First Grief

First Grief

Last night, my daughter—
Mine by right of love and law,
But not by birth—
Cried for her "other mother."

Accountable
And duly baptized she may be,
But eight is young . . .
For grown-up grief,
The first I cannot mend
With Bandaids,
Easy words,
Or promises.

I cannot tell her yet
How often I have also cried
Sometimes at night
To one whose memory
My birth erased;
Who let me go
To other parents
Who could train and shape the soul
She had prepared,
Then hid her face from me.

-Margaret Munk
(found here)

But Thou Art All Replete With Very Thou

Indwelling

If thou couldst empty all thyself of self,
Like to a shell dishabited,
Then might He find thee on the Ocean shelf,
And say—" This is not dead,"—
And fill thee with Himself instead. 
But thou art all replete with very thou,
And hast such shrewd activity,
That, when He comes, He says :—" This is enow
Unto itself—’Twere better let it be:
It is so small and full, there is no room for Me."

- T.E. Brown

Bushes Afire

Every common bush [is] afire with God; but only he who sees, takes off his shoes.’

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
(Aurora Leigh, book 7, lines 822-3)

Our Greatest Fear..."

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?" Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

-Maryanne Willamson

"Prove all things..."

"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good."
 - 1 Thessalonians 5:21