Precious child,
today you waken, and
before you set your feet on the firm ground
a sliver of last night’s dream rushes,
bolts through you,
the unknown, shattered pieces
you attempt to understand,
but a fear pervades, a confusion
persists. It doesn’t stop there.
One hundred times plus,
this very day, pieces of you will splinter,
flung to the far reaches of the world
where a comment made spins you wild,
where angry news whirls you with it,
where internal dialogue whisks you to doom.
All your frazzled self can do
is hang tight to the whisper in the wind,
the rainbow fleck of prism that dances on the walls.
This threshold you come upon,
day after day,
the place where resistance is met,
where in a blink, your
triggered self reacts,
here lies opportunity.
Right here.
The place of practice.
The space of spiritual formation.
The face of forgiveness. So,
when you are done reading this,
and you go back to your work,
your play, your rest,
and the unexpected meets you,
pause, breathe, come
back to center, where
the holy golden divinity of
God’s precious presence dwells.
In this safe space,
shout, thunder, wail, praise, and
remember the promise of
God with you
even
in the far flung reaches of
the world.

A note about the above artwork:
This artwork began months ago when I watercolored this in a sketchbook. At the time, I was sensing chaos and wanted to capture the firm center of God even as all else spins about. I knew it wasn’t finished, but didn’t press it. Last week, I knew I had to go back to it to complete what was started. I overlayed acrylic on top to brighten it and added the gold. Gold is the presence of God. I added the flecks of gold among the spinning colors to remind myself that while God is our center, God also comes with us in our whirling unknowns.

Last week’s post, Coming Back to Center (pt. 1) can be found here.