Apr 6, 2014

Light Bearers


I have wondered sometimes
If I have what it takes to be
One of God's light bearers
In the world.

Jesus is the light of the world
And we are ordained to be
His light, carrying life and love
And telling the Good News.

I witnessed brilliant light reflected in the sunrise
Over the gray-green ocean's vast horizon
And in the colorful artwork in the sky
As the day faded in the sunset over the bay.

I heard the light, and not just saw it
I heard it in the pouring out of souls
Of both heartache and joys
And I felt it in the ringing laughter

The light is all around me
Because it is not just in the loftiness
Of the greatest things that can be accomplished,
But it is in every single person and every ordinary moment.

I see the sparkling God-colors in the world
I see it my world, in my space, in my backyard.
I see it globally, and in my own community.
I see it in my home and beyond it's walls.

I feel the light inside, the touch of the Holy
And I know it is there for a purpose
Not to be kept to myself, but to be shared
All I need is to take the leap of faith

The light has overcome the darkness
The light guides and nourishes and saves
The light comforts and compels and sustains
And the light cannot be hidden.

Let Your Light Shine!




Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven."  Matthew 5:14-16 The Message

Mar 20, 2014

Telling Our Stories

There is something so deeply personal
About telling our stories
Of our life, of our faith
In growing even deeper on the path.

We have an opportunity
To see through a different view
Of what others have carried
In burdens and joyful trimuphs

I love the openness and authenticity
That telling our stories encourages--
The way listening deeply
Seems to stir something in our souls

And allows God's glory
To be shown to the world
And, it seems, it helps us hear the melody
And sing the song of our lives

We speak of evangelizing
But really it is telling our stories
And understanding
How God transforms our lives

Telling our stories
Helps us nudge each other along
In this journey of faith
Worshiping the One

Who creates
And knows
And loves
And sustains
And shepherds
And redeems.

For eternity.

Mar 8, 2014

Masks

Maybe it is in the many hats we wear—
Woman, wife, mother, friend, sister
Worker, volunteer, leader, listener
That we learn to wear masks sometimes.

The “everything is fine” mask
Or the “I’ll smile even if it kills me” mask
The “I feel like I could die, but I must grin and bear it” mask
The “anyone can do anything for a short time” mask
And especially the “I’m just not good enough” mask

But God knows something more about us
The Creator of our lives that knows
Our innermost being that He knit togehter,
Who sees deeper than we can imagine
And loves us in spite of ourselves.

Our Creator, the One true God of the world
And of our lives—Our Sustainer, Our Redeemer,
Our Shepherd, Our Friend, Our Majestic God,
The Beginning and the End.

And He is the One we are seeking
He looks at our beat-up hearts and souls
He takes in our choices and our mistakes
And He loves with His unending, unrestricted,
Unfathomable, unobstructed, unlimited love.

Our masks don’t matter, but he tenderly, gently
Asks us to let them fall away and see ourselves
As He sees us…reflected in the light of His love
In the beauty with which He created us.

And on this journey of faith
He urges us to remember His love--
To live in it, spread it, and widen it
That unbelievable love..
Love from the cross.

Mar 6, 2014

Emptying

I enter Lent and look toward the cross
And I know there is emptying to do--
Emptying myself so I can be filled with the Spirit--
With reflection, paying attention to attitudes and actions.

What is required as I empty myself?
Putting myself aside, certainly
And awakening to the rhthyms and flow
Of another's heart is needed on the journey.

Always in Lent you draw me to see
The parts of my heart that lie dormant
The ways I become complacent or content
When I need to be striving and alive in wonder

Open my soul deeply to hear your voice
As you whisper my name and move me
Allowing the Spirit to flow within me,
To draw me to the throne of grace.

Give me a heart for introspection
And let me see and hear.
Create a humbe spirit within me
And show me the ways to serve you

Help me to love as You love
And to offer Your heart of compassion
Letting all pretenses fall away
So that I am face to face

With the One who knows me mostly deeply
The One that shaped me and formed me
Sculpted from nothing to something
Everyday already prepared from the beginning

Empty me so that I may be filled.

Mar 5, 2014

Lenten Poem: A WATERED GARDEN

Thinking about the journey to the cross and Jesus' time in the wilderness began my thoughts of our own wilderness, our own hunger and thirst for the Holy, the sacred.

The earth, still untilled 
Surface layer hardened by winter
Barren, brown and dry
Brittle and broken stems
Lifeless, dull, fruitless


But through the soil
The tiller digs in deeply
And uproots the dried blossoms
And gives new life to what lay dormant
Forcing its way through a winter crust


Feel the blazing of bright sunlight
The warm wind blowing freely
The deep thirsting for rain
To bathe with refreshment
Waiting, wanting, longing


Sensing the approach of a rainstorm
Hearing the wind and the thunder roar
Its rumbling drawing nearer
Crack of lightning blazing the sky


And now just stillness...
The air is heavy
And one raindrop falls
Then another and another
Tumbling down upon you...
Splashing and dancing and dribbling


Through the openings of the soil
Falling faster and faster
A steady pace now
Trickling rivulets
Sinking deep into all
The readied and prepared spaces


The watering refreshes
The newness invigorates
The roots deep within and new shoots
Cleansed and purified, now flourishing


From wilderness to thriving
From emptiness to fullness
From bleakness to abundance
From death of resurrection
From despair to hope

Jan 7, 2014

Wonder

Sometimes I forget to live in wonder--
With amazed admiration and awe
Of each breath we are given,
Of each precious moment we live.

We walk through the Advent season
And we reflect and introspect
And we make room, open space
For the gift of the Savior--
Emmanuel, God with us.

And then we take the decorations down,
And the parties stop, and life gets back
To the normal routine in which 
We entered into the season.

But God keeps putting the gift of wonder
In my heart -- that mystery of faith
And I am filled with such gratitude
For no matter the circumstance
There is this sparkling wonder in every day.

And when I am attentive and awake
When I am alive and thankful
I can see God's fingerprints in everything
To be on this journey is such an amazing gift.

I am filled with awe when I recall
All the abundance with which God has loved
And all the ways that even on the darkest nights
God never leaves, never abandons, never lets go.

Let me live each day looking for the wonder
Let me trade in my worry for wonder
Let me turn my despair into hope
Let me see even in the dark the amazing light ahead

For Christ has come
In glory and in wonder.