The Soul Behind My Sin
Can you see the soul behind my sin?
Will you see what God sees, deep within?
Can you love the soul you see
behind the mask that I call Me?
Will you love what I can’t love,
lift it to the throne of God?
Can you see the soul I’m meant to be?
You cannot tell me who I am, and I cannot tell you who you are. If you do not know your own identity, who is going to identify you? Others can give you a name or a number, but they can never tell you who you really are. That is something you yourself can only discover from within.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
The life of the spirit, by integrating us in the real order established by God, puts us in the fullest possible contact with reality – not as we imagine it, but as it really is.
— Thomas Merton, No Man Is an Island
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and is own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.
— John 1:1-12, NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha
Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.”
Genesis 1:3-4, NRSV Bible with the Apocrypha
Welcome to the very first post on becoming flame. As you may have already read on the About page, my aim is to share what I hope will encourage us all in our journeys to become who God means us to be, fully alive, “all flame”.
I encourage all visitors to use comments for discussion, sharing, community building. Do remember though: this site is open to the public – anything you share will be out there for all to see. (If you decide you’d like one of your comments removed, just let me know through the Contact page and I’ll remove it as soon as I can.) I reserve the right to remove comments I feel are not appropriate.
I think that covers the logistics. I hope you find becoming flame helpful – grace and peace to you on the journey.
dw
photo by dw
becoming flame 