Lectio Divina
The spiritual journey is full of paradoxes. One of them is that the humiliation that brings us down eventually takes us to a firmer and fuller sense of self. When people ask how it felt to emerge from depression, I can only give one answer: I felt at home in my own skin for the first time.
Parker Palmer
While he was still a long way off,
his father saw him and was filled with compassion.
Luke 15
Prayer
Lord
Who have I become?
Not against
the measure
of yesterday,
but the young man
who first heard
your voice?
I have lived inside
a pigsty of stories
that excuse my wrongs
and paint a man unbreakable.
Oh God of Grace
May every
crafted narrative
fall away
until I see
the child
who never needed
to be remarkable.
May the
clenched hands
of proving
at last
be loosened.
May my humiliations
be a balm
for the wounds
long wrapped
but never healed.
Until I am
at home
at rest
at peace
within every
holy limitation,
may your own story
unfold in me.
Amen
Blessing
Dear Friend
Home is found when striving ends.
May your weary feet find the road back to the country of God’s grace.
May you discover beneath every story you’ve told, a beloved child.
May the embrace of God find you this day.
May you also embrace your truest self.
In the Name of Christ
who welcomed every wanderer home
Amen