One with the Spirit

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)

One with the Spirit

On that day a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.

Over the years some of us feel more identification with God. Like …  we aren’t so separate – the Creator and the created pray, sing, sleep and speak together. Spiritual director and our St. Louis buddy Clarence Heller, who posts a poem and picture each day, often writes about this.

The Gift

The Lord asked me,

“and when you come to pray,

what gift do you bring?”

And I smiled broadly because

I knew the answer.

I said, “Dear Jesus, I bring you

something more precious than gold,

more precious than frankincense or myrrh.

Even more precious than what my

special talents allow me to do,

like to play a drum.

My answer is that I bring the gift

that is most precious to both you and to me –

I bring you MYSELF.

I bring my whole body with its strengths and its limitations,

its triumphs and its wounds.

I bring you my heart and the deepest feelings there,

fear, joy, love, insecurity, inadequacy and empathy.

I bring you my mind with all its questions and insights,

and yes, distractions,

and thoughts that I judge to be holy or profane.

I bring you my breath, which is really our breath,

because you breathe life into me.

I bring you my senses and imagination

(use them please, won’t you,

to give me another taste of your love).

And I bring you my soul,

our soul where we are united forever,

where we are united now,

and during this prayer we focus our attention on that union.

And Jesus smiled at me,

totally tender, loving, and trusting as an infant,

and said, “Thank you my love,

each time you pray, it feels like Christmas to me.”

 

Jesus was born of Mary, baptized by John, crucified between two thieves and returned to life three days later, resurrected. And what of his children, like Clarence, or you, or me? We were born of our mothers too, many of us have been baptized. When I think of Jesus on the cross, I want to identify with him but really, I often identify with the good thief. And too frequently I identify with the bad thief, turning my face away from the only One who can save me.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

As for resurrection, I wait like the rest of us for the day of my passing, for the eternity awaiting us. In the meantime I will sing and pray with Jesus when I can, listening to the wind. Here is another of Clarence’s descriptions of his own oneness with God.

Waves

The words “I Love You”

wash over me and through me

and in me

so very gently

this must be of God

rhythmically they come

like breathing

and I cannot distinguish which one of us is speaking

God or me

it’s like we are both speaking through

the same medium of my consciousness

we speak the words to each other in union

and then the words shift to “Thank You”

and gratitude swells yet the gentleness remains

and then we go deeper into silence

becoming so purely gentle there are no words

then after a while “I Love You” returns

 

I do love You – I do.

 

It’s like the gentleness of the ocean lives within me.

I welcome You, oh God.

I surrender all to You.

Like the gentleness of the ocean lives within me. When peace like a river attendeth my way, though Satan should buffet, when Christ has regarded my helpless estate, it is well, it is well, with my soul.

There shall be no harm on all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.

(Both the music and story at each link are powerful and beautiful.)

(Isaiah 11, Psalm 72, Luke 10)

(posted at www.davesandel.net)

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