The Silent Place - a prayer

I pray to be lifted in beauty,
to see the cool bright day before me
and take in the music of garden,
the distant murmur of the sea.

To remember the stars above my head
whenever I waken
and the moon slowly turning
around the planet turning too.

To remember the continents afloat
and the sands over the mountain
at the beck and call of waves.

To enjoy each breath I am afforded
and to smile more than I have, to smile in the eyes.

To smell the freshness of time in the morning
instead of feeling chased all my life.

To learn the meaning of rest in a given moment
and to give back generously.

I am seeking to throw off this old skin that
hinders movement.

May I be born all over again
and see everything for the first time?

May I be able to appreciate the
glorious life I've been offered?

May I take your hands and be led
in peace and quiet even though there
is a noise, a chaos all around me.

Let me be in the silent place
of knowing I am loved.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Bethany Legg Unsplash

Halfway to the Other Side

We have shifted sideways
where shadows lengthen the lawn
and we have parted with grieving.

The pathways through the garden
have been to us a maze of high hedges
manicured to perfection and yet,
too high to see over.

A cul-de-sac appears around every corner
and we have persevered so as to navigate
ourselves into other dead-ends.

A hole in the hedge reveals
a window through which to peer
and there is the house we have been
searching for.

A river runs under the house
and cools the feet after so long a walk.
Every room is lined with books
where words are threaded into the
quilt of lives lived halfway to the other side.

The trees still speak to us, as always.
But we have asked the gardener to kindly
open more doorways for us.
He told me, they have been there all along.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Thomas Gearty

A Mother Has a Mountain Inside of Her

A mother has a mountain inside of her,
but her head is above the clouds.

She must be prepared to feel the
rivers run from a collection of rain
into the sea at her feet.

A woman stretches out her clenched fist
to feel a sunbird in the pool of her hand, bathe
and then fly off.

It is important to know
when to hold onto the dirt and the root
and when to cleanse your hands in the fountain.

Birds swoop from her soul into her heart,
catching insects on summer days softened by rain.

Love is here beating upon her.

She has only to observe the threshold of her womb
to know how much love
has passed through her body.

She is a threshold of many doors
and will let the feelings find a way on
through.

Wind must usher forth the rest of it
with seeds finding a place to grow,
carrying only the burdens away.

The sky clears with high clouds cirrus
speaking of everything hopeful.

Inside of her is a place no noise can reach.

She is floating on a sea of courage
bearing her aloft.

Under water a whole world is thriving unseen,
but such seekers of silence dive into it
and come up themselves reborn,

ready for dry land once again.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Victor Carvalho Unsplash

Relinquish the Words

You may be walking into a forest

and smelling everything -

the cones crushed underfoot,

the sap rising.

You may be navigating stones

on the shore of countless waves.

You may be learning to re-love

your own heart again

and making time for a line of birds

on the mid-point of the horizon.

You may be wondering whatever 

happened to the grace of first wonder?

You may be checking yourself

for holes in your pockets.

But your body is surrounded by trees and water,

your mind is bowing down

and your spirit is in tune with all wings.

You may be wondering what you are doing

here after all these years?

You may be pausing to observe the hour.

Waves thrust your toes deep into sand

and you stumble upon the sky speaking

your language.

You are being birthed upon yourself

and learning to relinquish the words

for the meaning,

while feathers drift out of the sun

and settle at your feet.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Aaron Burden Unsplash

A Psalm of Noticing

Lord you are the author of the green leaf
and the turning of its colour.

You lay me down in the grasses
to take in the zest of the earth.

Contemplation is among us now
in the living of quiet things.

The brilliant shiny blue shell of a beetle
with contrasting orange body, whirs out of confinement.

Lord, you are my teacher from creation
leading me on paths worn well.

You also invite me on the upward ways
not many are inclined to take.

Noticing the blessings I see in nature
trains me to become more aware within.

Not everything has beauty, but once you touch
these things with your hands, it all gains perspective.

Lord, you are my abiding Person of mystery
and my greatest friend of all description.

You are always a place to come home to
and at the same time, my pilgrim adventure.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Micah Hallahan Unsplash

Silence Beckons to Us First Thing

Silence beckons to us first thing,
ascending in the pre-dawn mist
on the call of animals
that can sense day is coming.

We wait until we feel the invitation
to approach first light
with the prayers we have kept for the earth.

We drift each benediction into sky,
out of reach of gravity.

Our prayers spread out over the
circumnavigating planet
and enfold the people waiting
for answers from the firmament.

Our prayers swirl out of the Milky Way
and head on through stars into heavenly realms,
as incense carried through angel's feathers
and inhaled into God's very nostrils.

Each star pales and then we cannot see the stars
anymore, but that doesn't mean they are not there.

We come upon the sun as our planet turns
by degree into the movements of a day.

The moon hugs the earth with swivelled bliss,
and lingers over the horizon.

Our souls reach far beyond the confines of our bodies
into the places banquet feasts are thrown
for the ones that have gone ahead.

Spirit mentions each of us by name
in a language meant for the time
Babel crumbles into dust and we are able
to look at each other, and finally understand.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Fernando Pereira Unsplash

We Have Found a Good Home

Our hands lay palms upon knees
and we have rested.

Breath upon breath
and we have listened.

Hope leads to greater hope
and we have moved quietly.

It all comes to us gradually
that we belong.

We have searched
until we realise we are found.

We knock
and the door opens wide.

We have stopped looking
for meaning elsewhere.

We have found a good home
here.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Arno Smit

Stories of Trees

birch, elm, maple

trees have grown

across the continents of my life

eucalyptus, cedar, pine

transplanted sometimes

into new gardens

oak, poplar, succulent

resin oozes as
rings in the trunk tell time

wild cherry, mulberry, plum

roots silently delve,

while some trees die

weeping willow

many leaves in colder climes
turn colour and fall

but our deciduous branches

start to bud mid-winter

jacaranda, avocado, yellowwood 

and there are always saplings

in the undergrowth

Jenneth Graser

Photography Rob Mulally Unsplash

A Psalm of Holy Invitation

Lord you are my refuge of long ages past.
I run into your strength.

Only you are the one who is able
to search me out for enemies within.

You blow through the rooms of my inward home,
as I open the windows for your Spirit
to see me in my entirety.

You rout out my inner darkness.
You expose my foes and reveal each scheme.

You are able to bring my turmoil
into peace that goes beyond all my striving efforts
to achieve peace.

It is only in your righteousness that I can rest.
I will offer the gifts of my gratitude.

I will sing over the last touches of night
that are broken with the first bird's kiss.

I will sing over the morning thanks
that rises with the sun from my back
and warms my every inclination into praise.

Your holiness is an invitation
and the pure in heart will see God.

When you ripped the curtain of deep separation,
you cleansed my heart at once.

I will see your face everywhere,
when I look.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Natalie Collins Unsplash

Where Hearts Make Gardens

You have said, Let not haste be upon you
for I've gone ahead and I've got your back.

It is the herald who will run
with the revelation.

Waiting
will make room for living.

Longing
will make room for belonging.

There has been only a whisper of wisdom
to go on.

But a whisper is what called Elijah
to the mouth of the cave.

And each breath is what carries us
from day to day.

We will not wait for the eventuality of Heaven
or for all of our dreams to come true,
only to lose sight of the door.

Because Heaven has already been planted
where hearts make gardens.

And all it takes is for us to turn the key
and we're there.

Jenneth Graser

Photography by Benjamin Combs Unsplash

A Psalm of Mercy Relentless

Your mercy spreads like waves
relentless over the faintness of my soul.

How long, Oh Lord, is the question
that rises from deep within.

Because it is only while I am alive
that I can be the expression of
your love and light into the world.

Deliver me by the mercy that keeps on
coming.
Deliver me, by your mercy that alone
can save.

I receive no comfort from my futile efforts.
I cannot continue in groaning or tears.

All evil, flee, all darkness go!
For you, Oh Lord have risen upon me
and you have heard my every cry.

You receive and hear the prayers
I offer.

All darkness will turn back and return
to the place from which it comes.
It will turn back from the threshold of the door.

Your mercy will comfort me.
Your acceptance will soothe and re-create
my soul.

Your discipline will not consume me for
I am the Father's pleasure
and you have borne me into true delight.

Your enjoyment is upon me with
the soakings of mercy, filling, my every
broken place with your love.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Frank Park Unsplash

What It Is to Be Seen

It is not a simple matter of arriving,
but of listening into the times we have been given.

We have scrambled for truth between the lines
and those who have aged through selfless acts of kindness
are hidden in the cracks of the world.

It is all in the eyes, he said.
The eyes we have dared to face with our eyes,
until we know what it is to be seen.

Seen with the fire that blazed the suns into being
and the love that causes knees to fold
and the power that causes rocks to weep

and we have felt the tears well up from
within the places no words are spoken

and the spirit has a voice most clear

and all of the things that have fallen down
or away, pale before these ruptures of light,

because we are made from such love, to be loved.
Yes, we are made from such love, to be love.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Julia Caesar Unsplash

It Is Not So Hard to Go Within After All

It is not so hard to go within after all.

Open the gate of my garden home,

breathe on top of the morning chill, a song.

I feel you urge me towards the sanctuary.

It is more thorough than before, 

when I was so busy searching for what is lost.

The windows frame what is so familiar

and yet, it's all become a platform of the spectacular.

The shadows on the curtain were not there before

and now they are pulsing on the fabric cascade.

The jasmin that was closed in bud

is now a flush of white stars flung into the kitchen.

I was looking to move on, feel different,

get on with mid-life into whatever's next

and now I've been surprised into your face.

I've come to the grass under the knee,

I've come to the flowers in the grass

and all that lives under the grass.

I've come to the smallness of life

where your largeness is hidden.

Your face is growing with the roots

quietly interlaced and drinking

all the earth has to offer.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Aaron Burden Unsplash

When the Day Was Set to Unravel, Here You Are

The steam from the cup of tea 

has become a ministry of your presence.

When the day was set to unravel, here you are.

Rain collects across the valley in sheets 

and from my window I watch it come

into the garden from afar, blown in from the sea.

The expanse of your heart is infinitely large

in every breath waiting to be realised.

If it cannot be in the things I have wanted,

then it can be in what's in front of my eyes

waiting to be seen.

Awareness is: becoming a part 

of the miracles in the moment I am living.

Belonging in your love, opens me

to the beautiful genius of your creation

in a humble beetle folded in with the washing

crawling free.

Or a moth on the curtain, fuzzy creeping over

my fingers onto the windowsill.

I am grateful for the things that don't always

work the way I want them to.

They are teaching me into patience,

a patience that has not always been so forthcoming.

If I stop wanting so badly,

I will dip deeply into this moment and draw forth

an infinity of living waters.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Carli Keen of Unsplash

Where I Truly Belong

I wake up to the aliveness of you

You have made me a Child of your own

There isn't a moment of less than another

We are all equally Beloved.

You are not distant as I sometimes imagine

Hope is real in the embrace of your arms

When I feel tired and full of regret

You lift me higher than I've ever been.

I am coming back to first love

And to a love going deeper mature

I am coming to the door of your knocking

And opening wide for you to come in.

The music will always be singing within me

Worship to you is ingrained in my heart

You appear in disguise in my dreams of the night

I am not hidden or lost in your eyes.

You have a unique plan and purpose for our lives

We are not losing the path or the way

Because you said that your sheep know your voice

And you are the Way and the Truth and the Life.

I am coming back to awareness

Putting all else aside, getting rid of distractions

I am entering the holy of holies

And finding myself where I truly belong.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photo by Pablo Heimplatz on Unsplash

Back to the Basics

There were too many ways of trying to figure everything out.
So we succumbed to the beguiling sky.
We lay under the highness of it
and waited for the first stars.

It was going back to the basics that shifted things.
It was stopping and looking.

Let God be God, they said.
And when the weather turns upon the cloud
and the horizon thrusts forth with brazened colour
when the winds thrash the sand from the shore
and the ship does not stay true to the mark
when the harbour is too far a shelter,

then we lay down and feel the earth
beneath our hearts, growing
and we watch for the garden's secrets.

We climb into the trees
and make time for silly things
that we are always too busy to make time for.

We remember that all can change in a moment
and that we cannot hold the heavy stuff
for one more minute of the day.

God, you are God in me.  You are being God in me.
And I. I am letting it rest.
No more trying, I said that the last time.
And now I mean it.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Johannes Plenio Unsplash

We Have Launched Our Souls into the Sky

We have grown tired of searching for hope
where hope may not be found.

So we have launched our souls into the sky
burgeoning with life from where it comes.

Birds flock in bustling commotion and yet do not collide.
Working together is not so hard to come by.

We have launched our souls into the sky,
because hope originates from elsewhere.

We have taken to flight because being earthbound
is not for souls.

When we bring back what we get from your holy glorious face,
we will pour out the seeds of many flowers into the garden
where gardens wait for seeds to be sown

and then we will water and be faithful with the small things.

The small things are not so small
when you look another way.

Jenneth Graser

Photograph Bill Williams Unsplash

Humbled by Your Sovereign Ways

I worship you holder of the earth.

I seek to fill myself with the wisdom of your face.

You have humbled me by your sovereign ways.

There have been wars and unmentionables.

Job had his questions,

Yet you asked many more.

I worship you keeper of my trust.

I seek to depend not on my understanding 

By leaning into the invitations of your mystery.

You are Beloved as the day you spoke creation into being,

As the day of your birth,

Beloved as the day of your death.

I am surrounded by what is greater than any suffering,

Love that forgives what cannot be explained.

I worship you the source of all love,

Of all love, I praise.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser 

 

Space for Loving

You have always believed the best about me.
I have been cradled in faith from my birth.
Your emphasis is on what love can see.

Not on my own limitations
Or even on what I dream or envision.
When I learn to let go of what I want so badly,
My efforts drain out into your ability.

Comforter of broken passions,
Deliverer of sunken intention,
You have brought me into the space for loving.

You are weeding from me what hinders,
You sow in me what grows from faith alone.

It is better to believe and feel the blood flow through.
It is better to relinquish crusty longings.
It is better to throw off stale perspectives
To make room for what only love can do.

Jenneth Graser

The Time for Faith to Arise

I am a warrior on the winds of time.
I do not stay down when my back is covered
by the sound of a lion's roar.

A call has reached me from over the battlements of my heart,
Be still! I will fight for you!

When the pursuit intensifies with one thing after another,
I will stand up internally into strength not my own.
I will relearn what it is to do more than I am capable of.
I will overcome each fiery thought with ageless rivers of living water.

The angels are ministering very powerfully at this time
and desperate souls seek desperate measures.

A sword can only penetrate effectively when sharpened
on the words that belong to another world.

We are living in a temporary frame
and the future knows what can help us.

We will speak to ourselves with certainty.
We will not accept the lies of circumstance.
It is always time for faith to arise
and the time for faith to arise is now.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Unsplash Priscilla Du Preez

A Psalm of the Holy Graces of Life

Your ear is turned towards my voice
and deep within my inward parts,
you are listening.

Your whole intention is given
without reserve.
You have inclined yourself to
the spaces of my heart.

Your pathways are before me certain
as the moment I was born.
You have provided for the days between
my birth and death.

The evil risen up around the earth
must be told again, and we look to see it's true,
that there are more with us each time
than those that are with them.

All holy is the pearl of your words,
dripped dew from the stem of grace.
All beauty is your soul with no beginning.

You have spread yourself glory-expansive over me
and the protection of your favour
can not be removed.

All holy is your compassion
in the dirt and fallow places where we least expect to find you.
All holy is your weeping, over the losses we have faced.

No voice can match the matchless sound of yours.
All other words fall harmless to the ground.

In love I was born, in love I live, in love I will die
and wrapped in the shield of your graces, I will live again.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photo by Ray Hennessy on Unsplash

Psalm of the Night Watches

I observe the breathing of my heart
as I lie on my bed through the night watches.

In combination with the air you give,
I breathe also in other realms.

I am alive in every part of this marvellous body
you have created.

I take in every moment,
searching my heart in the silence.

What sacrifices do you desire?
It is these I offer up to you with both hands trusting.

When many voices all over the world
clamour for any amount of good,
it is the light of your face that will continue to flame.

It is a greater abundance that I will find
in my soul where you meet with me,
than in the wealth of many houses combined.

I am safe in this love and will tarry here.

My meditation becomes sleep.
My sleep becomes rest
as your dreams ripple across the face of the night.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

This Old Body Can Still Have New Dreams

You have blessed me with your face unexpected.
Every dream I ever had pales in comparison.
This old body can still have new dreams.
Even the ones I put off, because of the voices that say no,
I am pulling out, taking a look and thinking
It's time.

The ocean pulls over the shore with benedictions
of ozone, salt-lavish froth over the toes.
Nature is always pointing me in the right direction.

When I feel as though I've come down to the last
bit of oil and the last bit of flour to bake my bread,
I'm sure you would like to remind me of a day
your Mother asked and even though it wasn't
quite the right time, it became the right time
for miracles.

I want to find myself born again full of wonder.
Everything that looks same old, same old
can become brand spanking new.
I can look at the waves the way
a child can about to jump in and be rollicked
into everything happy under the sun.

There are child-like parts that haven't heard a noise
from me, waiting to be called up into play.
And I'm willing, to be rebirthed.
I'm willing to embrace another facet of you.

Jenneth Graser

Pulling Me up into Strength

You have stretched out your hands
towards me.

I am unable, yet you are not judging me.
Your eyes only searching.

I want to have you search me out.
Don't stop at the closed doors.

I am unable, to bring solutions to the table
and it is your voice in everything.

Inside out, the petals have turned fragrance
through the window,
where we should have looked in the garden
and the bees are seeking for hidden flowers
in the bathroom steam.

Outside in, I have turned the laundry of my soul
into the waters, wrung them out, twisted them dry
and hung them into the sky of high places.

The trees have been watching me.
They are neither waiting, nor hoping.
They are love in the soil, not needing to hope,
because love is the greatest.

It is you I find standing, when I fall down
and it is you
reaching out for me,
pulling me up into strength for this hard time.

Jenneth Graser

Great Shield

Great Lifter of my Head,
I have been answered from your mountain.

There have been too many questions
without answers.

The load has been heavy to carry
and I don't feel that easy yoke you promised.

It is time to shed the weight of many years.

You enwomb me in the circle of your great shield
of arms, a spilling of glory.

As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the Lord surrounds his people both now and forevermore.

I will enter the deliverance
that streams from your holiness.

You have quietened me into sleep that gives rest.
I awaken into grace without fear.

It is in your blessings that I will find refuge.

Amen.

Head For a New Way

We awake to a day
that feels like an invitation.

The sails of our dreams
have been folded so carefully
in a put-away chest.

We have given ourselves
so much advice
over the years

And had a hard time
keeping up with it.

Sails so perfectly preserved
can always come out for one day
when the weather is perfectly good.

The anchor has become
almost part of this turf.

Familiarity has layered the soul
with small expectation.

And now a morning that asks for more?

A boat tethered to the stump
must remember what it feels like
to surge over the swells on fullness of sail
and head for a new way.

We are asked for more than we have been
and disappointment can not have the final say.

We are willing to pull out the sails,
do what needs to be done
for what it is that calls us.

Jenneth Graser

Love is Never Wasted

We have opened our hands
to let go of the final precious offerings.

There is nothing left in our control.
Now the pallette is empty
for a deposit of your colour.
Now the parchment has been erased
for the readiness of your pen.

Our relationships have been
relinquished on your threshold.

Where we have been unable
to make things right,
our forgiveness may be the gift
that reconciles, or your unseen hands
may sculpt a new possibility.

Letting go may be a kite of dreams
that sets free the seeds of grace,
for in another realm we may wait to truly know
each other once again.

How many seeds are planted in love
only to bear fruit in eternity?

As many seeds we may sow
and never see the harvest this side,
may be planted in eternal realms
to become fruit for the lips of God.

Love is never wasted
and will always cause growth
hidden in our everlasting souls,
in our physical realm made manifest,
or in the Spirit, as yet unfelt, we may never know.

But we can rest in the knowledge
of love that always bears the fruits of peace
and takes what is stretched out,
our palms open as wings,
finally able to feel space enough
to take to the sky,

unencumbered by the weight of
trying to bear matters
that belong in the care of God alone.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Kyle Szegedi

May We Rise

May we rise
As eagles who lean on thermals.

May we rise into the music,
Into the sky and higher.

May we rise
Above the turbulent waters of many conflicts,
Above the need to figure it all out.

May we rise above the thirsty earth,
Above the insatiable need for more
And then higher.

May we rise above the past, present, future
And breathe through timeless places.

May we rise into the great company
Of witnesses, all welcoming.

May we rise into the essence of prayer
And unconditional being.

May we rise into the fragrance of worship
Where every note creates a new possibility.

May we rise into Ascension,
May we rise in resurrection.

And there let us be taken
On the thermals of many praises
Where only higher we may find ourselves
At one with all Love is.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Amonn Maguire

A Tree Psalm

I am a tree deepening my roots
into the earth.

Every word of your Spirit is encircling my heart
with each ring in the trunk of the passing of years,
making your word a part of me.

I am a tree beside the river
flowing under my leaves.

I listen for the wisdom that daily comes
on the breath of your Spirit
and meditate day and night
on the wisdom you give.

I am a tree delighting in life
with the sun through my leaves.

I am a green cathedral of stained-glass
windows of healing leaves and
fruit that comes in season.

I am a tree that grows without striving
as a tree must grow,
and I lift my branches every day to Heaven
and I worship the One who made me.

Every day my roots delve deeper.

Amen.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Hatham Al Shabibi

The Waters of the Year

May my days be baptised in love.

I anchored myself in your harbour
and you gave me sails hand woven
to navigate the waters of the year.

You did not promise me absolutes,
that I would know the outcome
before the day I set sail, no.

You promised me your presence
at the helm.

You didn't tell me where we would
be headed,
but you have the map and are open
to suggestions.

There is a way to go but many possible
options on how to get there
and you taught me to enjoy the salty air,
watch for seagulls and how life
surprises you on any given day.

We have learned to go slow
when slow is required
and to listen for the weather.

We have learned to respect the elements
that are greater
and find ourselves in prayer.

All silent with you on deck
going with the swell,
lying on our backs and counting things celestial,
waiting for nothing,
because everything we need is here.

May my days be baptised in love.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Unsplash - Armando Castillejos

Listen to The Voyage by Amanda Cook

Connection

The prayer for this day is for connection.
To know how much you are loved
and to have no desire for riches.

To feel the pleasure of the skin you are in
and to not count your sins against yourself.

To hold no regret against others
and to live slowly in the beauty around you.

To let your loved ones love you
and to love them without strings attached.

To grow love like gardens
and share the flowers and herbs, vegetables and fruits.

To clear your home of unnecessary clutter
so that others may benefit from what you give away.

To take a risk to trust another soul
when your soul has grown tired of trusting.

To plan something new, that you have never done,
that is not unobtainable for you.

To lay down the plentiful distractions
and listen to the call of your heart

and to take a dancing step in the direction,
a small dancing step in the direction of a dream.

It is a simple thing to connect with God
with God who abides within.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Joshua Earle - Unsplash

As a Mother Comforts

I woke up in the forest
and there she was asleep in your lap,
pine resin warming the air.

The bark of every tree defined the moment
as the texture of all that falls to sleep
in the sun.

The stream did not speak of the trials
that were to come.

The light had nothing to say about
how children can be in your lap
under the trees one moment and
in many other places
traveling for the light they have lost
the next.

We can remember as if there.

It is good to feel yourself a child
in the bosom of your mother, held.

It is good to remember the arms around
and the lap that comforts.

It is good to hear the melodies that
sing over your head into sleep.

God is the Mother of our past.
God is the Mother of our future.
And here God is, in all that aches under the sun,
And here we are, at rest.

Jenneth Graser

"As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted..." Isaiah 66:13

Mother Holding Child, Platinum print, circa 1915 [Photo from the Rodger Kingston Collection]

Flow

Leaves have trembled
across my field of vision,
the shadows too. Is it light or dark
or a combination?

I have grown to love the shadows.
I wouldn't have it any other way.

A leaf is only ready to drop
off the tree when new seasons
call.
And then there is nothing to be done
but fall,
accept.

The water can only flow
when the rains come.
Then the debris that has collected
at the mouth, will have no choice
but to be taken by the surge,
will have no choice
but to move
out of the way.

I am in love with rivers at this time of year.
You don't have to try in any way,
the water tells the story.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Jenneth Graser (Jubilee Creek, Knysna)

The Verge of Light

Winds of change have swirled the waters
into disarray.
Streams are flowing over the mountain hewn rock
into a time of change.

You have appeared to us in our dreams
through different guises.
You have been calling for a very long time
on the waters of disarray.

Everything is the same

and yet everything isn't.

The cross that drove the nails of our shame
into your hands must be looked at
before we can be on the threshold of wonder
at an empty tomb.

When we stand there on the brightness of angels
we will hear the words we have been so longing to hear.

We have made peace with the things that have haunted our days
and now we are ready for new things.

We hail you our Son, under the darkest part of the night,
on the verge of light coming.

Creation will awaken us with the news of resurrection.

King of all kings
Prince of Peace, all hail, all hail!
Bright Morning Star
Risen Lamb, all hail, all hail!

Jenneth Graser

Artist - Arthur Hughes

A Time of Resurrection

We have set aside our treasures
and unearthed the familiar
of your voice on the pages of the Gospels
to find you in the flesh as the Son of God.

Every parable seems written with a message
reserved for our ears
to hear.

We have turned off the bright lights
and walked out of consumer packages
promising so much contentment.

We have taken in so much information
and been led to so many sources,
but we are choosing silence.

We are choosing the source of all sources
and learning to forget some new-fangled ways,
so that we can rediscover our foundation.

So that we can see the faces
waiting for our eyes.

We have held your hand on the Via Dolorosa
and cried with you and asked to bear your cross.
And you have carried our tears with each heavy load
into a time of resurrection.

Jenneth Graser

The Prayer of Observation

In the morning of our contemplation

we watch for the pale sky

on nothing but a seamless now.

We lose ourselves in the prayers of observation

where hibiscus petals unfurl nectar havens

waiting for bees,

and every blade of grass is felt under our feet.

The early sun is drawing us higher

where spirits merge with yours.

Lying on our backs we feel the earth 

beneath,

but it is the sky drawing pictures of birds

whirling into breakfast,

it is the clouds with no hurry

that hold our attention.

And it is ourselves we find no longer jaded

created on a morning in Eden

so many years ago, breathed from clay

into life.

Jenneth Graser

The Love of the Godhead

The Trinity ever before me
The Blessed Trinity hand in hand
A perfect circle around me
Deep in the centre of love.

The Father around me
The Son around me
The Spirit around me
Three in One around me.

The Godhead at my back
A shield in my left hand
A sword in my right hand
The Mighty Three undergirding me.

Christ at my side, ever beside me
Spirit in my breath, ever inside me
Father at one with my living spirit.

The blessings of the Father on my head
The blessings of the Spirit on my spirit
The blessings of Christ on my heart, mind and soul.

The love of the Godhead on me
The mighty tide of love
Living water rushing through me
The mighty tide of love
The love of the Godhead on me.

Jenneth Graser
(In honour of St Patrick's Day)

Listen to Encircling by Iona

You Will Fill This Temple

You have drawn us out of the room into the house,
so that we may see with fresh eyes
what we have been storing.

We have opened the windows,
so that the freshness of air
may find its way into every place.

You have called to us through our devotions,
through the mystery of art and song,
we have listened for you in each scripture.

We have come to the throne of grace,
ever spacious and welcoming,
with the contents of our temple, offered.

We have invited your Spirit into every place
and have opened the realms of our mind
to your breath.

These are the days of Lent
and we have learned that it bears no fruit
to be too hard on ourselves.

So we have brought ourselves to you
in humble self reflection and glorious adoration
and you will fill this temple anew.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Gaby Stein

Listen to You're Gonna Be Okay by Jenn Johnson

The Turning of Lenten Days

Be closer to me now dear Lord,

than at any other time.

If I pour the oils of frankincense and myrrh 

over my heart,

and step into the water living,

I will hear the questions asked

for the turning of Lenten days.

What will you relinquish?

What will you receive?

Do we fast from unforgiveness

when we see your blood on the stones 

of the stations of the cross,

blood that has paid?

Lord, I have become a listener

to every question you may ask.

I do not watch from the sidelines,

but make myself available to you.

I do not know all of the answers, yes.

But it is enough to travel the road of Lent

side by side,

and listen to each other

as those in love do.

Jenneth Graser

Lean into the Prayer That Holds Us

Silent on the still ways of wandering,
hope in the new breath that comes.

Pressed into the moments that lie before us,
we are bearing no heavy burdens today.

There are things going on everywhere we look,
much ado about so much.

The lines on our brow are a textured map
of deep thoughts, measured.

We have lifted up our hands like autumn leaves.
We have turned golden, red, and brown
under the pressure of elements that keep coming.

We are letting the things we know, drift outwards,
we are allowing our spirit to be felt and sown.

There is a kingdom within you have said
and the children inherit.

Earthly treasure cannot come close in comparison
to what is already in the field.

Would we be willing to sell all things for
such a fine pearl?

We would be willing to come if we saw you
on the horizon, beckoning.

But you have called to us from within, not far off.

It is time to rest into the kingdom you have placed here.
It is time to find the compassion that grows.
It is time to lean into the prayer that holds us.

It is the right time for such things
to bear us into your inner court.

We are the treasure you have been
waiting for.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Petra

Listen to Beautiful Jesus by Melissa Helser

A Very New Time

My Dear

You are on the verge of a very new time
even though the mist is still thick on the fields.

As you notice the dew on leaves
and the fragrance of trodden earth,
I am there in the places you feel the most lack,
working.

My purposes are to build you up in the weakness
you face, especially in the places that feel impossible.
I am there, present.

In your heart's cry and needs, with your family and friends,
every relationship that bears down on your shoulders -
I am there, working.

You are on the verge of a very new time
and I have been restoring the history of your life.

In every small act of forgiveness, I am there.
You are not as far off as you feel,
in fact, the radiance of my face beholds you.

My love is as real as it was when you first knew me.

I am there,
I AM.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Benjamin Balazs  

Listen to Julie True- I Need You Lord, Meet Me Here

To Know You Again

We were walking alongside thunder
before the first drops thump the earth.

There was the smell of waiting for things to happen
thick on the air, heavy on a sigh of prayers.

We were remembering what it is to be present
to each other.

The first time we gave our life over,
read your holy words,
heard your voice in unexpected ways,
felt your touch from within...

There have been times of forgetfulness.

Tears have been stored for another time
when tears will be more convenient.

But you have called us into the storm
where the wind whips through our cavernous
longing for you to meet with us in new ways.

The lightning illuminates the profile of your face,
but there is no wisdom forthcoming, no vision
or dream in the night to explain all things.

Only your hand holding my hand
in such a way, that I know with a grip like yours
I'm going to be held like this forever.

Let us journey into the rain
and feel the old things melt away,
making way for me to know you again.

Jenneth Graser

Listen to Audrey Assad: I Wonder As I Wander/ How Can I Keep From Singing featuring Sarah Kroger

Your Breath on the Wind

You have beckoned us with no haste
to take off our shoes for what is holy.

We have felt the soil of compassion
between our toes squelching with readiness
for what must be planted.

Change has come to us on an olive branch
in the mouth of a dove,
when we finally opened the window.

The outer case of our old ways of doing
has peeled slowly into revelation.

All butterflies at first look bedraggled,
and messy lumps of wings take time.

Leaving the things we found comfortable
and predictable,
we wait for the colours of a broader spectrum.

But we also stopped searching for silver linings
when we learned to appreciate thunderstorm grey.

There were butterflies under the rain
coming up into the sky
and being taken
wherever the wind was going.

We forget to take control
when we see your breath on the wind.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - David Mark

Listen to Gravity - Jenn Johnson

Still Small Whispers

The simple things have grounded me with praise.

I was reminded to lift my eyes to the hills
when there were mountains
of everything out of my control.

After all where does the governance of matters reside
but between your shoulders resting.

We have tried to figure it all out.
We have tried to put two and two together.
But things have not been adding up
to our satisfaction.

Underneath are the arms that carry
the weight of all things heavy.

We have been carried from underneath
and lifted to the high places.

At rest between your shoulders
where Benjamin received his blessings.

We abide in the still small whispers.

Beloved I am your home
Come back to the sweet place of trust
In the last days the love of most will grow cold
But you will remember first love

You will remember first love.

Jenneth Graser

Listen to Looking For A Savior (feat. Will Reagan)

You Are Known Child

You are known Child.

Crunching the snow
where the frost bites your nose.

All of last night's falling, covers the mud-slush of
yesterday's mistakes.

You are loved Child.

Each day piled up into ice on the lake
where holes are dug by the fishermen searching for
a catch of comfort on bitter days.

You are remembered Child.

There is a lot of forget around
when too much information presses you into
too many invitations demanding your attention.

The snow will bring you back to your childself.

Your thoughts are noted Child.

Each of your prayers is a personal
relationship when boots are taken off around
a log fire cracking the room into warmth

and you thaw into simplicity
with everything that really matters.

Jenneth Graser

Photography David Mark

The Sound of Amen - this newly released collection of 100 poems for download at Noisetrade is birthed out of a one year pilgrimage with God through difficulty, loss, the end of seasons and the beginning of new things. Discover an adventure into the deep places of your listening heart.

The Sound of Forgiveness

What does forgiveness sound like?
When people's hearts are willing
to see each other with new eyes.
What does reconnection feel like?
Or a breaking down of walls?

A situation may feel lost,
but when we fall upon the cross
"It is finished" is what we hear.

Animosity - It is finished.
Despair, death - It is finished.
Separation - It is finished.
Judgement with no mercy - It is finished.

We do not need a list of laws
to motivate us.

Your gracious Spirit meets
us courageous
from every temptation Jesus suffered
and overcame.

We are met with "It is finished".

No more are we to live under
the yoke of guilt ploughing
through the soil of no going back.

We can turn around and face
every unmentionable
only because of these three words
:
It is finished.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Frank Becker

The Sound of Amen - this newly released collection of 100 poems for download at Noisetrade is birthed out of a one year pilgrimage with God through difficulty, loss, the end of seasons and the beginning of new things. Discover an adventure into the deep places of your listening heart.

Reach into the Side

Ashes strewn to the ocean
have returned to us as birds.

Notes are tied to these messengers
for the ones who have waited too long.

You felt forgotten amongst the heavy agenda
of Heaven's timetables.

Intercessions floating up to the throne
didn't seem to bear your particular fragrance.

But God has written down something for you
in his own hand.

Communion is once again opening
with lines that are clear.

You've been blessed with the
blessings of fumbling Thomas.

We too, have felt the doubt and the pain.

We too, can reach into the side of Christ
and come away with resurrections of faith

on wounds and scars, transformed.

Jenneth Graser

The Sound of Amen - this newly released collection of 100 poems for download at Noisetrade is birthed out of a one year pilgrimage with God through difficulty, loss, the end of seasons and the beginning of new things. Discover an adventure into the deep places of your listening heart. 

Crossing over Seasons

We have looked over the resolutions
of former years.

We have contemplated the possibility
of accomplishment.

Crossing over seasons, we hear a hum of bees
on the nectar of our dreams.

Every flower in the garden has potential
buds for the people,
each tree, potential fruit.

But what we try so hard to achieve
with our goals cannot reach you now.
It is into the heart you are seeking.

You ask me questions with your eyes
that only I can answer.
Time is sown into the areas we deem worthy.
What do you deem worthy?

What are we willing to set aside
to look with you into our hearts
and really see, as though for the first time?

We are willing to bravely look
with the courage your eyes impart.

We are willing to find the kingdom
you have placed within.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Myriams-Fotos