The 60-Second Sabbath

Being Still

"Be still,
be still,
be still
and know
that I
am God."

Not
engage in another Bible study
and know that I
am God.

Not
sing hymns and songs of praise
and know that I
am God.

Not
hold a prayer meeting
and know
that I
am God.

Certainly
Bible studies
and songs of praise
and prayer meetings
have their place.
They can teach us about God,
about others,
about ourselves.

But if you want to know God?
That you do in stillness,
in silence,
in empty waiting,
in holy emptying.

Then, finally,
there is space for God.

Be still
and know.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Union

Evelyn Underhill (great English mystic)
observes that
the parable of the Prodigal Son
is "the history of the universe."

We all have wandered,
squandered,
and we are all seeking to return;
we yearn for union
(again, as once it was)
union with this virgin world,
union with ineffable love.

And this world,
this love,
waits with wide arms
to welcome us back.

Our prodigal souls
stumble home.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Follow Me

Follow me,
and I will lead you out of prison,
and--
even better--
I will lead you home.

Follow me,
and I will unfold you,
    smooth you,
    open and reveal you,
like a white sheet
on a freshly made bed.

Follow me,
and we will climb the hill together
and open the gate
that leads to the expansive meadow
of your craving.

Follow me,
and we will embrace the contradictions,
appropriate the divine life
at the heart of your being.

Follow me,
and we will walk together
into the Real.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Listening for Echoes

Today
I shall listen for echoes,
for those moments
when another's experience or insight
resonates with mine--

    "Ah, that's it.
    That's what I've known.
    That's what I've forgotten.
    That's what I could not say."

I welcome these echoes of deep wisdom,
    deeper purpose,
    deepest connection.

Today,
listen for echoes.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Admission

One sad eye,
    the other swollen and purple.
"He hits me," she admitted.

Inside he felt the shift:
    suspicion to certainty,
and then, in another second,
    from certainty to chivalry:
"Leave him," he blurted.

    Weak smile:
"Not that easy."

Further shift:
    chivalry to anger,
heat rising, mind cranking;
    he knew someone, would call,
be the knight...

    "Don't make it worse."

She was so calm.
    Why so calm?

"This is news to you,"
    she continued.
"I've lived it, known it.
    One can't escape.
It's so complicated."

    Yes he knew, had read,
but now it was across the table,
    now it came close as a colleague,
a friend, a part of him.

    "Don't surrender,"
he said.

    Don't give me hope,
she thought.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

Ant's View

As human beings
we necessarily view life,
    the world,
    relationships,
    religion,
    politics,
    other cultures,
    etc.
through a narrow lens
that provides an ant's view
of the vast backyard of what's real.

An ant's view.

This calls for humility.

Try very hard
not to mistake
your limited perspective
for the whole.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

The J Train

Let's call it
    the J Train.

It's the journey taken
    by Jonah,
    Jeremiah,
    Job,
    John the B
    and Jesus--
the J Men--
each riding his own darkness,
    loneliness,
    suffering,
    doubt,
    despair
before finding light,
    wholeness,
    relief,
    hope,
    resurrection.

All God's children
    have tickets on the J Train,
and we will ride
    whether we want to or not.
Are you riding now?
    (rejected? silenced? sad?)

Who's that across the aisle?

We travel in good company.

 Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

 

T-Shirts

Oh, the deep spirituality
of T-shirts:

    Jesus loves you
    but I'm his favorite.

    Sometimes
    I open my mouth
    and my mother comes out.

    I don't want you
    to think like me.
    I just want you
    to think.

    Karma takes
    way too long.
    I'd rather just
    smack you
    right now.

And finally:

    Note to self:
    Just because
    it pops into my head
    does not mean it should
    come out of my mouth.

Any to add?

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Three Questions

Three questions for an examined life:

    Where do you see injustice?

    Where do you experience injustice?

    Where do you inflict injustice?

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.

Let's Dance

Let's go beyond concepts and definitions
to life itself.

Let's stop looking to define
    God,
    spirituality,
    faith...

The Beloved waits
just outside the door,
    hand outstretched.
The music plays,
    a song without words.

Shut the book;
close the browser;
join the dance.

Text and image © 2015 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.