Reflection

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Christmas Day may be past, but it does not mean Christmas is over.  Hope, Peace, Joy, Love the foundations of our Advent journeys and Christmas celebrations should be reflected year round.  What is it that you are being called to reflect to the world?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Christmas Blessing

A Christmas blessing for you in 

God's gift of Love come to earth

The light of Hope shining bright

A gift of Joy eternal

And Peace of Christ to you.

Possibility

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Snow to a child is the hope of a snow day free from school, it is the possibility of endless fun and play.  What is it in this season of Advent preparation that is your possibility?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Are You Ready for Christmas

Are you ready for Christmas?
Are the presents bought and wrapped?
Cards sent?
House decorated?
Cookies made?
Christmas meal planned?

Are you ready for Christmas?
Are you finding Hope?
Experiencing Joy?
Spreading Peace?
Being Love?
Embracing the story of the greatest gift?

The first list is the list of doing
The second list is one of being
I may never get the first list completed
and that is fine
Because as long as I am focused on the second list

Then yes
I am ready for Christmas.
Are you?

Light, Snow and Ice

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

The presence of light can change how we see things.  What is it in your life that needs light to illuminate it?  How does the illumination change how you see or experience it?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
Even in the black and white photo, what colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Chronos and Kairos

The world tells me be here now, don't be late, watch the clock.

The refrain is punch the clock - in and out - 

no overtime please or maybe it's 

all your time is ours - overtime expected.

Live by the calendar, breath by the clock.

This frantic Chronos pace stifles the soul.

It sucks the energy 

causing a weary plod through the days and weeks.

But there is hope in your call to us God.
You call us to something better, more life giving in your Kairos time.
It is here you ask us to pause,
To be fully present to you.
It is here you remind us that the most important time is now.
You call us to be fully in the now.

It isn't that we are to forget our calendar or forget to be at the next place on time.
It is that you ask us not to focus there - the not yet,
But to return our focus to the now -
To those who are with us now
To you and your voice and vision now.

To live in Kairos is to adjust our vision,
To say to the world's Chronos cacophony - BE STILL.
 Kairos is to hear your words "Be still and know...."

As we live in Advent and it's time of anticipatory waiting,

We are given an opportune gift and invitation:
To journey in Kairos time

To find the vision you, God, have for us and the                                                                                          world  you have entrusted us with.

The question is...

Will we accept the invitation.

Liquid Gold

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

In colorado snow is called Liquid Gold, because without the mountain snow there would be no water. What we need can take many different forms,  just like water can be in many forms.  What is it that you need in your spiritual life right now? What form do you need to receive it in?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
Even in the black and white photo, what colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

A Seasonal Choice

My in box is already filled with adds,
Letting me know of all the stuff my loved ones "need".
The TV is awash with similar adds
As well as messages about what I need to make the Holidays Perfect.

My soul cringes at this excess noise surrounding me.
My quiet contemplative wants to scream out:
It's not the stuff that is needed most.
A perfect holiday is not what we should strive for.

Instead I would suggest that it is the presence of my
full and undistracted self that would be the perfect gift.
Instead of filling my hours and minutes with busy work to make the day perfect,
I should give myself the gift of a quiet hour with a cup of tea - time to quiet the noise of the world
so that I can hear myself, hear you God.

Either way I choose to go, it is a fact - the Holidays are here.
Do I choose to fill my month with stress and busy or
Do I choose simplicity and presence and quiet moments.

For me I am going to choose simplicity, presence and quiet
allowing my soul to breathe
and remember
what is most important about the season.
Remembering the birth of a little child
who later chose to give us the greatest gift of his life.
Remembering Jesus who really just wants of me to be present
to his Love and Grace.
So that I can shine it forth to all who need to know it too.

What will you choose?

Candles and Rocks

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

The candle shines light into our lives and into our world.  Where do you need light to shine? Where do you need to let your own light shine out?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
Even in the black and white photo, what colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Ruach’s Gift

Breath - Breathing
It is so intrinsic to my being
That I experience it with out much thought.

But breathing is not just something I do,
It becomes my very first encounter of You.
For You are the one who gave me breath.
Every moment I breath IS You God.

I breath your Ruach - Your Holy breath.
You send the wind so that I might feel your Ruach
And experience Your Holy breath with all my senses
        - Feel it on my skin
        - Smell it in the cool crispness
        - Taste it as it fills my nose and mouth
        - See it as trees sway
        - Hear it as leaves rustle

Breath - Ruach not only gives my body physical life
But also gives the very depth of my soul life.

Breath becomes my living connection to you my Living God.

Frost

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Frost is a sign of the promise of cold weather and winter. With winter comes hibernation and nature rests in promise of new growth to come in spring.  What is at rest in you? What promises are you seeking?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

God's Invitation to Rest

I dove deep into your presence God.
Deep into the glory of being so close to you.
So close that I hear and see you all around me,
feel you so intimately in every fiber of my being.

This awareness of you is Marvelous,
Glorious,
Soul expanding.
And yet it takes work to absorb all that I experience being so close to you.
My own awareness has broken open, expanded and challenged me.

It is here in this expansive awareness that I hear you say:
"Time to rest my child.
Time to quit opening to words and knowledge.
Time to give your filled up soul time to absorb all that you have come to know of me."

It is here that you give me permission to pause.
To come up for air.
Reassuring me, God, of your ever so close presence.

As I float along on the currents of your love and gift of rest,
I know you will be waiting for me when I am ready to dive deep once more
into our next journey together into awakening.

Autumn

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

How does the tree letting go of it's leaves remind you of what you need to let go of?
Autumn can be a time of settling in preparing for the rest of winter, what is it that needs to settle in you and be given permission to rest?


Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Awakening to Grace

Awaken me God.
Awaken my Soul.
Awaken me to all of the possibilities -
the possibilities you have for me to feel and know my belovedness.

As I begin to know my own belovedness help me also to truly know your grace that comes with it.

So that in my knowledge of your grace I may then extend that same grace to myself and to others.

As I begin to extend this grace may I also learn to see those around me as beloved, just as you do.

AMEN.

Door

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Natures Gifts

Wind is Breath.
Sun is Light.
Silence is Restoration.
Combined they create space.
For letting go.
For re-balancing.
AMEN

Finding Belovedness in a Soccer Medal.

I have been reflecting a lot on belovedness in my own devotion time and in my poetry. Many of my thoughts have been centered around how I experience my own belovedness and how I express it to myself. The idea being if I do not know and experience my own belovedness how in the world can I help others see their belovedness.

For me belovedness is essentially that feeling of deep belonging and knowing you have a place in this world community we are participants in. It is knowing that what you have to offer is valued, appreciated and noticed - even when you are acting more than human and not at your best. It is the foundation on which I can build every other aspect of my beliefs, hopes, dreams and goals.

Most of my thinking about and experience of belovedness has centered in my own relationship with God and my Christian spirituality practices. Then last night the concept of belovedness and how we foster it in others was broken wide open at my daughter's soccer practice of all places.

My kiddo has been playing recreational soccer since the age of 4 with the same team and coach.  Our league has the practice of giving out medals at the end of each season. Now I know there are varying opinions out there about participation awards, but hang with me here.

My daughter looks forward every season to playing the last game of the season and getting her medal. I used to think it was all about the medal for her, that is until I really watched her last night as she received her medal from her coach at the end of her last practice. Her coach gets down on eye level with each girl and has something special to say to them that is individual to who they are as a person, how he has seen them grow in their playing and what he appreciates about them and then gives each one their medal.

Last night I watched my daughter's face when it was her turn, I mean I really watched it, as her coach spoke to her.  She was literally alight with a glow, all smiles that reached into her eyes. Her body seemed to want to burst with all that belovedness she was being filled with. And that was when I got it. It is not the medal it self that is important to her. It is everything the medal represents, her place on the team and her relationship with a group of important people in her life. The end of season medal ritual is a place of feeling beloved for her.

Speaking belovedness does not require fancy words or have to be focused only on the religious/spiritual aspect of proclaiming our belovedness in the eyes of God.  Yes that is an important part of building the foundation of belovedness - but there is so much more. It is speaking simple everyday words of positivity and building up to those we meet. Expressing belovedness is something that should encompass every part of our daily living in community. It is expressing our thanks to those around us for just being present in our lives and being who they are.

As we enter this season of Thanksgiving, I find myself deeply grateful for loving, trusted adults who are a part of my child's life and of our family's life that know how to speak these words of belovedness to my child. Because she needs to hear them from people other than just her family. I need to hear them spoken to her by others because it reminds me of all the unique things she has to offer that I may not always see because I am Mom and sometimes very frustrated in my parenting.

These examples also remind me that I have a responsibility to speak belovedness in simple everyday ways to others as well and not just those in my own circle of community. Will you join me on a journey this month to spread belovedness and open eyes and hearts to how we can build important healing connection through speaking belovedness?  I hope so.

Leftovers

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

What is feeling like leftovers in your life? Is it something you are receiving or something you are giving out? How can you see God working with your leftovers to make them renewed?

Consider these questions also:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

New Sight

What new sight are you opening me to God?

Is it to see beyond the external trappings of a person
to the beauty that is buried deep with in?

Is it to see the blessing that is meant by the blunt
"I like you Chaplain."

Is it to see you God in places unexpected
as you open my eyes to your creative possibility
that infuses all of creation.

All of this and more is what I hope for,
is what I would like.

Interwoven

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Consider these questions:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

AWAKE

Awake,
Slow stretches - a grumbling of body and spirit
As the alarm calls me to awareness that morning has come.

Dress, prepare for the day.

Then my favorite time
Soul time - a reminder
that my best days are not started fast.
But instead at a slow meander
Taking time to breath in your energizing breath Holy Spirit.

Taking time to hear your words Christ,
spoken to me through scripture
and favorite Theologians.

Taking time to connect with you God
and sit on the deck 
cool air chilling my arms
and the birds singing my spirit awake.

I hear the geese honk overhead
and I am reminded of the
Wild, Moving Possibility of the day
as I lean into allowing the Holy Spirit to
Guide my awakening into the day.

Gift of Flow

We call it play or practice or movement.
We call it my time, our time.
But what we call it is not as important
as the fact that we gather to do it.

To be present to each other,
even though we may be a world apart.
To connect our individual worlds and lives
together through this mystery we call flow.

Come play with me and in our fun,
May we find the connection we crave.

Come practice with me,
For together in our practice we can get better
at our connection to love, peace and each other.

Come move with me,
Move away:
       from isolation
       from fear
       from anxiety
       from stress
And move with me into a place where we can all belong.

Come discover with me the gifts
that flowing together can provide.

The invitation is open.

Greens and Blues

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play.

Start by letting this image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Consider these questions:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you? Why?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

Coming Back to Myself

I lost myself to the busy,
I caved under the press of to do's and should do's.


I found myself listening to the din of the noise of life.
I forgot to find space.
I forgot that silence was the music of my soul.

Until the Spirit moved and gifted me with space,
And in this space I felt the wind reminding me
That the Holy Spirit is my breath of life.

I felt the light of sun and moon reminding me
It is Christ's light that shines on my belovedness.

I heard in the silence God's voice saying,
Welcome back to yourself.
Welcome back to connectedness.

Whispers of Holy Breath

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play with todays image, as an extra bonus this one comes with sound too.

Start by finding a quiet spot and letting the sound that accompanies this image be all that you hear. Then take some time and let the image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this video be all that you attend to right now.

Consider these questions:

What do you see?
What do you hear?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

15 Minutes Late

It was supposed to be a quick check in visit, 
But I found myself sitting to stay a while.
I was 15 minutes late to the meeting,
But was right on time for the work of the Spirit.

I was just going to stop and say hi,
But I found myself walking alongside as they went to that test.
I was 15 minutes late to the meeting,
But right on time for the Holy journey.

I said absolutely nothing,
But the conversation went on for an hour.
I was 15 minutes late to the meeting,
But right on time to give all the time that really mattered. 

We chatted about nothing related to the hospitalization,
But discussed everything that really mattered.
I was 15 minutes late to the meeting,
But right on time to hear Holy words.

I was 15 minutes late to the meeting
And that was all it took for them to see Christ in me.

Flow

Gossamer strands weaving in, out and around.
Full of mystery but yet so simple.
Not static, but moving, flowing,
Connecting one to another.

It's there waiting patiently for you.
Waiting to offer up it's gifts.
Gifts of:
                       Peace
                       Possibility
                       Creativity
                       Healing
                       Connection

Dive into the flow.
Experience it's gifts.
It's waiting  - no judgement
Just come, find the flow's gift for you.

Overgrown?

I invite you to pause for a moment and take some time for some contemplative play with this image that is one I see daily when I walk my labyrinth.  I used to see this as an ugly space until I considered it more with my imagination.  I invite you to do the same.

Start by letting the image fill your mind as you focus on your breath and letting yourself slow down into this time and this space.  Letting your breath and this picture be all that you attend to right now.

Consider these questions:

What do you see?
What colors stand out to you?
What does your imagination do with this picture?
What words come to mind?
What favorite quotes from your favorite spiritual literature come to mind?

I invite you to join in conversation with me in the comments below what has come of your contemplative play time today.

A Lament for Loss of Connectedness

When did we loose our connection to each other?
When did we stop truly seeing each other?
When did we forget that our collective success as a human race is dependent on our connectedness?

When did it become ok to pass by suffering and say thank God it's not me?
When did it become ok to turn a blind eye to the person in crisis because it's not my business?
When did it become ok to isolate ourselves so completely that we forget we all are connected?

My heart cries out these questions tonight as I listen to the latest news.
Yes I see acts of heroism lifted up, lines of people to give blood,
Yes I see connectedness in this time and space

BUT

Why does it take an act of such violence to bring us together?
                      To remind us of our connectedness.
Why can't we seem to live connectedly on a daily basis?
Not just with those we are comfortable with or when it is convenient for us,
But with all who walk this home we call earth:
                       Even if it is not comfortable or convenient.

If we were to live connectedly on daily basis - would that end the violence?
Would that help us to once again begin to thrive and not just survive?
Is it possible - I hope so.

Writing Again

When I wrote my farewell post here in April of 2017 I honestly thought I would not ever come back to blogging.  And in a since I am not.  I still feel pretty confident that my time of regular, narrative posts reflecting on life is closed.  However, my time of writing contemplative poetry and contemplating life and the world through the lens of my very amateur photography is not over.  In creating space in my life and figuring out how to authentically embrace my contemplative, mystic self I find there are still words to write and pictures to share.

So I am returning to this space of Chaplainhood to share the words my soul still has and the images it sees.  My Posts will be far from regular in the normal sense of the word.  Rather you will find me here as the spirit moves sharing what ever it is that the spirit is moving me to share.

So if you are joining me again on the journey, welcome back.  If you have just found me here and are new to this space - welcome.  I'm glad you are all here.

Gather At The Table

Gather at the table,
The table that is open to all.
All who believe,
All who are trying to believe,
All who are deciding to believe.

It is at the table that the youngest learn to serve.
It is here that they learn the words:
                "This is Christ's body broken for you"
                "This is Christ's blood poured out for you."

Today it is at the table that our future speaks these words:
         -To me
         -To us

These words spoken out of youth-filled belief have a different ring:
      A call back to the simplicity of belief.
      A call back to the power of a simple meal to feed the soul.
      Reminding me of Jesus' words: "Let the little children come to me."

I sink deeply into my own response:
                  THANKS BE TO GOD.

Photo used with permission of children's parents.

Ending of a Season

It’s been a long time since I have written here. My hiatus happened not on purpose but by happenstance. At first I was struggling to find topics to write on, then it was simply life had too many other things that needed my attention more and my intention to start writing here again got pushed back further and further.  During this hiatus I took some time to read a book that I was interviewed for clear back in the fall of 2013. I also took some time to do some deep reflection on how I was spending my time. The result was the discernment that it was time for Chaplainhood to come to an end.

Just like nature, I believe that our lives have seasons, times that we are supposed to be doing certain things and then our time in that season is over and we need to move onto the next season of life. For me, Chaplainhood has been one of those seasons and I have come to realize that my time blogging here has come to an end.

As a chaplain I am a firm believer in the power that storytelling can have. Chaplainhood has been my personal storytelling exercise. It has helped me come to know myself better and find healing of soul. However, I would have never taken this journey had it not been for Twylla Alexander. And so it seems fitting that this last post here at Chaplainhood, tells the story of the very beginning and gives recognition to the person who helped give birth to my public storytelling journey.

 In 2013 I received an e-mail from a stranger, asking to come interview me and walk my labyrinth. This is how I came to meet Twylla and be a part of her journey to interview 50 women, one from each State here in the United States, and walk the labyrinths that they built. For Twylla it was a personal journey that she writes about in her book Labyrinth Journeys: 50 States, 51 Stories. For me, it was the start of learning how to tell my story as a bereaved mother in a very public way. I do not know if I would have helped write Still A Mother: journeys through perinatal bereavement or taken on sharing myself so openly here at Chaplainhood had it not been for Twylla. She gave me the opportunity to tell my story in a whole new way and in doing so helped me find my courage to keep on telling it.

I have just finished her book and in doing so have “met” 49 other women who share their own journeys and stories of courage, strength and wisdom. One of the reasons this blog has taken so long to write is that I found myself slowly savoring each chapter of this book. Labyrinth Journeys is a book that could just as easily be consumed in a day letting the full journey wash over you. I choose to journey through the book slowly letting each story sit in my soul and found myself connecting on many different levels with the wisdom and life lessons shared. The writing itself is conversational having the feeling of sitting at the table with Twylla over a meal, hearing her weaving these women’s tales in and out of her own personal story and journey. Labyrinth enthusiasts will find a quick connection to this book, but it is not just for those interested in labyrinths. Anyone who appreciates a good telling of wisdom, life lessons and sharing life’s journey with others will find this is an inspirational read.

I will forever be grateful to Twylla for including me in her journey and book. But deeper than that, I will forever have gratitude for the seed of courage she planted in me in asking me to step out of myself and tell and entrust such an intimate story to a complete stranger (who quickly was no longer a stranger to me).

Where does the next season of my life take me? I am still working on figuring that out. I know part of it is to be more focused on being mom as we head into the next set of growing up transitions with C. Part of this next season will also be starting a new journey as an instructor of Taijifit. This music and drama girl, who thought she did not have an athletic bone in her body, is till trying to figure out how she came to be excited about teaching a fitness class. However, given that Taijifit is considered moving meditation it fits with my contemplative self and I am excited to help others discover it’s benefits. As I fully embrace this next season of my life, who knows maybe the occasional contemplative poem will pour out and find places to be shared.

Wherever life takes me, I am excited for the journey. Thank you for reading here at Chaplainhood and being journeyers with me. I have been blessed to share it with you. As we part ways here at Chaplainhood may you find the space to share your own story as you make your life journey. PEACE.

Finding the Center

How is it that we have lost our center?
Become taken up with either/or ideas such as:
         This or That
         I'm Right You're Wrong
         My way or no way
         Are you on the left or are you on the right?
Have we become so entrenched in our place of belief that
there is no room for any other perspective?

Have we forgotten that many times the truth is
somewhere in the middle.

How is it that we have forgotten that the center
        Is where we find common ground
        Is where we find a voice of respectful conversation
        Is where we encounter respect
        Is where there is courageous love
        Is where we come together to work for the good of all humanity.

Lord, I too have gotten lost on my own journey to my center, to the center of you. I too have gotten drawn into either/or thinking instead of looking for the both/and.  Help me to remember that finding the center does not mean staying silent, but rather is where I find strength in you to speak up.  Lord, help me to find my way back to the center.  Amen

Sighs and Groans

There seems to be a feeling of great uncertainty hovering around.  You can pick your arena of uncertainty – health issues, financial issues, relationship issues, politics.  And I am certain the list could go on.  I don’t know about you, but when I am facing uncertainty, is when I feel the need to pray deepen.  I also seem to have the experience that it is at that time I am so weary that I can’t muster the energy to create words, but to only sigh – great – big sighs.  For this time I simply offer this poem prayer.

Sighs……just sighs.

Partly because I’m oh so tired.

Partly because there is so much going on in my head,

And in the world,

And in life.

It seems all I can do is sigh and groan.

Those are the only kind of prayer I can seem to offer right now,

When I can’t make clear the chaos of the words and feelings in my head.

Thank you God for hearing my sighs and groans,

For knowing me and my prayers that are in these sighs and groans.

AMEN