Filled with Belovedness

Thank you God for loving me
as I am.

For helping my soul to know
my belovedness.

For infusing in me the knowledge
of Your Divine Love.

It is because of this knowledge
that I am able to be Your
hands and feet in the world.

It is Your love of me
and my knowledge of
my belovedness
that sustains me in the challenging days.

It is Your love of me
and my knowledge of
my belovedness
that sustains me when you
send me where I do not feel
I have the strength to go.

It is Your love of me
that says
I send you because you
know my belovedness and are ready
to share that here where it is needed most.

Fill me once again God with
Your belovedness of me,
for I poured it all out once again.

AMEN

Words

"Remember you are loved and
to love you shall return."

Words spoken to me,
to my lent journey.

Words I speak to another,
to their Lent journey.

Words that can surround
as we grieve yet again
death that comes
from senseless acts of violence.

Words that hold us
when nothing else makes sense.

Words that center us
in our belovedness
and
calls us to
doing better,
doing more
to act in ways that embrace
our belovedness
but also to
treat all others as beloved.

For it is belovedness that will
counter hate and violence.

Or so it that my heart must believe.
AMEN

Created of God

Today's reflection is inspired by the introduction from John Phillip Newell's book The Rebirth of God: Christianity's Struggle for New Beginnings. 

God you have made me
And because you have made me
I am made of you.

You flow through me
And in my quiet hours
You invite me to dive into
The flow that is you.

You remind me that
My journey with you
Is not either/or
But instead is both/and.

You ask not only that
I believe in you
But that
I experience you.

In my experience of you God
I return again and again
To the idea that you have created me
Out of You

In that creation I experience
My belovedness
Settling me into
The belonging
You have claimed for me.

And all I can say is
Thank you.

AMEN.

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.

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.

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.