Categories
Poetry Scripture

Self-isolation

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him.

1 John 2:15-17 – Peterson, Eugene H.. The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language . The Navigators. Kindle Edition.
Who would have thought
when I wear a mask
I don't hide behind it
but instead flash a broad smile:
you are important to me

when I stay home
self-isolating
I reach out:
I care for you this much

Who would have thought
when I deny myself
bear the inconvenient cross before me
(the world behind me)
I follow my Maker
embracing the world
and you

Whoever would have thought 
or said
such a thing?

dw

Categories
Current Events

Here. No words.

I’m still breathing

(deep breaths, whenever possible)

Still thinking

(more thoughts than I can put into words)

Until I read a book

(The Cross and the Lynching Tree)

That arrests the flow of breath and thoughts

(my heart asserting it’s proper place)

Leaving only this thought in these words:

Lord, have mercy on me and my kind.

dw
Categories
the real self

The real self

I consider that the spiritual life is the life of [one’s] real self, the life of that interior self whose flame is so often allowed to be smothered under the ashes of anxiety and futile concern.

— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island

In these few words Merton has spelled out the scope of this blog:

  • the ‘real self’ God made us to be
  • how to find that self
  • how to fan it aflame amid the ashes of our lives

It boils down to what I have come to believe is the good news of the Gospel:

Following Jesus leads us from our fake selves to our real selves,

from living in our heads to living from our hearts,

from advancing our own agendas to receiving the gift of His,

from thirsting for the next transient thrill to drinking deeply of eternal life.

dw
  • What do you think of the notion that each of us has a ‘real self’ that God loves and nurtures?
  • To what extent do you feel in touch with your real self?
  • What are the ashes in your life that hinder your real self from emerging and thriving?

I encourage you to consider writing out your answers, either in a journal or in the comments section.

Grace and peace to you…

dw

p.s. this, too, is a refresh of an earlier post