Let Me Linger Here With God

 My morning prayer often unintentionally takes its sweet time to come around to a natural stopping place and I like it that way. A few years ago, experiencing the Spiritual Exercises introduced me to this new feeling of comfort and familiarity with my Creator. As God settled in with me and I with God day after day, I came to appreciate my own lack of concern for the time or other obligations. The experience of being with God was just too good; it was hard to let go of it. So I stayed.  This was the joy of being retired and at the time knowing very few people in the neighborhood. There was little on my agenda and truly no other place I would rather be.

Just the word linger has a feeling of slowness to it. It is like sitting in an overstuffed chair and feeling it close in around and hold you in place. It is as if the sides of the chairs have become giant arms caressing you like a familiar friend. As the minutes pass by, I even find myself saying the words, "Let me linger here with God." And I never ever regret the extra minutes spent with my Beloved. I simply sit in the silence listening for more or waiting for the moment that I am ready to say "Come with me into the day."

I recall the beginning of this ritual like it was yesterday. As I awoke one morning, I greeted God in thankfulness for the new day like I always did. Suddenly, I had the sensation of my entire body being lifted up and held in the open hands of my God much like you see new dads holding their tiny newborns. The difference in size between the hands of God and my adult body felt like the exact same ratio. I felt myself fall into this position of love and safety and relax.  I softly nuzzled the side of my face against the oversized fingers and took it all in; the warmth, the softness, the security of this place to call home. For months afterwards I would call of this image and sensation of being held each morning and especially if I woke during the night. I came to look forward to this extra time with God, lingering.  It has been several years since I have felt any regrets about 3 AM wake up calls for no apparent reason.  They are always another chance to be held in God's loving embrace, my body curled up into the folds of his hands.  

And so I linger as I feel my morning prayer ritual come to a close.  Just a few more minutes, just a little bit longer.  The I and me, the lover and the beloved holding each other's gaze as we turn and together greet the day.  

Micah 6:8 In My Own Words

There's a song that's been in my head for a couple weeks and to be completely honest, it has worn out its welcome. We Are Called

I've talked it over with friends, family, and my spiritual guide with no change in its daily appearance. So it must be time to break it down into my own words. Some of the lyrics will be familiar to you because they are taken directly from Micah 6:8

We are called to act with justice, to love tenderly and to walk humbly with God.

These words are so familiar but what do they mean, really? Some of us grew up with them and memorized them. We sing them in church, we even see them painted on school walls. As Jesus would say later hundreds of years later, "It is mercy, I desire, not sacrifice." These 16 words are the simplest form in which God could call us to discipleship and worship. Believe it or not, God was not in search of rams or doves or rivers of oil; God only wanted us to see what it was to act with justice, love and humility.

Act with Justice

We are called to be fair in all of our actions; honest and impartial, no matter whom we encounter. Treat each other as you would your mother or your siblings. That's right, if you wouldn't do it to your mom, don't do it to anyone else. In the words of Father Greg Boyle, SJ, "There is no other and them, only us." We are all one so our treatment of each person should be and must be universal. God calls us to see one another as God sees us. Each of us is uniquely and wonderfully made in the image of God. Every one of us carries the moniker, Beloved.

Love Tenderly (Kindness)

Our love for one another must be, above all else, generous and without end. Jesus modeled for us the limitlessness of God's love in his parables and actions. There is plenty to go around. Many westerners live their life with the scarcity model of money and goods but God's love is counter-cultural. God is lavish and unsparing with love for all. All are welcome. And included in that love is mercy and forgiveness. Just like God's love, it is intended for everyone - no matter what. It too, has no boundaries.

Walk Humbly with God

We are invited to walk with God each and every day This is a relationship of accompaniment; God wants to be a part of our lives side by side, to mourn our sorrows and celebrate our joys. We walk together co-creating our life, each day finding ways to mesh God's will with our own free will. In our relationship, we bear in mind that we are the created alongside of the Creator.  We acknowledge the magnitude of God and attempt to follow in the footsteps of Jesus finding ways to control our own selfish wishes and desires. Daily, we return to this challenge of humility.

Act, love, walk are all verbs and all require action in relationship with one another and with our God. As we incorporate these actions into our lives and with one another, we are building community; the kingdom of God here on earth. Humans tend to want to make the call to discipleship difficult or more complicated by making up rules and expectations. But this is what's needed: acts of justice, love, and humility from each of us. No one said it would be easy but I'm excited to be bringing these words to life (and hopefully get the song out of my head).

TBD

 I, like every other human on the planet now or ever, am a work in progress.  The me that I am becoming is being sculpted and shaped into being by each passing day or event.  Every encounter I have with a person has the potential to change me and widen my view of the world if I am only willing to listen and take on his or her perspective. Author, Kelly Corrigan tells the story of her mother observing a gay couple and watched a young man lightly kiss the top of his partner's head and in the blink of an eye, she recognized how natural that simple act of affection was.  This is how we behave when we love another person, she mused; it is as normal as anything can be.  The relationship is not "wrong," the perspective was.  On any number of occasions, Jesus asked his disciples and followers to pay attention with the words, "All who have ears to hear, let them hear."  For two millennia we have been encouraged to listen, to heed, to notice, and to change our hearts.  Every day, I read an article or listen to a podcast and learn something new about a person, a belief system, and ultimately myself.  And I am changed for the better.

I'm changing every day and so is everyone else around me.  As much as we would very much like to take some of our friends and relatives and place them on a shelf to talk to later, the person you take down when you may be ready is not the one you left there to rest a few weeks or months or a Thanksgiving ago.  The growth has been ongoing in them as well as yourself.  Ten years ago, I began working at a Jesuit institution and I thought I finally understood what it meant to serve; I told everyone that I had been changed forever.  But it wasn't possible to just be; little did I know that I was becoming.  Two years ago I went through the Spiritual Exercises and I thought my life would never be the same.  This was it, I thought; I finally understood how God had been moving in my life.  I had the magic potion of discernment.  Last summer I went on pilgrimage and again was convinced this was it; I've got it now.  With each of these life changing events, we shout "Eureka!" and are convinced that we have at long last reached nirvana.  The truth of the matter is that while we have indeed grown in our spiritual practices, we are mistaken if we think we have arrived at some pre-determined finish line. 

When we allow God into our lives to work  in and through us, we give up all thought of there being an end point.  We are never "done."  Our new goal is to grow continually in faith and hope and love.  However, it is far from a direct path.  It is often two steps forward and one step back, but we're still one step ahead of where we were.  The secret is to stay open to God's voice no matter its source.  When we hear of a prayer practice or a new way of being in the world, we can try it on.  How does it feel?  Is it something that might bring us closer to God?  We can take the time to pray with it, talk to others about it and see how it fits into your life journey.  I am learning that as I develop my faith practice, my relationship with God is one that grows in depth as opposed to length.  I may be confronted with an issue that troubles me today and again in a few weeks but each time I come out on the other side at a deeper level of understanding.  So with each new encounter, let us dig deeper and keep discovering who we are becoming today and tomorrow.