Swept away

At first,

the way of Your Love seemed easy.

I thought I'd reach ...Your union with speed.

After taking a few steps,

I found the way

is an ocean.

When I stepped in, a wave swept me away. "

                                             Awhad al- Din Kirmani

___________________________________________

It seems simple enough

This whole spiritual thing

After all Jesus said it only involved two things

Well, maybe three

Loving Sacred

Loving self

Loving others

But what a mess we have made of the whole things

In the name of loving Sacred

We decimate the earth

We start wars

We kill others

In the name of serving others

We abuse children

And teach hate

And as to ourselves

We either hide behind the ramparts

Of righteousness

Or we debase ourselves

This is not easy

This Sacred way

We so struggle to find our place at the table

Sacred Children

Perhaps the problem is that we focus on

Written words

Instead of the living Word

We look to laws and precepts

Rather than empowering presence

And we pick what we like

That which eases or feeds our fear

Or which supports our prejudices and preferences

But we are called

To let it all go

To go “all in”

To consume sacred presence

The way we consume food

To allow the sacred to become part of us

Bound to our bones

Inescapable, inseparable

And thus

Be driven to accept,

To forgive

To give

To show compassion

To love

Not in safe ways

But in ways that are risky

Scary

Overwhelming

The way is an ocean

May we be willing

To be swept away