Good morning…
This week I received a powerful poem from a forever friend who has taught me so much about grieving well and tenderly embracing every ounce of life.
“A Center” by Ha Jin
You must hold your quiet center,
where you do what only you can do.
If others call you a maniac or a fool,
just let them wag their tongues.
If some praise your perseverance,
don’t feel too happy about it—
only solitude is a lasting friend.You must hold your distant center.
Don’t move even if earth and heaven quake.
If others think you are insignificant,
that’s because you haven’t held on long enough.
As long as you stay put year after year,
eventually you will find a world
beginning to revolve around you.
As we hold our quiet center, staying put with God year after year, eventually we do what only we can do. Over time, we find a world beginning to revolve around the Spirit of God implanted in our innermost being. From our center, God blossoms beauty.
“As I slowly walked into the beauty that is God, everything changed,” says my spiritual mentor Betty Skinner. “I began to have a sweet sense of divine intimacy. I saw with new eyes, new proportions, new depths, and new light, and I sensed a Presence and warmth of knowing that I was deeply loved. God was affirming me, gathering all of my joy and suffering and sorrow into His tender embrace. I was awake at last. Drawn by the Spirit with Jesus into God, the ultimate end of our journey is this intimate union with God. It is gradual and very difficult to speak about, but once we have a sense of His abiding presence, our loneliness turns to sacred solitude. We are alone but we are walking with Someone: Emmanuel, God with us (197-198).”
Sensing God’s abiding presence, our loneliness turns to sacred solitude and only solitude is a lasting friend. We are alone but we are walking with Someone, Someone who embraces all of us, Someone who loves us deeply and tenderly.
“Drawn by the Spirit
with Jesus into God,
the ultimate end of our journey
is this intimate union with God.”
As we hold our center, staying put with God year after year, eventually we do what only we can do from this quiet place of intimate union.
For the Lord God is brighter than the brilliance of a sunrise! Wrapping himself around me like a shield, he is so generous with his gifts of grace and glory. Those who walk along his paths with integrity will never lack one thing they need, for he provides it all! (Psalm 84:11, TPT).
…Sue…
