outside time, outside myself

At the computer at work … and yet … stepping back for a moment of quiet … relfection … oneness, wholeness … separate … and yet not. 

I read in a devotional book by Madeleine L’Engle today about the concentration of a small child at play … “analogous to the concentration of the artist of any discipline.  In real play, which is real concentration, the child is not only outside time, he is outside himself.  A child playing a game, building a sand castle, painting a pciture, is completely in what he is doing.  His self-consciousness is gone; his consciousness is wholly focused outside himself.”

Being outside self, outside time, centered in God-space, God-time … absorbing inward his breath … expressively relating inwardly to his presence … and outwardly, reflecting who he is … his glory, his peace, his love.

Mary Oliver, the poet says …

to lose myself
         inside this soft world –
                     to instruct myself
                               over and over

in joy,
          and acclamation
                         nor am I talking
                                    about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful
            the very extravagant –
                    but of the ordinary
                           the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations.
           Oh, good scholar,
                     I say to myself,
                         how can you help

but grow wise
       with such teachings
               as these –
                  the untrimmable light

Let this be my prayer …  God, I’m not trying to rule the roost, I don’t want to be king of the mountain.  I haven’t meddled where I have no business or fantasized grandiose plans.  I’ve kept my feet on the ground, I’ve cultivated a quiet heart.   Like a baby content in its mother’s arms,  my soul is a baby content. ~Psalm 131:1-2