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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Gift of a Savior

May the journey to Bethlehem

Have the power to change us –

Our perspective, our actions, our hearts

As the wondrous Gift is given

If Christ is in us

Are we welcoming each one we encounter

With the same reverence and honor

With which we approach the holy manger

In a world around us that is broken

Do we carry the hope with us

That we know to be true

Through the Savior born to save us

Do we carry an abundant joy within our souls

So that we are carrying the news of the Light

Into to a world that was as dark as night

Reflecting and illuminating the True Light

Gift of a Savior

Softened heart, renewed spirit

Love for all, joy abounding

Hope has come, spread the word.

Emanuel, God with us.