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

Born out of time

On her death bed,
a woman transported on one of her final
breaths
to a time in her past.

Young as ever she did appear
and aware of what awaited her,
this window
into life as it had been lived
was given as a gift before she travelled through.

The moment chosen for her to relive
was on the blink of a mid-life
realisation
whilst snuggling her daughter during nightnight prayers.

She was with the little ones when they were so
small
and words rippled out of their mouths,
confounding them with sage-like wisdom.

"I love you with all the colours of my heart"
"Thank you that we are the praise of God"
"Your songs come into my mouth and my songs go into yours"

Fingers, each so like petals held
on,
as she leant into a beating heart.

Her daughter stroked her hair
as though she was the comforting mother
and the mother, her child.

And the revelation came: she could see herself as an old woman
looking back over time to this moment,
(a time often raced through to get to the next thing),

and she felt herself travel back to be here, be here now
and she knew that for the rest of her life she would
make every attempt to abandon herself to the call of love
by becoming more mindful
of living
in
the
present.

And then the woman found herself back in her bed
with the faces of those she loved around her.
A holding of hands, a kiss on a
breath
and she was born out of time into God.

Jenneth Graser

Photo credit unknown

Remember what it is to be

When the straw falls on the back
of one too many camels,
it is time to shed weight.

To set up a tent beside an oasis
outside of civilization
where date palms hang heavy with fruit
and the sky is your only entertainment.

Here the water calls you
to remember the promises
etched on your inner skin,

where scriptures live as
tattoos on your heart.

And your fullness will overflow
as an oasis to others
who have traipsed through the desert;

just wishing to hurl all of the
doom and gloom into a pit
and longing to believe life

can be more simply lived.

So we remember ourselves into the moment
where time cannot drive eternity's pulse.

We go right back to the memories
of life without anything digital,
where nature suggests a rhythm for life
and we flow with it.

We know what we are supposed to be doing,
because we remember what it is to be.

Jenneth Graser

Artist - Leanna Teneyoke

The Day we Arrived

The ever over-the-horizon destination,
to-do lists.

The achievements
that are worked towards -
achieved, and do not satisfy.

Somewhere over the rainbow
there is no pot of gold,
because it is buried
deep within our hearts.

Hidden under a prism of promises,
waiting there to be found.

There is no ultimate destiny
with a greenness of grass
that is greener than the grass
under our feet.

It is God we will find
in the challenges we have
before us and it is God we have
in all of our gratitude.

Today, is a date to mark down
on the calendar
as the day we arrived.

There is peace in the accomplishments
you have achieved for us.

Our dreams flow out
of your heart of belonging.

Jenneth Graser

#write31days
Day 29 Prompt - date

Artist - Richard Kretch

Grace of the Here and Now

Over time the elements have hewn out of
mountains, secret passageways.

Canyons slice into deep places
the sun only reaches at certain angles.

But if you come with a heart willing,
the sun will eventually beam down on you.

If you walk out of shadows, the dust motes will
shimmer with the occasional insect flashing.

The sun will illuminate the pristine
stream that funnels out this part of the earth.

You will walk through the waters
and drink in the warmth on your skin.

Feel the stones weathered year upon year
smooth, under the soles of your feet.

Feel your heart respond as you walk
in the grace of the here and now.

Jenneth Graser

Photo credit unknown

Now Here, Now There

Back and forth the interpretation
Of events vacillate
Now here, now there.

Now you are leaping from the stern
Of a great yacht into crystal seas
Receiving your hilarity.

Now you are on the verge of a cliff
Wondering how you got there,
Terrified.

Now you are with the birds swooping
Over rooftops, free to come, go
Alight.

Now you are carrying loaded
Baggage from one train platform to
Another, getting lost easily.

Then you are finding a map well worn
By other eager travellers, discerning
Wisdom appears as graffiti on the
Walls, unbidden.

Truth arises from the gutter,
Where ferns grow in earnest.

Up the side of half a mountain
With half a mountain to go.

The view will only look this way,
This moment,
From here, now.

Jenneth Graser

Photography - Candice Swanepoel

The Wonder of Normal Things

To listen to the breath of the wind
In every word of your being,
Where you wait for me
Alive to the outsideoftime
In the wonder of normal things:
This is what I want.

To be aware,
Notice the light through my petals
Unfold in the soft rain,
Be awake to the gift of now
Listen again and then hear:
This is what I want.

To slow into my breath
And find you there breathing,
Where the kingdom within
Is my friendship of Trinity
To be always and forever one:
This is what I have.

All of my wants become
A part of your wants,
As all of my time
Becomes a part of your time.

I am a child of the dreams you
scatter through the air
into the hearts of every dreamer,
planted.

Jenneth Graser