Gentle Healer , who brings us to places of nurture and comfort,
This morning begins again with grief, when tears come before the breath. We hear your Presence in ordinary sounds of life. The water running, a door opening,, even the slow chirp of September’s crickets remind us of our fleeting existence. Keep teaching us that rather than grasping too tightly, we really need to allow you to hold onto us. Sometimes all we can do is rest and let your Presence restore our joy. Amen.
Compassionate One, whose Sabbath is the crown of creation,
Make our breath today, a giving and receiving of love. Make each step today, an opportunity to experience your peace. Use our insignificance to further your glory. Empty us this Sabbath day as we wait, like a field lying fallow, for you to produce in us and expression of carefree, overflowing communion. Amen.
Sabbath as the crown of creation was first explored by German theolgian, Jurgen Moltmann.
There are boxes amidst the power tools and ladders in the construction zone that will one day once again be my office. Sometimes we need to put things in long term storage. There are things we may not need to use again for years. On a computer, we call this back-up and information that would fill rooms of files fits into something smaller than a shoebox. Our attics are full of nostalgia, like the first hand-print wreath, I have four, one from each of our sons. Our spiritual lives hold things in storage, too. The ancients built altars leaving them to remind them of the Presence of God, or the lesson God provided. Do you have any altars stored in your memory?
There are also those times when we pack up a box and need to unpack it three times during the next week because we did not realize how vital the items within it are, how often we need them. Do you use silence every day? Is there a special devotional book that sustains you each day? Be sure you leave the things that sustain you out of the box!
And then, there are times in our lives when we feel boxed in. There is too much stuff around us, and we can’t move. This is spiritually depleting. The soul needs space in which to unfold and stretch. The space that most often boxes us in is time. We don’t leave white space on our schedules. We fill every moment.
In my newly renovated office, I am going to build a couple altars, keep my favorite things within arms length and leave a little white space on my shelves.
Janet Salbert 