The 60-Second Sabbath

Seeking God

Do you seek God?
Where have you looked?
    here and there?
    high and low?
    below and above?

How have you searched?
Have you read books?
    attended workshops?
    sweated in a lodge?
    drummed in a circle?
    meditated, retreated, prayed, worshiped?

Do you still feel disconnected?
    close, but no cigar?

I have a secret for you:
    Where your soul is, there is God.
    Where God is, there is your soul.
    Your soul is here within, closer than your breath.
    God is here within, closer than your breath.

Stop. Breathe. Listen.
Attend to what is already so.
Your search has ended.
Hallelujah!

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision

I Am Still Dirk

This pain has been with me
    for a year and a half.
In the last six months
    it has been consistent and debilitating.

"Don't let your pain define you,"
    said the therapist.
Tell that to the pain,
    I say.

I understand what he meant,
    that there is so much more to me
than my pain;
    I am still Dirk, despite it.

But at times the pain takes over
    like an opinionated, pushy house guest
who shoulders everyone else aside
    hijacking conversations,

taking up more than his share of our limited space,
    overwhelming me.
I can't focus, can't concentrate, can't escape;
    he talks so loudly, rarely pausing--

louder than the book I try to read,
    the poem I struggle to compose,
the emails I want to write,
    louder than blogging, photography, cooking, sleep--

pain louder than life,
    pain louder than life...

___

"But you're blogging right now, aren't you?"
    Yes...yes, I am.
"And how is that happening?"
    Because this week, the house guest seems somewhat subdued.

Perhaps someone had a word with him.

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision

Always

I sing the Song
    that has always sung me.

I embrace the Embrace
    that has always held me.

I draw the Breath
    that has always breathed me.

I love the Love
    that has always loved me.

----

Come sing the Song
    that has always sung you.

Come embrace the Embrace
    that has always held you.

Come draw the Breath
    that has always breathed you.

Come love the Love
    that has always loved you.

 

Text and image © 2020 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Have you ordered your copy of Contemplative Vision: Photography as a Spiritual Practice? 
Follow this link: https://www.churchpublishing.org/contemplativevision