The Sylvr Pen

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Prayer of Now

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Lord, You have brought me to this place.

Let me give it full embrace.

Take from me any foolish fear.

Where you’ve called me to is here.

Rest me in Your mighty love.

Lock my mind on things above.

My heart enfold in Your great heart.

Let nothing pull the two apart.

Quiet me as you have done.

Make our fellowship as one.

Speak to me in still small voice,

Your rule, Your Kingdom my one choice,

In You to move and have my being,

Your word my guide, my way of seeing,

Your hand the comfort of my brow,

Life eternal to live right now.

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Free writing for Five Minute Friday, for just five minutes, on the word prompt…

“Here.”

(Go.)

What if the place He’s called me to isn’t out there somewhere after all? After all the flailing around trying to find the right path forward, what if it was “here” He called me to, and wants me, wanted me all along?

We read that instruction to the first and leading disciples, “Go into all the world, and preach the gospel…” and think we’re supposed to have a somewhere else to transport our bodies and preach or share or tell…

But there are many He told to stay where they were and tell the folks around them. That was their part of “all the world.” And it’s hard to “make disciples” of people in town A when you’re off and running to towns P, Q, R, and S.

“Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life…” were His “traveling orders” to the new believers in Thessalonica. And it meant right there, where they were.

I have done enough of that running around in expanding circles. Now that I sit still long enough to hear His voice, I get the clear idea He is saying, “Here” is where I want you to “go,” to move forward, to be—here with Me. And from here your heart and voice can reach out anywhere…

And “Here” is not necessarily a physical place…

“He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” Here.

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I don’t usually share my poetry here.

It’s very personal, and, to my mind, not very “bloggish.” 

But…

But Kel Rohlf, over at Nourishment for the Soul has reminded us April is National Poetry Month, and invited us who write it to share some lines. So I decided to share what I think of as the signature poem of my new Life, begun those many years ago when I wrote it. Because that new life goes on, and so does the passion of its “song”… 

A New Song*

I’ve had enough of sepulchers,

Of corridors of cells for bones

That click their way in idiot grins

Down hall to hall,

From cell to cell–

Of subway faces:

Vacant masks that hang and sway

In synchrony with dark machine

That carries them they know not where.

Pour forth the light!

And let the prism of my frame 

Fragment the beams in diverge’ rays,

In hues and tints and shades of glory

To pierce the lids of sightless eyes

And spark the fire of life again

Within the walking dead.

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*(New in 1980, Still new today)

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Kel has posted this poem today on her blog. (Thank you, Kel.)

Also check out Sunday Streets by Jody Lee Collins, which she shares there, and immerse yourself in its lovely atmosphere of “life aloft.”

Just this today…

Dwelling quietly today under His sheltering shadow…

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[Linking up this post with…

…because it leads to my journals…]

Is Easter over? Is the Resurrection done?

Certainly not! It rolls on and on…

That first day of His Resurrection, those disciples’ lives rose forever changed—from that day forward—for eternity!

May each yearly Easter celebration do that for me: change me forever, a little more than the year before. May I not just celebrate but also live the Resurrection more everyday after.

But how can I help that happen?

I turn toward the Resurrected Christ, I listen in on His conversations condensed in Gospels. I overhear, in His own words, instructions I do well to adapt,

adopt,

and follow:

“Rejoice! 

“Do not be afraid.

“Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself.

“Go [and] tell My brethren to go to [where] they will see Me.

Lots of golden guidance there. I want to grasp it all, every part,  take each and ponder, one by one, and together… consider how they can apply to me, and how I can apply them. 

For today, let me focus on just this:

Rejoice! 

That was His first post-Resurrection command…

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I wrote or pasted it inside the cover of journal after journal, before I began to fill it with scribbles: my list of resolutions for the month, or for the time frame the journal would fill. The list took on changes, journal by journal. But one thing never changed: the first of the resolutions: “Rejoice in the Lord daily.”

Rejoice!

I might not always feel bubbly. Life might at times weigh heavy. Grief might even crush. But…

Even in the darkest night, the promise that He is with me.

That He has arisen,

that He has ascended,

that He sits at the Father’s right hand, interceding always, even for me.

That He went so He could prepare a place for me, for us,

that He could send the Holy-Spirit-Comforter-Helper.

That He is there and He is here and He is always with me, with us,

even to the end of the world, the age.

And a hundred thousand other things perhaps, gifts and promises in Him that are mine, as I am in Him.

They’re hidden in His word. Or, they shout right out from it. I need to look, to be reminded. To search for all the rejoicings there to own and hold and treasure in Him, as I am owned and held, and yes, even treasured, by Him…
 

“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!”

-Philippians 4:4

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At least nine more reasons to praise Him, there, all from scripture. So…

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