A Power In Your Life
Words from Martin Luther King Jr. as we begin 2010:
“So I say to you, seek God and discover Him and make Him a power in your life. Without Him all of our efforts turn to ashes and our sunrises into darkest nights. Without Him, life is a meaningless drama with the decisive scenes missing. But with him we are able to rise from the fatigue of despair to the bouyancy of hope. With him we are able to rise from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy. St. Augustine was right—we were made for God and we will be restless until we find rest in him”.
A power in our lives promoting meaning, hope, joy and rest—words and realities we all desire to experience. Thank you Martin for the reminder and the encouragement!
Doxology
A poem of praise from one of my favorite poets. Here is Doxology:
God fills my being to the brim
with floods of His immensity.
I drown within a drop of Him
whose sea-bed is infinity.
The Son is never far away from me
for presence is what love compels.
Divinely and incarnately
He draws me where His mercy dwells.
Praise to the Father and the Son
and to the Spirit! May I be,
O Water, Wave and Tide in One,
Thine animate doxology.
Jessica Powers
Powers, an Irish-American poet of some 400 poems, reminds us to raise our eyes—to see the One who is above the frenzy and give praise—which centers and calms the weary heart.
In spite of it all
Madeleine L’Engle avers, “During my journey through life I have moved in and out of agnosticism and even atheism, as I become bewildered by what mankind has done to God; and so, too often, I see God in man’s image, rather than the other way around. But I cannot live for long in this dead-end world, but return to the more open places of my child’s intuitive love of God, where I know that all creatures are the concern of the God who created the galaxies, and who nevertheless notes the fall of each sparrow. And from the darkness I cry out: God!”
In spite of it all: God! In spite of it all: God! In spite of it all: God!
Claiming True Peace
Keep your eyes on the prince of peace, the one who doesn’t cling to his divine power; the one who refuses to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights, and rule with great power…; the one who touches the lame, the crippled, and the blind, the one who speaks words of forgiveness and encouragement….Keep your eyes on him who becomes poor with the poor, weak with the weak. He is the source of all peace.
Advent and Christmas Wisdom, Henri Nouwen
Namesake
My inspiration for ‘theslantwise’ emerged out of this poem by Emily Dickinson.
Tell all the Truth but tell it slant
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth’s superb surprise
As Lightening to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind—
Emily Dickinson
