the hardest of these is love

I received this poem today from Inwardoutward.org and loved it:

IF PRAYER WOULD DO IT

If prayer would do it
I'd pray.

If reading esteemed thinkers would do it
I'd be halfway through the Patriarchs.

If discourse would do it
I'd be sitting with His Holiness
every moment he was free.

If contemplation would do it
I'd have translated the Periodic Table
to hermit poems, converting
matter to spirit.

If even fighting would do it
I'd already be a black belt.

If anything other than love could do it
I'd have done it already
and left the hardest for last.

Stephen Levine
Source:  Breaking the Drought

That first line about prayer brought discomfort.   I often commit to praying for someone in an effort to remain detached or to comfort myself with the thought, "well, at least I'm praying for them."  

My prayer for today is to remain open to new ways to love one another, for that is what Christ continues to do ....Love costs but as the saying goes, it pays well.  

prefer truth

It's ironic that my last post from August says "be here now" and yet I've been everywhere but here! 

As life unfolds I'm willing to go where Spirit leads. 

Today she led me to the blog and this photo of Morse Creek in Port Angeles, WA. 

I discovered the quote in Richard Rohr's Immortal Diamond.

May your path lead you to truth. 

 

 

 

 

"Christ likes us to prefer truth to himself,

because before being Christ, he is truth.

If one turns aside from him to go toward the truth,

one will not go far before falling into his arms.

 

- Simone Weil, Waiting for God

be here....now

 

"Peace is the result of

retraining your mind

to process life as it is,

rather than as you

think it should be."

 

-Wayne Dyer

 

photo from here

 

"The greatest service we can offer anyone

is to mirror their true heart."

 - S. Levine, Embracing the Beloved

 

What does this child see in the mirror? 
That she is beautiful?  And loved? And cherished?
This is the core of  all of our callings,
and as a hospice chaplain,
the only thing I do that truly matters.

handshakes

 

“To make peace, any peace

nothing, absolutely nothing visible

may need changing on Earth.

Peace is made up of handshakes

that take place

entirely in the mind.”

 

- Theo Grutter

 

from Thinking Wild - Its Gifts of Insight

 

image from here

uses of sorrow

“The uses we make of sorrow

are the measure of our spiritual growth.” 

- Diana Lampen

What is Prayer?

Expanding the concept of prayer...one beautiful poem at a time...

 

 

 

 

 

What is Prayer?  

 

Prayer is intimacy with the Great Mystery.

Be every moment aware of the Presence —

how you are loved!

 

She takes off Her wings

to heal you, He surrenders

everything for your sake.

At all times in every

hidden, open place

It lives in your deep

soul’s core, It moves

in your moving and acts

through your skin

and the skin or bark or shell

of all living beings—  forms of angels,

and also of water, rocks, and fire.

 

So be awake to the life that is loving you

and sing your prayer, laugh your prayer,

dance your prayer, run and weep and

sweat your prayer,

sleep your prayer, eat your prayer,

paint, sculpt, hammer and read your prayer,

sweep, dig, rake, drive and hoe your prayer,

garden and farm and build and clean your prayer,

wash, iron, vacuum, sew, embroider and pickle your prayer,

compute, touch, bend and fold, but never delete

or mutilate your prayer.

 

Learn and play your prayer,

work and rest your prayer,

fast and feast your prayer,

argue, talk, whisper, listen and shout your prayer,

groan and moan and spit and sneeze your prayer,

swim and hunt and cook your prayer,

digest and become your prayer.

 

Release and recover your prayer.

Breathe your prayer.

Be your prayer.

 

Let prayer be your thinking

and thriving, your passionate

living and humble dying

back into Earth and God.

Let prayer be your senses and sex,

your political power, your confusion

and vision for good.

 

Let teaching tolerance and all childcare be prayer.

Let your mistakes be a prayer, and your unknowing.

Let remorse and forgiveness be prayer.

 

Make love in every act,

create growth in each intent.

Nature in any form serves

as sanctuary and temple.

 

Let your bath be an oracle chamber,

every trip anywhere a pilgrimage,

and your dream bed each night

the Holy of Holies.

 

And so you are praying.

So you do what you be,

and all your being is blessed

and all your life is a prayer.

And all your acts are a blessing.

 

           Alla Renée Bozarth

 

From Moving to the Edge of the World

by Alla Renée Bozarth, iUniverse 2003. All rights reserved.

For permission to reprint or for any other reason, contact

the poet at allabearheart@yahoo.com Write “Permission”

or “Poetry” in the subject line. Also see

http://allabozarthbooks.blogspot.com/

 

 

photo by Helen Forshee taken at Butchart Gardens, B.C.

 

What will you do with your prayer?