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

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

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

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)

The Moment of Meeting

Is it enough to choose to step upon the waters
of the crystal sea encircling your throne?

Is it enough to present myself to you as I am,
and reach for your outstretched hands?

Yes, to look at you and feel the universe
pivot around the grace of encounter.

To feel everything else orbit about
your magnetic invitation.

To be swirled on your foundations
and find my restless thoughts swung into oblivion.

It is enough to be myself with you here
and yourself with me here, where eyes do the talking.

To feel the acceptance you always show me,
as I've strayed on the rims of truth.

I will find you on the sea of glass
in the breath of us waiting.

We will hold this moment of meeting
and abide, where the rest falls away.

Jenneth Graser