Hopeful

Reflecting on Matt 7: 1-13 and Luke 9: 28-36

Passing Through the Cloud

I too hiked up that mountain, following the master,
and I stayed just outside of that thick cloud for too long.
I listened and I was assured.
The father told me to listen.
[Some days it is hard to just listen.
I can’t listen;
 words come out of my own mouth too fast.] 
Eight years I journeyed from the first words,
and I rejoiced at the mountain.
Here I am Lord; speak only to me.
In the dazzling white, I came to listen.
Moses and Elijah guide me some ways,
But Jesus speaks when I am awake.
Some days I am so afraid in the cloud.
 Still, let me enter the cloud each day.
I stay silent and listen.
 Let me be prepared. Teach me lord.
 I would still be prepared to tell the story!
Here on this…

Jesus our peace, if our lips keep silence, our heart listens to you and also speaks to you. And you say to each one of us: surrender yourself in all simplicity to the life of the Holy Spirit; and with that surrender we may know you in a superlative way. Lord help me to observe a sacred silence. AMEN

Related articles

• Thomas Keating: A Rising Tide of Silence, Official Trailer (prodigal.typepad.com)
• 9.5 Invitations into the Contemplative Renewal of Christianity – Invitation #2:Grow Deeper (contemplativechristians.com)

I’m sharing a poem from March 2012.

The Waves Do Circle Me

I hear new waves this morning
Splashing on the shore not as warning,
But waves splashing on my soul,
Calming me, lifting my spirit full.
Jesus loved to be at his lake,
And at my Lake Michigan I am fully awake.
Crowds passing me, and the water breaking at the pier,
I have left dull sadness behind, sunny waves flushing my fear.

In this community of Christ’s disciples, support circles me in waves.
I am uplifted by folks who have been with me for days and days.
Support comes in waves.
Spirit holds me; He saves.
Shepherded by disciples who hold me,
And let me look through many eyes to see,
My spirit leaps, and I am lifted high,
Joy fills my dull senses, and I reach to the sky.

I am blessed by new waves.

© Tom Bolton…

Contemplating 1 Peter 4:19 in the New English Translation (NET Bible)

So then let those who suffer according to the will of God entrust their souls to a faithful Creator as they do good.

At Always, God

In the beginning, it is God.
Creator of beauty and mysteries
that startle us each day,
it is God who makes us, and
makes life and beauty so grand.

Starting our lives fresh and clean,
with that smell of baby hair,
it is God who labors to make us love,
who loves us to accept us,
to gracefully embrace us.

In the sun, as we grow and move,
it is in the son, where we feel
the light, and see in the light, and
too often head off into the shade,
and the light yet shines around us.

In the light now we grow,
and daily we yearn to know,
and in the…

A D V E N T  2 0 1 4:    D E V O T I O N S   T O   O U R   G O D   I N   T H E   M A N G E R

Week 3                                                                                                            Redeemed

Isaiah 35:1

 Joy of the Redeemed

I believe, I believe, I believe,
and I am giddy in joy,
warm and excitable this day.
Today my longing is deepened, my
search for home more lively.
Hope thrives in the wilderness,
my dreams made new each day,
God waiting for me in the stillness,
the stillness awakening me.
My smallest concern is in this wilderness,
Jesus my comforter.
I am a partner in hope,
redeemed.
Let peace begin with me,
shared through me.
I have surrendered my cluttered thoughts,
awake in joy–
Joy in redemption.
God heals the world,
and I walk gently in the way of Christ’s peace,
this…

Mark 9:24

A D V E N T    2 0 1 4:    D E V O T I O N S   T O   O U R   G O D   I N   T H E   M A N G E R

Week 3                                                                                                            Redeemed

Redeemed, Help my Faith

I believe, I believe, I believe,
I believe, and yet:
Help my unbelief today.
How can it be?
Redeemed and healed, I am often filled with joy,
And yet,
Where does this unbelief come from? Where was it hidden?
Was it hidden at all?
When this faith becomes doubtful of itself,
it stands in temptation again,
as it was in the beginning, in the edge of the garden.
Fragile in our faith, we are sorely tested
each day.
It was
God’s love—his grace—in Jesus that saves us.
It is our faith that takes us there to gaze on Jesus,
To grab hold of…