compassion

Come to me,

all you that are weary and carry heavy burdens,

and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you,

and learn from me;

for I am gentle and humble in heart,

and you will find rest for your souls.

For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light.

Matthew 11:28-30

 

Dear Seeker

Where do your priceless days go, and what stays with you at day’s end?

 

Where has all the time gone;

the rocking-chair time for sitting on porches,

for leisurely walks, visits with friends, and extending family?

 

What about table-talk time;

listening to children’s tales, attending to neighbors needs,

and noticing nature’s marvels? Where has all that time gone?

 

And what has happened to grieving time;

exposing our hearts to the troubles and terrors of today;

feeling the shell’s concussion, faces moistened by tears for our kin?

 

Who has taken this time away;

to listen, to linger, to learn, to lament

with those for whom the world has not the time of day?

 

small bells

All things by immortal power

Near and far

Hiddenly

To each other linked are.

Thou canst not stir a flower

Without troubling of a star.

Francis Thompson

Each evening a thousand images flash before our eyes.

We blink, and the imprints fade to oblivion.

Such busy-body living leaves us impermeable.

 

This holy day,

amid the rubble of a hundred conflicts,

thousands of God’s children languish in hunger.

 

Malnutrition will claim

almost half the young lives that will be taken today.

This year alone, three million children will perish famished.

     

Who has the time

to take this in,

to ponder, wait and wonder?

 

Where is there room to claim

our sister and our brotherhood,

our neighbor and our creaturehood?

 

Blessed are the single-hearted,

for they shall enjoy much peace.

If you refuse to be hurried and pressed,

if you stay your soul on God,

nothing can keep you from that clearness of spirit

which is life and peace.

In that stillness you will know what [God’s] will is.

Amy Carmichael

Most of us

are caught in rapid currents

whose pull appears impossible to resist.  

 

This age of too-much-tasking,

tempts us with constant communication

and the promise of fast, free and full lives.

 

Still, we who deal with a daily onslaught of choices,

mired in the opulence of opportunity,

stay blind to the hungry-thirsty cost of living.

 

This life is a precious pearl,

to relish, reverence, suffer and share,

in all its myriad aspects and opalescent hues.

 

May we never confuse abundant life

with over-planned, ever-busy,

over-full days.

 

In the midst of a protracted time famine,

in an age of empty bellies and overfilled plates,

we shoulder the gospel yoke by giving time and presence.

 

For the Gospel to be accessible

we need but make ourselves,

mind, heart and plans available.

 

Blessed are you who hunger and thirst

for justice,

for you will be filled.

Matthew 5: 6

 

Have you tasted yet the bitter delight

of sharing another’s pain,

felt hunger’s ache and indignation parch your throat?

 

Is this not how love is made real,

and how we are brought back to life;

by accepting the burden of enough, and choosing still to share.

 

So, how will you make enough time and space

for life to come back into focus today?

joe