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

Resting Seat

There are many things that could be said,
many that could be done.

Mountains to climb, up to the very top,
lists of the bucket kind.

A feeling of to-do lingers at the fringes of the day
as we drop exhausted into bed.

And Lord you are calling us,
you are calling us still...

Come my Beloved,
into a time outside of time.

Come to the resting seat in the garden
of my habitation.

There are no nagging voices or things to be done.

Here, there is presence that guides
everything you do on earth.

Listen to my voice, put on the music, lay aside your rushing.

Move into the pace of ease where my Spirit speaks
strength into your frame.

And whatever you need to face,
we will do it together.

Jenneth Graser

"My lover is mine, and I am his.
Nightly he strolls in our garden,
Delighting in the flowers
until dawn breathes its light and night slips away."

Song of Songs 2:16 MSG

Photography - Jenneth Graser

Listen to Ruth Fazal - instrumental violin album - Songs from the River 2

The Cloud of Unknowing

The Cloud of Unknowing was written anonymously by a 14th century author, for monks.  But this Mom is benefitting alongside of many other pilgrims in prayer. 

I take hold of that cloud and delve in.  The Cloud of Unknowing is where you come to Father God.  It is simple, because you don't have to have an image of God in your mind.  You come to him in a great cloud and direct all of your love into his presence.  You approach him as the unseen God.  All of your anxious thoughts and distractions, you place them under a "cloud of forgetting".  Then using a word that captures the essence of your prayer, you direct your word into the cloud and open yourself to however God desires to reveal himself.  "One little gasp contains the height, depth, width, and breadth of the spirit." (The Cloud of Unknowing edited by Bernard Bangley)

This is a way for me to pursue relationship with Abba God, which has often not come very naturally to me.  I more often come to Jesus in prayer.  But I love being opened to the mystery of the fullness of the Godhead.  And when you take all pressure off of yourself to try and imagine or picture what God looks like, you are presenting yourself to God, as he is.  It provides a spacious place to get to know him without preconceived ideas about what he is like.  What we think Father God is like can sometimes block us from who he truly is, and who he wants to be for us.

So I take a word, LOVE, and I direct it into the cloud.  Over and again, this simple prayer, LOVE.  Or, TRUST.  Many words don't have a place here.  It is simple devotion to the heart of God from your heart.  And then you find yourself in the presence, and in the presence of God, his mystery beckons you to deeper places with him.  And then you start to feel his heart and receive from him.  You are open to whatever he wants to share with you in this great cloud of his presence.

How do you experience God as Father?