The 60-Second Sabbath

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Psalm 46:10, Exploded

"Be still
    and know that I am God."

Sit in silence
    and know that I am God.
Quiet your mind
    and know that I am God.
Stop your restless rumination and internal, verbal regurgitation
    and know that I am God.
Stop throwing words at me
    and know that I am God.
For heaven's sake, shut up
    and know that I am God.

Set aside your ego
    and know that I am God.
Release the need to be right
    and know that I am God.
Empty yourself
    and know that I am God.

Make space for me
    and know that I am God.
Welcome stillness
    and know that I am God.
Embrace quiet
    and know that I am God.

Be still
    and know that I am God.
Simply be
    and know that I am God.

Today, now
    be still.

Text and image © 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Welcome Back, Winter

Oh, Winter, dear, you heard my plea;
    you have returned to play with me,
to chill my nose and make it run,
    to fling your flakes in reckless fun.

I welcome you with open arms
    embracing all your bracing charms.
Please let me be your troubadour
    as temps tonight drop down to 4.

So cuddle up and settle in
    with cocoa spiced with cinnamon,
and maybe, yes, a shot of schnapps
    and whipped cream piled high on top.

Ah, Winter, how I missed you so.
    Now bring the snow and let it blow.
You're back to gladden child-like souls,
    as we your shivery gifts extol.

Welcome back!

Text and image © 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

 

Epiphany, 2025

Happy Epiphany,
    the day that celebrates the arrival of the kings,
but more importantly,
    the day that proclaims
that the Light has arrived,
    Light for all,
no matter our creed, race, or nationality.

Light for all people!
    Hallelujah! 
Gloria in excelsis deo!

Last night was 12th night,
    the final night of Christmas (officially/liturgically).
Some celebrate 12th night
    by baking a "King's Cake,"
eaten today, on Epiphany.
    Some wait until 12th Night
to place the three kings in their Nativity scenes.

I put away our Nativity today,
    tenderly rewrapping each figure 
in that old tissue paper,
    gently placing them back in the box.

The cats helped,
    Dickens attacking the paper each time I reached for it,
and Miko and Abby climbing into the box.

Eventually all was completed,
    everyone (and every critter)
tucked away until December, 2025
    (or perhaps November, as the Spirit moves).

May the new year bring Light to us all,
    compassion and humility to our divided nation
comfort to our hurting world,
    healing to our broken hearts,
companionship, acceptance, joy, and respect.

Happy Epiphany, all!

Text and image © 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Winter, Are You There? (Christmas, Day 6)

Winter, where are you?
    Have you abandoned us?
End of a snowless December,
    drought and tinder and strong winds--
fire danger high.

Winter, where are you?
    60 degrees, sunny as October.
December's been mostly 50s
    and nights nearly too warm
for the flannel sheets.

Where's our cold? our snow?
What happened to bundling up?
    to stocking caps and mittens?
to nights snuggling with each other
    and the cats?
Where are the snowflakes, snowfalls,
    snowfolks, snowballs?

Dear Winter,
    have we somehow offended you?
Are you skipping us this year?
    Or do you plan to wallop us come January?

If the latter,
    bring it, frigid friend!

Text and image © 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Christmas, Day 5

I hang suspended between
    Christmas and New Years.

I swing slowly in the hammock
    of nonengagement,
strung from one maple to another
    in the shady yard of childhood.

This week has always been thus:
    vacation from school as a kid,
home from college as a young adult,
    extra days off when I was working,
the busyness of Christmas behind me
    (though not its wonder),
a new year lurking in the winter shadows,

and one delightful week of nothingness.

I hide in the hammock.
    Where is Dirk? they wonder.

He's reflecting, grateful and at peace.
    He's remembering,
grieving a little,
    letting go,
looking and listening to what's here and now.

What's out there and out then
    simply not relevant,
not in this moment.

Just this,
    suspended between the incarnation and the incoming.

I close my eyes and exhale.

Text and image © 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Gloria in Excelsis Deo!*

(*originally posted in 2013)

Let your Christmas glorias
resound long and loudly
into this new year.

Why save them for December?

    Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Are you afraid you may run out?

    Gloria in excelsis Deo!   

Such is not the nature of glorias,
not for the people of the Mystery.

    Gloria in excelsis Deo!

From the people of the Mystery
wells an unsparing decadence of glorias.

    Gloria in exclesis Deo! 

Text and image © 2013, 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Cradled*

(*originally posted in 2019)

The bed cradles the mattress,
    the mattress my pillow;
the pillow cradles my head,
    and my head, my brain.

My brain cradles my dreams,
    and those dreams hold the memories
of Christmases past,
    not only mine, but yours as well,
not only ours,
    but those of Christmas dreamers of two millennia,

back, back to that first Christmas morning--
    angelic pronouncements,
songs and dances and feasting in heaven
    and in the dreams of all on earth,
the dreams of trees and snow-laden hills,
    of dessert streams and dazed shepherds,
of the millions, stirring in sleep,
    hearts quickening, not knowing the how or why,
only that something has changed, shifted
    and humanity, cradled now and forever
in the hands of God,
    in the cradle that holds the child.

Text and image © 2019, 2024 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.