Friday, June 15, 2007

Friday, June 15, 2007

Today’s text

2 John 1:1-2

“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”

Prayer

Do we love that which abides in us, Holy One? Do we adore that truth which roots itself deeply in our souls, springing from seeds long since sown?

If so, you have sown seeds of beauty in my soul, for it is beauty that enchants me, filling my heart again and again on these summer days. It comes in many forms: the delicate yellow roses near my chair, the playful smile and shimmering dark eyes of a two-year old who dares me to catch him, a human soul embracing the crazy, unpredictable given-ness of her life as the precious gift that it is.

All of it beautiful. All of it fills the soul with joy. Does this mean the beauty I behold in each of them dwells also in me? If so, thank you, for the beauty I behold is you who are Beauty Itself.

You are the sower of the holy seed. You are the beauty that grows. You are the truth that abides, filling and moving us to love … you, and to love you in all the infinite disguises in which you are pleased to appear.

So abide Hidden Mystery. Abide here in us forever that our souls forever may be filled with love for you and all that shimmers with your beauty. Amen.

Pr. David L. Miller

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Today’s text

2 John 1:1-2

“The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I but also all who know the truth because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.”


Prayer

I praise you this day for your irresistible presence. My heart is no immovable object. You know how to move me and you do so again and again.

Your truth abides and resides here in us, in me. I hear the stories and struggles of your children, and in each one you call to me: “Speak, write, witness. Gather up the fullness of your heart, and speak from the incomprehensible depths of my love.”

Your words fill my heart with desire and tears of yearning until I witness again to a love that refuses to release me--or any of your beloved. Your grasp on our hearts is strong, and the longing in our hearts is your longing living and abiding in us, filling us with knowledge of the love you are and the pain you bear.

This truth abiding in us will be with us forever. For you are eternal, and our lives are caught up in your eternal longing. The deep well of desire of my heart tells me at least this much.

Thank you for that longing, for in it I know you, the incomprehensible, the irresistible, the love I cannot name.

Thank you for allowing me to know your beloved chosen ones, to hear their stories which fill me with your love for them in all their pain and beauty. There, too, I know you, and I see your abiding as you take shape in the contours of their faces. Amen.

Pr. David L. Miller

Monday, June 11, 2007

Monday, June 11, 2007

Today’s text

1 John 5:21

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Prayer

I resist endings, Eternal One, all endings. They remind me that I will come to an end. I am mortal flesh. I will pass away, disappearing into your eternity, hoping to awaken in intimate abiding with you have haunted me every day of my existence. But in this life every ending reminds me of all the others, the ‘going aways,’ the ‘good byes,’ the deaths and departures that have torn my soul.

And now I come to the end of this little book that has led my soul in prayer these months, leading me into lands previously unknown to me. I don’t want to go. I fear I will forget what you have written on my soul. I do not know or trust that you have inscribed it so deeply that it will stay and abide in my heart, teaching me what I need to know to live. For I want to live, not merely exist, and it truly consoles me that this is your desire too. Make it so, dear One, this day and always.

But now one last verse: “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Here, too, you miss no opportunity to console and guide this heart of mind. I am your child, beloved, like all those others to whom you are so tender. And you would not have me walk outside the cloud of your enveloping love. I am to live in awareness of you who are true and eternal, who are all-possessing love.

Idols of self-indulgence and self-chosen principles, idols of goals and values, of gain and victories that would displace you in my heart--these are not you. They do not and cannot envelop me in the love that birthed the universe. They drain life and vitality from me, stripping me of the awareness and enjoyment of eternal life.

So I will cling to you, the true and eternal, the love illimitable, the infinite nearness, the intimate transcendence, the dazzling darkness, the One I name Loving Mystery, who abides, awaiting me each day like the morning sun with a holy invitation, whispering, “Come, stand in the warmth of my light. You will live.”

Thank you.

Pr. David L. Miller