Invocation

Life Stuff

Cradle me here,

Between Your completeness and Your faithfulness

And let me surrender to the divine ache

That is my beating heart, my swelling lungs.

Let me feel the throb, the loneliness that is

Nudgings of eternity even here—especially here.

Teach me to make a companion of the deep stir

That reminds me I am made for more.

Make me joyful in the holy business

Of being one small particle in Your cosmic mosaic.

Let me lean into the disappointment

Of knowing there are not enough words to say Thank You,

To say Hallelujah, to say Let me bring You glory.

Help me not to be afraid of mystery,

But to welcome it as a necessary and even beautiful companion.

Make me comfortable with the knowledge

That when I try to articulate the deep things You have taught me,

I will always end up wordless.

Sometimes, language is too cheap.

And while I make space in my soul for these,

Help me also to make friends of the physical,

The visible, the touchable, the small.

Help me to pause, to notice, to wonder at

The garnishes of living that are so common

I forget they are gifts—

This place where my feet are standing;

Grass flicked by wind;

The hammock swaying from the porch like a grey gull’s nest;

Flute songs of chickadees;

Smoke from a toy campfire among the trees;

The smoothness of paper, the living-ness of words;

Laughter and voices of people I love.