Hold me gently in your strong, artisan hands as you pressure, push, pull, remake me. Hold me securely as the life wheel spins beneath my frame in cycles of birth, death, rebirth. Hold me faithfully as you make sturdy, solid, hard-as-diamond those brittle, broken places and soft, molten liquid-as-pure-gold those places that need to learn to yield in graceful … [Read more...] about Artisan Hands

Give me peace, not a hopeless resignation, giving into the darkness, but a growing certainty that one day Light will dawn. Give me peace, not a deadening novocain that robs outrage, but a quiet awareness of Presence in the angst of the day. Give me peace, not a passionless state of not-seeing, not knowing, but a fierce, calm clarity about what matters most. Give me peace, not … [Read more...] about Give Me Peace

We sat beside your wild, wet skirt, wanting to soothe our sore hearts by watching your joyful jig. But we were too absorbed in our pain to gain perspective from your frolicking. We talked and sighed, sitting there on that smooth rock beside your playful splendor. Until you picked up a corner of your hem and splashed us wet, salty and surprised. Play! Laugh! Enjoy! you … [Read more...] about At the Ocean

I don’t have a proper pocket; none large enough to carry your kindness and respect. Your generous gifts slip awkwardly from my hands as I fumble for a place to keep them. I need to sew me some way-down-deep-pockets, big enough to hold your love. ------ For this reason I kneel before the Father. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power... … [Read more...] about Pockets

I would not be able to bear your piercing pure love if you should show yourself to me directly. You seem to know this and so filter the blazing light of your kindness through human voices and flower faces. A friend’s concern, a child’s laugh, a sparrow’s song are the muted tones and shaded light you use to touch me. Your filtered presence is building a growing hope in … [Read more...] about Filtered Love

My prayers are half sentences today. Chopped up thoughts, hesitant bits of conversation, spill from my fearful heart. It hurts too much to say it all, to think it through, to feel in one lump sum. Take these incomplete fragments, pearls of pain, string them together on the enduring thread of your love. Make a necklace of my heart’s half spoken cries. ------ Give ear … [Read more...] about Half Sentences

Pursue me. Break through my defenses. Come crashing through these internal walls that hide me from you. I long to fall into your loving arms. But I cannot find my way through this maze of fear. Come. Find me. Set me free. ------ The Spirit of the Lord is on me...he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners. Luke 4: 16-18 From Heaven at my Door by Juanita Ryan … [Read more...] about Pursue Me

I have came to a dead end. The path I journeyed for years has came to a sudden stop at the edge of a cliff. Exhausted and numb, I sit dangling my feet over the brink. Alone. Bewildered. Stunned that my efforts have lead to this. My mind has lost all sense of confidence and strength. “I don’t know,” was my last sigh. And so, I sit. Silent. Waiting. Undone. I ask, … [Read more...] about Dead End