Prayer is like watching for the King Fisher

Prayer is like watching for

The kingfisher. All you can do is

Be there where he is like to appear, and

Wait.

Often nothing much happens;

There is space, silence and

Expectancy.

No visible signs, only the

Knowledge that he’s been there

And may come again.

Seeing or not seeing cease to matter,

You have been prepared.

But when you’ve almost stopped

Expecting it, a flash of brightness

Gives encouragement.

- Ann Lewin

Journey of a Lifetime - Paula Finn

"You're on the journey of a lifetime...

A journey no one else will travel and no
one else can judge - a path of happiness
and hurt, where the challenges are great
and the rewards even greater...

You're on a journey where each experience
will teach you something valuable and you
can't get lost, for you already know the
way by heart.

You're on a journey that is universal
yet uniquely personal, and profound yet
astonishingly simple - where sometimes
you will stumble and other times you
will soar. You'll learn that even at your
darkest point, you can find a light - if you
look for it. at the most difficult crossroad,
you'll have an answer - if you listen for
it. Friends and family will accompany you
part of the way, and you'll walk the rest
by yourself... but you will never be alone.

Travel at your own pace. There'll be time
enough to learn all you need to know and
go as far as you're meant to go. Travel
light. Letting go of extra baggage will keep
your arms open and your heart free to
fully embrace the gifts of the moment.

You may not always know exactly where
you're headed, but if you follow the desires
of your heart, the integrity of your
conscience, and the wisdom of your soul...
then each step you take will lead you to
discover more of who you really are, and it
will be a step in the right direction on the
journey of a lifetime"

A Woman's Psalm (139) - Emily Nabholz SCN

You have searched me and know me.

I am a woman...on a journey through life
I am searching for my innermost self to claim who I am as a woman
I am going beyond reflection
I am a woman on an inner search

This inner search leads me to stop running away from you
      - to trust your ever abiding presence
      - to trust your inner workings in me as a woman

I am a woman full of light and shadows
        full of love and fear
        full of hope and despair
But you are there to lead me - to help me
You are the light of my life
I could ask the darkness to hide me
You call me out of darkness
Darkness and light are all the same to you
You accept me just as I am
A woman of light and shadows; love, fear; hope and despair

As I look around and remember your goodness to me my heart is glad
As a woman, I ever seek you in all your ways

You created every part of me
You put me together in my mother’s womb, 
In the womb of life, I am nurtured and nourished, protected and loved
I praise you for the gift of life - for the gift of being woman

I am a woman of remembering, I am a woman of reflection
I realize the days you give me are all recorded in your book
Your thoughts are so above my thoughts, your knowledge of me is too deep 
It is beyond my understanding

Examine me, O Lord, and know me through and through
Let me be naked and open before you, for you are my God
I am a woman in awe and praise of you
Teach me to pray
Pray within me, my Lord and my God

Merton's Prayer

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it. Therefore I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

— Thomas Merton from Thoughts In Solitude

The least of me

"What if the “least of these” that Jesus talks about turns out to be part of our own selves? The parts of ourselves that are sick and homeless and hungry and thirsty and naked.

We are called to love ourselves in our entirety: to honour every part of ourselves — not just our strengths but our manifold weaknesses. Even our anger and despair and doubt.

We are called to accept all in ourselves that we have abandoned and hidden or denied or undervalued, to drop the pretence and posturing we adopt to make ourselves acceptable, to reconcile our inner conflict and division against ourselves, judging ourselves harshly and badly, neglecting ourselves — to love ourselves as we are loved by God.

We are called to face our true centre, to resolve to live out of the selves that have been loved since the foundation of the world.

We are called, too, to love one other as we love ourselves. Indeed, how we love ourselves will determine how well we can love the other: we are all made in the image of God.

So who do we find most difficult to love? Aren’t they people who remind us of the parts of ourselves we fear or dislike?  We are called to love each other in our entirety. Even the parts, especially the
parts, we would prefer to ignore, deny or overlook. We are called to value each other equally. And we are called to love even those we make the outsider, who represent the things that we have banished."
-Sheena McMain

Edwina Gately's Balance

So much struggling –

realizing that I need a balance

between reaching out and reaching in.

I need to do some things just for me,

like paint and play

and read and build sandcastles.

I need to stop for a long time

to think about that.

Where did I miss it? Lose it?

For joy is the centre of ministry.

Joy should precede ministry,

nurture it and fulfil it.

But I am so intense about ministry,

and take it so solemnly

(as if I were responsible for it)

that I become weighed down,

by its ups and downs,

its disappointments and its failures.

I suffocate joy with

seriousness …

I imagine everything depends on me –

when everything is God’s business,

and God has already taken care of

all her creation

and all her people.

We are only to talk with each other

be with each other,

love each other,

God’s is the healing, the growing, and the fulfilling.

When I lose perspective

and imagine everything,

(or most things)

revolving around myself,

I make myself

a little god,

and lose my joy.

For I was never made

to be a little god – only

to be loved

by the Great God.

Perhaps I am too busy

trying to love other people

instead of learning to love myself.

When I can do that

I might begin to understand

how great God’s love is.

When I go through

darkness, heaviness and anxiety,

it is God’s invitation

for me to stop

looking outwards

and start

looking inwards.

And be loving and gentle

with myself.

I am called to minister

for my own joy.

When my joy diminishes,

so does my ministry.

When I have fun and

enjoy myself

God does.

Then I am most like God –

Who is joy!

Awaken Me -Joyce Rupp

Risen One,
come, meet me
in the garden of my life.

Lure me into elation.
Revive my silent hope.
Coax my dormant dreams.
Raise up my neglected gratitude.
Entice my tired enthusiasm.
Give life to my faltering relationships.
Roll back the stone of my indifference.
Unwrap the deadness in my spiritual life.
Impart heartiness in my work.

Risen One,
send me forth as a disciple of your unwavering love,
a messenger
of your unlimited joy.

Resurrected One,
may I become
ever more convinced
that your presence lives on,
and on, and on,
and on.

Awaken me!
Awaken me!

(from Out of the Ordinary)