28.(But can You make my wilful will as soft, aswilling to change at Your touch as this clay?) 29.Some days I could see You transfiguredand barelynotice. Transfix my eyes. Show me truth. 30.First, this truth: You became clay, became dust.The potterbecame like the fragile clay He made. 31.The same hands that sculpted soil into lifenowContinue reading “Microprayers for Lent: Week 6”
Tag Archives: God
Microprayers for Lent: Weeks Four and Five
17.When did clay first think to shirk the potter?As lungsfirst billowed with breath, sun barely risen? 18.I was not there at first dawn yet I too wake withthe sameserpentine thought in my drowsy brain. 19.Great mystery: that clay should breathe and defy.Greater this:that dried up clay should breathe again. 20.When it breathes, what does theContinue reading “Microprayers for Lent: Weeks Four and Five”
Microprayers for Lent: Week Three
11.Only You with the gentle wind of Your fingerscan sweepthese layers without losing me. 12.Your wind it was that first animated dust –so nowcatch me up in the willy-willy of You. 13.Scoop me, spiral me in the eye of Your storm;swirl meup in Your whirlwind. Enspirit me. 14.For only in the dance and condensation ofYourContinue reading “Microprayers for Lent: Week Three”
Microprayers for Lent: Week 2
5.Dust clogs the corridors of heart’s chambers.Have mercy:teach love to this dust. 6.Clean airways. Clean neural pathways. Clean roadsto love.Breathe clean air in me. 7.Wipe clean eyes overclouded with dust.Give sightto know my earthen flesh in others. 8.(And what of the dust on the countertop and shelves,the haze in my line of sight to You?)Continue reading “Microprayers for Lent: Week 2”
Microprayers: First Week
What is this quintessence of dust? William Shakespeare, Hamlet 1.Ashen brain breathes ashen prayers.My God –can ashes rise? 2.Dust clings to prayer’s mouth.I breathe;Prayer disperses… 3.Dust too collects in glory’s crevices;I longfor life, not death. 4.Water me with the condensation ofYour Spirit.Make me mud to mould.
Advent 1
Somehow, likea miracle of new birth,the children rise withall the energy of Christmas morning.I lag behind their delight,lost still in the sleep I wish I was having,yet lifted all the same to seechild hearts leapinglike an infant in the expectant womb.The waiting will be what chafes.Our spirits lag with Spirit’s time.Even by breakfast joy dwindlesContinue reading “Advent 1”
Waiting 7: Huldah
When the king, garments torn with grief at the broken law,sent messengers to me in hopes of hope,I thought at first, Have you come to me, notJeremiah, looking for a mother insteadof a firebrand? It mattered little.You cannot soothe a fire with lullabies,can only shout loud and clear that the whole town might hear.For sometimestheContinue reading “Waiting 7: Huldah”
Ordinary Wednesday: Cocooning
At bedtime tonight two of my boys started playing with their bright green IKEA tunnel, climbing into it to lie down and pretend to sleep, as though it were a cocoon. Watching them I caught myself thinking, “Yes! That’s what I’d like to do. I’d like to build myself a cocoon and lie in it,Continue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Cocooning”
Ordinary Wednesday: Waiting for fruit
The gap between Easter and Advent has seemed especially long this year. Perhaps this is because of the discipline I’ve undertaken of writing a weekly reflection throughout all of Ordinary Time, perhaps the slow drag of lockdown. But this year I have felt every week of Ordinary Time as though it should be over andContinue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Waiting for fruit”
Ordinary Wednesday: Do not grow weary
It is almost impossible to ever characterise the spirit of a time with one word, but if I were to characterise how the community around me feels this year, I would say, weary. We have not always been weary. In my city at least we started this year hopeful, and remained that way for someContinue reading “Ordinary Wednesday: Do not grow weary”
The Consolations of Writing 