Prepare my heart . . . Give me Your lanterns and compass, give me a map, so I can find my way to the sacred mountain, to the place of Your presence. Psalm 43:3 (the Message) Holy Father, You are my Light, and You know the direction I must go. Father, give me a map. Be my Guide. From the valley of uncertainty I have been searching for the sacred mountain. Solitude with You replenishes my soul, and in the silence I hear Your whispers. Speak to me in the details. Absolute Goodness, Unconditional Love, Extravagant Grace, Everlasting Light, Eternal Redemption, Living Water ~ You are all these and more. I am listening for Your holy words. I am resting in Your loving arms. I will go to the altar of God, To God, my exceeding joy; . . . I shall praise You. Psalm 43:4 (NAS) Whatever You want me to hear - Whatever You want me to find - Whatever You want me to understand - I shall praise You! In my poverty of spirit, I shall praise Your Goodness. In my valleys of sorrow, I shall praise Your Compassion. In my moments of doubt, I shall praise Your Faithfulness. In my times of joy, I shall praise Your Generosity. In my abundance of blessings, I shall praise Your Love. Father, I surrender my uncertainty at Your altar and offer these praises to You, my Creator. With Your sacred threads, bind my wounds. With Your Perfect Love, teach me love. With Your angels, protect the way. LORD, hear my prayer. Amen. ~dho

Listen!

Pay attention, come close now, listen carefully to My life-giving, life-nourishing words. Isaiah 55:3 (the Message)

Listening and Obedience

Henri Nouwen writes A spiritual life requires discipline because we need to learn to listen to God, who constantly speaks but whom we seldom hear. When, however, we learn to listen, our lives become obedient lives. The word obedient comes from the Latin word audire, which means "listening".
We struggle with obedience. Either we do not hear what God is saying to us, or we choose not to do what He asks. If we do not listen for God, we have little hope of developing our obedience. Matthew 6:6 ~ Find a quiet, secluded place so you won't be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace.
When asked, "What is more important - faith or obedience?" I believe faith is the foundation for our listening hearts. Without faith, can there be obedience? It would seem that Henri Nouwen would go one step further and say that without listening, obedience is absent. He concludes The core of all prayer is indeed listening, obediently standing in the presence of God. ~dho

Wealth and Poverty

Macrina Wiederkehr writes in her book A Tree Full of Angels:
It is time, then, for us to embrace this frail flesh of ours with love. . . What was good enough for God to embrace must be good enough for us. Let us try to . . .stop hiding behind the mask of our fraility. . . The ache for God lives on in our depths. It gnaws at us and cries out to be named. If we walk back through our days, no doubt, we will come upon many frail and glorious moments - places where our poverty and our wealth touched each other. . .
The eye of God beholds so much more than we are able to see in our lives at any moment. Always our goodness and potential loom large under God's gaze. . .We would think it strange to read about a person who died in poverty while having great material wealth stashed away somewhere within reach. Yet how often this is the truth of our spiritual lives!

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is
the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:26 (The Message)

~dho

breathing room for my soul

He's solid rock under my feet, breathing room for my soul. Psalm 62:2 (The Message)