A Blessing for Parents

I bless you with wisdom beyond time
and discernment from elsewhere, heavenly.

I bless you with the might of adventurous belief
and grace intentional as the falls of Niagara.

I bless you with the burden of spent wishes
to slide off your shoulders finally

and for the love that is greater
to be greater for you than remorse.

I bless you with friends who understand
and people not afraid to wear hearts,

who can take off the masks of perfection
and share the messy beauty of becoming.

I bless you to be free of the stale taste of guilt
and to walk into the pure springs of Jordan.

I bless the old regret of all you should have done
to pack bags and exit the door.

I bless you to dream with wild imagination
and allow restriction to be momentarily lost,

to step in every puddle and jump the waves
to see with eyes born upon summer and sun.

I bless you with a love for questions
that don't need to have answers,

for the strength of angels to give you
a way to move into the conflict brave.

I bless you with courage to speak into what hides
so that the glory underneath may surface.

I bless you with the starting point of words
when everything cries out, enough.

I bless you to begin again,
and to know that there are no dead ends.

I bless you with the courage to embrace your self
as the intrepid parent you are.

I bless you to share the incredible wonder
of hearts connecting again and again.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Matt Hoffman Unsplash

A Blessing for Hope

I bless you with a slate wiped completely clean
and a brand new box of coloured chalk, ready.

I bless you with the silver lining
of every cloud after the storm slows into rain.

I bless you with a breeze on stifling days
to swirl around your thoughts, lifted.

I bless your boat to be carried
by the broadest rivers of purpose.

I bless the dead bones long lying,
to resurrect with revolutionary dreams.

I bless the music latent in your body
to be expressed through your instrument of choice.

I bless your feet to feel grounded
and your wings to flex amply wide out.

I bless you to grieve all of your losses
on the swell and crest of each wave.

I bless your voice to have a place of belonging,
for you to turn the key and open the door.

I bless what is waiting around the corner
to give you a glimpse of fresh knowing.

I bless the wells of inspiration
to be drawn from in bountiful measure,

and the windows to be thrown open
for the light and air to get in,

for the folds and wrinkles to be soothed
and the past to never dictate the future,

for a lullaby and melody to rest upon
your curtain, and cross the threshold into sleep.

I bless your creative insights
and your stories to be told.

I bless you to believe in yourself,
even when others have lost faith.

I bless your failures to become your friends
and a perspective of truth, your great worth.

I bless you with a multiplication of promises
to be dear to you as treasure once lost, now found.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Leon Biss Unsplash

A Blessing for the Weary

I bless you with a spirit born upon spring

opening into the delight of a thousand buds

intent on sap and light.

I bless you with eyes that open on waking,

lapsing into dreams that take you

rippling back and forth from Heaven to earth.

I bless you with the memory of your

most beautiful days with no regret to accompany,

the refrains of your most favourite songs.

I bless you with a yes for all your no's

and a wide open expanse breaking out

inside of your soul.

I bless you with a hurling of old stale deeds

into the sea of no beginning, no end

and the forgetting of what is wrong.

I bless you with the small things 

revealing to you great mysteries,

a spiralling mathematical shell.

I bless you to once again feel your inspiration

a tide determined, with the determination

of dawn and the colours of earth turning into the sun.

I bless you with sleep uninterrupted,

with doubts appeased and hope beating with the blood

through every one of your arteries and veins.

I bless you to be able to see gratitude

and feel it on every breath, peel off every mask,

every label and step out in your brand-new skin, astonished.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Linus Nylund Unsplash

Together is a better way to travel

I am open to become,
the petals of my soul are responsive.

I will walk one step at a time
when the road calls for gentle progress.

Yes, I will put one foot in front
of the other, when the road is dim.

I am prepared to be wrong
and discover something I didn't know
about you or me.

Together is a better way to travel.

I am becoming, a field of many
flowers, instead of one particular bloom.

The fragrance is best when untampered
by human hands

and left to seed, carrying the memory
of the first flowers that showed up
on the rolling hills of Eden.

The ancient varieties don't always look
as well put together,
but their imperfection
is what makes them so lovely.

We will enjoy our own uniqueness
and will come upon a deeper sense
of you and me.

When we learn to move, at a quiet pace
until it is time to leap courageous.

Time ages our long ago plans
and we come upon a slow discovery
of everything new that is growing between us,
beautiful.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Nathan Jefferis Unsplash

Mercy Seat

Heaven opens above our heads
on the shouts of all who throw stones.

If we could suspend the moment
and partner with the cries of Stephen,

we too would be able to see
the Lamb of God on the mercy seat.

And the scales would fall away
from all of our eyes,

the stones would drop and knees,
the knees would bow.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Mike's Photos Pexels

A Blessing for One Who Has Nothing Left to Give

There is a blessing poured upon the head
of one who has nothing left to give.

The blessing from above the heights
oozes over the hair,

cascade-drips over the face,
the forehead glistens with it.

What is given to the one who has nothing,
who stands with empty heart, empty hands, empty voice

is a blessing of more than what can be given
to one who stands with hands
grandly occupied.

And when the one who is bereft of kindness
stands under the heights of kindness lavished,

the blessing drenches, slowly gives of itself
generous.

The anointed one drips
with the blessing given to the one who has nothing
left to give,

who has come to stand in the gift and
has learned to receive the gift

that turns all of those nothings
into something
that can begin
again.

Jenneth Graser

Photograph David Hofmann Unsplash

Waking Up

I find you under crushed weeds lining the path
of our morning rambles.

Someone got here first and strew them out of the way,
pulled up by the roots.

How many things are you pulling up by the root
to reveal the turned over loam in us?

The sun briskly challenges the mountain,
which cannot hold back the pure poured-out light

generously misting the dew amongst reeds,
all standing like champions and witnesses.

I am being attended by the chorus of rooster,
a playful enterprise of birds so unafraid.

My prayers tumble out of my mouth
into the cracks of the valley, exposing lies for lies,
truth for truth.

We can walk here and stop being fearful of
what could be lurking in every unknown future.

We can run here and feel what it is to
have the blood surge through our muscles,

reminding us that we are a body too,
a temple called into the holy of a body-made prayer.

First thing in the morning, when the sun is bursting
at its seams with enthusiasm and there is

so much breath puffing out like clouds
all over the trails, and the day is waking, waking,
waking up all over the place.

I am waking up too.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Ban Yido Unsplash

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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. 

Gift of Wonder

In the fledgling of this day
a gift of wonder is waiting.

Where a branch meets the welcoming sky,
leaves break the brightening palette with green.

A bird not yet grown
shows newly adult feathers peeking through
the down in shimmers of emerald and red.

A curtaining of vine shadows lace the walls
and family faces look like strangers wanting to be known.

Every smile is not taken for granted
where laughter is medicine
and we open this precious gift
that costs us nothing.

We come upon it as grace,
while imagination flickers with picture upon picture
of how the world could be.

We find ourselves praying into dark places
with hopes that are longing for more.

Wonder promises us that miracles
are here to stay.

Through every impossible dark,
there is one ray of light to point the way.

So we pick up the fractured pieces
as Spirit somehow makes sense of it all
in the way only Spirit can,

beyond reasoning or understanding
peace combines with wonder
as healing melts through the sun.

Jenneth Graser

Photography Silvia Stödter

Tiny Seeds

He moistened the hem of her robe,
led her by both hands.

The green of the forest was under her feet,
now there is only water.

The fire ate up most of the mountains,
with a sound of seeds popping.

She used excuses by the dozen, offered
to herself and to others.

By late October, tendrils appeared
and her fears were dealt with in dreams.

Ecclesiastes called for seasons of planting,
with a time to weep and a time to laugh.

The grass had a chance once again, as
blackened earth and charred roots gave way.

The soles of her feet were too used to stones.
She came alone from the desert to the trees calling.

Her tiny seeds have sprouted
in the hands of her Lover.

Jenneth Graser

"Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
when the dust becomes hard
and the clods of earth stick together?"

Job 38:37-38

Artist - Arun Prem