The 60-Second Sabbath

The Cabin

We built a cabin in the woods
    of plastic bricks
and wires thin as thread
    that lead to lights
small as grains of rice.

We built a cabin in the woods,
    and a tiny toilet,
a tiny fireplace,
    a tiny kitchen sink,
a tiny desk--
    everything needed
for tiny human comfort
    for tiny imagined comfort.

We built a cabin in the woods,
    flanked by trees
to keep it cool in summer
    and a sturdy roof of planks
to keep away the winter snows.

Who will occupy our cabin in the woods?
    We have already moved in.
I've loaded up the woodshed.
    He's rocking on the front porch.
A tiny fire burns
    in our tiny fireplace,
and our tiny hearts
    are at home.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Morning Prayer

When I awaken,
    my God,
remind me once more
    that you live
deep within me,
    that at my core,
your image
    is one with mine.

I so easily forget
    that you are woven
into the fabric of humanity;
    we are designed
to look and walk
    and smell of you.

When I awaken,
    let me awaken to this knowing--
a mystery,
    a strength,
a beauty.

Let me awaken,
    each morning,
into such
    amazing
Oneness.

Text and image © 2023 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

Breath of the Eternal

God breathes in us
    and in the world.
God breathes through us
    and through the world.

This in-breath,
    this out-breath--
creative, embodying,
    incarnating, enlivening:

Christ-breath,
    Spirit-breath,
Christ breathing,
    Spirit breathing.

This inhalation--
    God rebirths the world,
this exhalation,
    creation healed, completed.

We breathe,
    and God breathes;
God breathes,
    and we breathe,

We rise and fall
    on the Breast of God,
we, the breath of God:
    God breathes us.

Holy inhalation,
    holy exhalation:
God breathes us;
    we breathe God--

O, breath of the Eternal!

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

These Words

These words in my head
    are authored by God.
Who am I
    not to voice them?

These images in my eyes
    are impressed by God.
Who am I
    not to disclose them?

These songs in my chest
    are composed by God.
Who am I
    not to sing them?

The aching of my heart
    is a gift from God.
Who am I
    not to seek solace?

The words in your head,
    the images in your eyes,
        the songs in your chest,
            the ache in your heart--
Who are you not to?

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.

Meant for Joy

You fashion us for joy,
    yet it eludes us.
You mean us for joy,
    yet pain blinds us to it--
        the world's pain,
        our community's pain,
        our family's pain,
        our pain.

And still,
    you fashion us for joy:
to hear the spring robin's
    celebration of companionship,
to observe the curves
    of an unfolding August rose,
        to inhale that velvet scent,
        to recognize beauty among thorns,
to gasp at blooming fireworks,
    to dance with a laughing child,
to canoe across a silent lake,
    to be stilled by gentle snowfall.

Joy.

We do know joy,
    do we not,
but fear to allow it
    because it feels like a betrayal--
what right have we to joy
    in a world of so much pain?

Yet still,
    you fashion us for joy.

I know pain;
    I know it in this moment,
yet I shall reach for joy,
    know joy,
        embrace joy
this day,
    this hour,
        now:
the cat purring against my hip,
    the furnace stirring to life,
        the skin of this orange as I peel it,

this breath...

because you fashion us for joy.

Text and image © 2023 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.
Visit PhotosByDirk.com for fine-art photography.
Visit The60SecondSabbath.com, where spirit and image merge.