I wrote this post some years back … tonight I’m reminded of it:
It was a long day at work today … and now sleep is calling my name. But before I sleep, I need a few minutes of inner quiet. All day I have been walled in … enclosed, confined by task and duty … and when I sought to open my mind to God my thoughts would not be still long enough to hear the quiet.
A quote by Abraham Heschel … man’s walled mind has no access to a ladder upon which he can, of his own strength, rise to knowledge of God. Yet his soul is endowed with translucent windows that open to the beyond.
Tonight for a moment or two, I throw open the windows of my soul to drink in the crisp night … the quiet … the quiet that speaks loudly in my ears.
Sometimes I read prayers from books … not that I can’t speak freely to my God … but the poetry of written prayers calms, quietens, focuses the lens of my soul …
Richard Foster, in Prayers from the Heart, writes,
O Lord, my God, Form me more fully into your likeness. Use the circumstances and interactions of this day to form your will in me.
From the frustrations of this day form peace.
From the joys of this day form strength.
From the struggles of this day form courage.
From the beauties of this day form love.
In the name of Jesus Christ who is all peace and strength and courage and love. Amen.
This day … a combination of tensions, questions, laughter, planning, doing … from this day … form me more fully into your likeness.
When you feel a lack of understanding,
And your creativity declines
Run to the hidden spring!
The higher waters will refresh you,
And you will blossom.
God’s blessing will return to you.
You will become like a gushing spring,
Like a river that does not cease!
~Rav Abraham Isaac Kook
The river of God sets our feet a’dancing … The river of God fills our heart with cheer … The river of God fills our mouths with laughter …
In stillness the dancing!
I’ve neglected writing reflectively here … I want to take it up again.
