At The Edge of Our Longing

God speaks to each of us only in making us
And the walks silently with us out of the night.
But the words before our beginning,
cloudy words are these:

"Sent out by your senses,
Go to the edge of your longing,
Give me something to wear.

Flare up like a fire behind all things,
So that their shadows expand
to always cover me fully.

Let everything happen to you: Beauty and terror
Just keep going: No feeling is the farthest out.
Do not let yourself be parted from me.
Near is the land
which they call life.

You will know it
by its earnestness.

Give me your hand."

Rainer Maria Rilke
(translated by Br. David Steindl-Rast,OSB)

taken from The Edge of Our Longing - Unspoken Hunger for Sacredness and Depth
by James Conlon, pg10

Courage Sweet Friend, In Your Story

I have, through the struggle and climb through depression and oppression, found that to embrace every piece of my own story, is to own my own story and value it, and to find Love and the Beloved fully present through it all. The road has, and always will, have mountains, valleys, every weather and emotion pattern we were created to experience. Some will understand and walk with us, others hide their own heart by hiding from us.

Frederick Buechner writes:
“Our choice is this. It is to choose to believe that the truth of our story is contained in Jesus’ story, which is a love story. Jesus’ story is the truth about who we are and who the God is who Jesus says loves us. It is the truth about where we are going and how we are going to get there, if we get there at all, and what we are going to find if we finally do. Only for once let us not betray the richness and depth and mystery of that truth by trying to explain it.”

This beautiful thought that our story is a love story with Jesus is something that can get lost in the pain, or in the strange views of grace and the Giver of grace that are out there. Today I think of this truth and love story in the context of a friend who is bravely journeying into her story. It is a beautiful love story that this traveller is beginning to see and I hold out courage for the journey into truth and freedom, hope and wisdom.

Reading this quote of Buechner brought tears to my eyes as I thought of the beauty of courage that it takes for each one who chooses to walk into the truth of what they have experienced, what they cannot comprehend and somehow to be able to live with the questions and not stay stuck there. It can be such a lonely walk through this forest, or desert, and those who stay there with us are so important.

Isaiah wrote:
“Look, I’ve written your names on the backs of my hands. The walks your rebuilding are never out of my sight.”

Like a jigsaw puzzle, every single piece has been written on by the Almighty and will be used to rebuild the walls of the heart.

Courage sweet friend in your journey into this amazing love story that is yours! It is hard work and I know you are tired. Courage sweet friend as you keep going. The climb is hard and long and seemingly endless. As you look back you can begin to see a view of hope. You are not alone - we are with you. Courage sweet friend as you continue to open this book of your life and feel the presence of the One who writes it with you.

Quote on Grace

"Grace is Christianity's best gift to the world, a spiritual nova in our midst exerting a force stronger than vengeance, stronger than racism, stronger than hate. Sadly, to a world desperate for this grace the church sometimes presents one more form of ungrace. Too often we more resemble the grim folks who gather to eat boiled bread than those who have just partaken of Babette's feast."
Philip Yancey

quote found in Sin Boldly - A Field Guide for Grace, pg 109
author: Cathleen Falsani