Tag: bible
-
Only Truth
A wise man, after studying the peacefulness of Gandhi, once wrote: “lying is the mother of violence.” * This morning as my eyes observed that thought the breath in my lungs vanished and every lie I ever told to another and to myself flooded in to fill the space – suffocating violently in a lifetime…
-
The Buck I Encountered on Paul’s Birthday
Around the bendandbeyond the old wooden fencehe stoodmajesticstrongbold-andhe staredright through my being… His gaze stole my breath.His confidence firmso firm it instilled in mestillnessabsolute and petrifying… Yet there was no fearno shame in being seenthere was onlyjoyandgratitudefor what had been…
-
Your Name
In the praise of my neighbor, I suddenly feel the heaviness of his power-filled footsteps patiently prowling the perimeter. It is there he discovers the gate unlocked – that wish I have to be seen known accepted – how many times I have fallen here I’ve lost count, yet this time there is no fear…
-
Thank God for Mystics
Then,the path ahead was overwhelmingstrewn with the litter of my grasping—a minefield of my own makingOh,how I studied to learn the truth about You and the rules to guide the way— amazed by all revealed to meNow,the path of freedom stretches ahead cluttered not at all with my passions—a sea adrift with Your Image
-
The Glory of God*
Living,I breathe in the nature of God. It is all around me,as His heart beats in blades of grass beneath my bare feet on a cool summer nightin gathered kin around the table sharing a sumptuous meal in falling snow blanketing this world, desperate for rest;forif I breathe it not there, there is no glory.If…
-
My Judas
A troubled man once wrote: “To be or not to be – that is the question.” Ever since his quill hit the linenthose words have wafted through the air – portrayed on raised stages whispered by the lost cried through tears of despair.And once they were mine as well. Today I pray a request to…
-
Whose Are We?
Isn’t it all just a tad exhausting? The information at our fingertips—is it real or reliable or robotic? What is the point of knowing more if what we know now leaves us wanting? How many degrees does it take how many facts must we know how often must the other tell us we are right…
-
The Sloth in the Darkness
What’s most terrifying haunting unbearable considering the darkest seasons of life? The loneliness desperation injustice evil? The absent ones arrogance viciousness of others? Or, when I go there now with eyes wide open is it the me that I see – she who embraced the madness relied on the lies remained chained in the dungeon…
-
Apatheia
Oh, my dear one,how long will you go on paying*in self-pitybitternessand condemnation? Don’t you know thatdetachment fromthe ways of this world is debt-free?*With thanks to the wisdom of the desert fathers (see Thomas Merton’s The Wisdom of the Desert: Sayings from the Desert Fathers of the Fourth Century, p. 39)