Walk gently towards Him

Every day

No striving or straining

Simply looking to Him

Seek to follow Him

With a quiet trust

And a desire in your heart

To walk with Him always

His Footsteps will guide

And His Hand will hold

He will pick you up when you fall

And hold you in His Loving Embrace

Seek to serve His Kingdom of Love

In every small way you can

Let His Love so fill your heart

That you may always give love to others

This day and every day

Amen

Blossom in Girton’s Orchard. Photo by Liliana Janek

The first of May, that magical turn of the year, that full opening of spring which must always bring hope, seems like a good day to share an episode of my Quarantine Quatrains which celebrates the experience of listening to birdsong. I hear it when I am sitting, writing in my hut, and again drifting through the open window as I sit in my study, and always, as Hopkins says ‘my heart in hiding’ stirs for a bird’.

I have now completed the whole Quarantine Quatrain series, which consists, as the word Quarantine implies, of forty quatrains. These are arranged in to seven sections, one for each day of the week, and tomorrow, the 40th day of our lockdown, I will post the whole poem in its proper order. But here in a little May Day preview, is the little section that…

“The Joy
of the Lord
is my strength…”

This I sing
when there seems to be
no good reason for singing.

But this is a Joy
beyond all circumstance
and beneath mere feeling;

It is part of the fabric
of Our Being.
It is the wellspring
of our healing.

This Joy is
the Hopeful Song
of the slave
and the soft salted smile
by the side of the grave.

This Joy is made
of redemptive laughter;
as much for Here
as for Hereafter.

This Joy is made
of the Mother’s Tears
warm in our veins
when we face our fears.

This is the Joy
born of sorrow’s
cracked seed…

This is the Joy
of a soul
finally freed.

Not something
outside to be wished
or attained,
but inherently Human;
Divinely ingrained…

And so I sing
in the midst of the pain~

“The Joy
of the Lord
is my strength…”

~Cheryl…

Inner flame of love
Burn within me
Allow me to explore
The shadows without fear
Allow me to embrace
The light of your love
Allow the light and the dark to inform
Balance me within
In both the shadows and the light
May I see the wholeness you have created
In all things
May your light shine even in the darkness
In all things
May I find balance, rest, hope, awareness

“The accident of touching /is so rare! Sometimes /I pause my hand on purpose / and hope to find yours there.”

These are the last lines of a poem I wrote long ago.

But I realize now that’s what this blog is all about, a way of “pausing my hand on purpose,” and hoping to find you there.

It’s all about touching, isn’t it? Touching others with our lives, ourinsights and understanding, our memories and dreams, our poetry and art. Blogging meets this basic human need—to touch others and be touched in return.

We’ve all heard how physical touching is essential to human health and happiness. They say people can shrivel up and die for want of being touched or having someone to touch. A simple pat on the shoulder, a hug, ahand squeezecan make all the difference. Merely having a pet, they say, saves lives.

But there’s a basic…

Breathe in

Breathe deeply

Breathe in the Presence

Breathe in the Holy Spirit

Breathe it into your mind

And be stilled

Breathe it into your body

And feel Healing

Breathe it into your heart

And feel Love

Breathe it into your spirit

And be inspired

The Breath of God

Breathes constantly

Bringing Life into our lives

Resuscitating us

Renewing us

Reviving us

For it is very often as if we are starved

Of spiritual oxygen

Gasping for the Breath we need

To give us air

To fill us

And to intoxicate us

With love for the Spirit

And service to its Life

This day and every day

Amen