole
Of life’s
.
Overwhelming
Complex
.
Richesse
Of bewildering existence.
.
Share this:
The Spiritualities of Christianity – Suffering and Healing
The experience of pain is universal – from life’s first cry to the end. And spirituality in the Christian traditions does not flinch from this reality of life.
El Greco’s image above, or this even more harrowing image by Grunewald, are classic examples.
These beautiful words from the New Testament are a fine commentary on what is going on here:
Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example,
that you should follow in his steps..
He committed no sin, no guile was found on his lips,
when he was reviled, he did not revile in turn.
.
When he suffered, he did not threaten,
but he trusted himself to God who judges justly.
.
Christ himself bore our sins in his body on the tree,
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
.
By his wounds, you have been healed,
for you were straying like sheep,
But have now returned
to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.
Some might see the focus on pain as weirdly morbid and unhealthy.
But actually the spirituality of these lines is that suffering can bring out depths of patience, trust and faith. Suffering can draw out our capacity for holiness. And somehow through the suffering of Christ, there can be healing.
