Friday, January 16, 2015

Friday, January 16, 2015



Mark 1:14-15

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.’

A mind of joy

The sun sinks slowly behind
a line of trees, bare branches
breaking the orange glow
of a winter-weakened sun
into a thousand angled windows
of fading light, each cherished
as day light slips into January cold.
Sitting in the wonder of light
the heart travels far beyond sun
to the Light who is Light,
the Source of moments
of watching and feeling love
for the blessing of day,
for the light that finds chilled
cheeks and warms hearts
with the joy of being, the
ecstasy of being here …
in the orange glow of winter
sun as day gives way to night.

From what mystery comes
this joy, this love unexpected,
rising up, filling the heart,
spilling tears warmer than
any sunny day?

Tomorrow, a different sun will
rise, a new day, unknown,
simply given, to be welcomed
for whatever it brings. But
already the glow of day’s end
awakens hope that tomorrow
will be as full and graced as this.
Why?


Why this joy, this love,
this hope? Are our hearts tuned
to joy that the Joy of the Infinite
One might warm the hearts and
awaken tears at the sight of
setting suns, such a common
thing, happens every day?

No, not so common, each day
is miracle, each atom of light
a wonder, each moment of sight
a joy for hearts tuned to see
holiness and gift in the light of
winter suns. The kingdom of Love
is here, present among the tree
branches farming orange winter
light at odd angles as jet contrails
plow cobalt skies and fade into
wisps in winter’s bitter cold. But
there is no fading here, in this heart
that sees and knows, this mind
of joy, awakened by Love to the
good news of the holy kingdom
not far but here in every moment
kissed by Love and loved for whatever
small blessing it brings.

For the mind of joy, awakened
by Love, time is fulfilled, as full as
this heart in orange winter glow.

Pr. David L. Miller


Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Psalm 139:13-16a

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
   Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.
   My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
   intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.

Where the search ends

Daylight falls heavily on the heart:
Will time run beyond me, before
heart and hand hold the fullness
of my truest longing?
Sixty two years I have been,
and still I am not me, only becoming,
wondering if I will have enough time
to be what I am, finally to arrive
at the destination, a heart fulfilled,
completed, at peace, joyful and content
with what I am and what is mine,
driven no longer by passion for More.

Is this how you made me, knit
together in my mother’s womb,
always wanting, doubting if ever
my soul shall find peace and rest
in the Love that alone quiets
every longing, filling the heart
so that wanting is gone and holding
is all that is? Is there an end here
or is the heart doomed,
a restless hunter for what it cannot
finally, fully make its own?
Is this the way you made me
from my mother’s womb?

If so, even so … I praise you. Great
is your name and the mystery
of your ways, for my longing heart,
my eager and hands have searched
and held and known the Love who
holds me, stirred by longing
for what it could not name but knew
it must have. Moments surprised
when searching melted into finding;
longing arrived at its destination
and disappeared for all else was lost
in Love and wonder at the Love
that found and welcomed me
to surrender searching and know
hope fulfilled, heart completed, at rest,
united in joy with the Love who
made me for Love, and fashioned me
to be satisfied with nothing less.

Pr. David L. Miller


Monday, January 12, 2015

Monday, January 12, 2015

Psalm 139:1-3 

Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
   you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
   and are acquainted with all my ways.

I know … you

Light flows through south
windows, and I know …
as light embraces every space
warming and filling each far
corner so is your knowledge
of me, all I am and all that is.

Nothing is left out; wounds
and scars from childhood,
places I protect, secrets
we hide, sorrows unexpected
moments awaken and trouble
the tender heart; light
finds them all.

And troubles need not be
for it is you, Loving One,
who know me. Your knowledge
of this soul is not fearful, for you
are Love and your knowing is
a lover’s knowledge of this life,
this soul, the times of my living
and hidden corners of heart.

In your knowing, … I know ..
I live in the light of your knowing,
the light of your loving,
the warmth of utter compassion,
the delight of your eye that never
ceases to see and know and love
each moment of my days
from the child I was--wounded, afraid
and alone, to the soul you have grown
from earliest moments, yes even
from pains I would have fled,
given the chance.

You look at it all and say,
“Yes, even that, even there,
even then I knew you. Look …
with me … at all of it … and
love it … for I see, it all
and love it all, for from it all I have
made a heart that is true with love,
hope and joy. I know and love …
you. Come, enter the joy of living
in the light of this knowing.

Pr. David L. Miller