Category: Reflections

Jesus takes the law up a notch—
or, really, down: down into the depths:

not just what you do but why,
who you are in the world.

To not merely avoid murder,
or even anger, but to truly honor people.

To place your relationship with God
in your relationship with others.

To not merely avoid adultery or even lust
but to truly be faithful with another person.

To not merely avoid over-grand promises
but to be a person of profound integrity.

This is the grace of God, after all, toward you,
who has vowed to love, honor and cherish you.

Let the grace well up from within,
for the true law of God is pure joy.

         [Mt. 5.21-37]

__________________
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•
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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It’s thirteen below on my morning walk.
The snow is rock, the brook is a brick.
Everything crackles. The air itself is brittle.

Yet chickadees and nuthatches work the oaks
in their bare feet, on their tiny ankles.
Life prevails, sustained by a mystery within.

There are seeds that sprout after thousands of years.
Pine cones that open only after forest fires.
Survivors of child abuse who turn out lovely.

There is some force of life in you
that can’t be put out, that is—what’s the word?—
Eternal.

Shelter that spark. Give thanks.
Layer up if you have to. But trust it.
It will keep you. It will keep you.


______________
Weather Report

Frigid,
but only outside
you. What is within
is not subject to passing storms.

---

Audio version:

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

February 6, 2023

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God, sometimes I don’t have what it takes.
I don’t have the gumption to get things done,
the creativity to produce,
the Stuff to make things happen.
Sometimes it’s just not there.

Help me accept this, as you accept me.
Give me faith to simply be in the present moment,
and know that I am your Beloved.
Give me the grace to be present, attentive and loving.

I ask your help and trust your mercy.
Amen.


________________
Weather Report

Becalmed,
as winds are exhausted,
and dramatic storms fail to appear,
and the sun rises and sets
anyway.

________________

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           You are the salt of the earth.
                           —Matthew 5.13

You don’t aspire to saltiness.
It is who you are.

It’s the taste of being an element of earth
and an element of God.
Your saltiness is your faithfulness
to who God is in you.

The You of who you are
gives salt to this world.
It’s a quality that remains
even as it goes out into the stew of life
and adds to its savoriness.

Be true to your salt.
It will bring out the goodness in others.

______________________

Audio version:

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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Every act of justice,
every act of compassion or mercy
is a light, a star in the night of this world.

You may think your efforts small and meaningless.
You may think they make no difference.
But go out and look up at the stars.

Which one should not have reached out in love?
Which one should never have bothered
to act in courage and compassion?

They all shine until they are swept up
in the great light
of the One who dawns among us.

None of them rids the night of its darkness.
Yet God walks out and looks at them all
and smiles.

__________________

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•

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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           You are the light of the world.
                           —Matthew 5.14

Einstein told us:
matter is just energy holding still.

Light is the energy of God,
which is love moving.

“Let there be light,” God said,
and you were conceived.
You are love made matter,
Word made flesh,
the light of God, the light of Being,
momentarily here in this form,
shining, radiating God.

You don’t need to produce it
or generate it. It’s who you are.
When you are truly yourself

it shines.

The world sparkles
with people walking around gleaming.
Even on our deathbeds, we glow.

Trust your light. Give thanks.
Open the shutters of your lantern.

           Let your light so shine before others,
           that they may see by it,
           and glorify God.

_______________________

Audio version:

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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My mind skips.
        My soul sits.

My mind wants.
        My soul thanks.

My feelings shout.
        My soul listens.

My body waits.
        My soul waits.

And God, my Love,
        is present.

_______________________

Audio version:

Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

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Holocaust Remembrance Day

God of Mercy, open my eyes to your goodness.
Open my eyes to the other stuff, too.
Keep me aware of the injustice that is around me,
the signs of oppression, the victims of hate.
Keep me always mindful that I am capable of evil.
Help me be honest about my complicity in systems
that blame, exploit, dehumanize or exclude people.
Rather than say “Never again!”—as if it lies the future—
help me be aware of the present moment
and how I can stand today with the vulnerable,
and against injustice.
Each moment is a choice.
Be with me in my choosing.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

            “Follow me, and I will have you fish for people.”
                           —Matthew 4.19

What net might I cast into the sea of my life
that would make me a fisher of people?
Only love.
Not my desires and expectations, not my being right.
Only experiencing their belovedness
will draw them to God.
Regard them all, friend, enemy and stranger,
with the infinite gentleness and respect of Christ,
the delight and compassion of God.
A great multitude, all of Creation,
is held in that gleaming net.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net

           Blessed are the poor in spirit,
           for theirs in the realm of heaven.
                           —Matthew 5.3

Eternal God,
I humbly confess my riches,
illusory as they are,
to which I cling:
that I am right,
that I am acceptable, or ought to be,
that I have reason to be beloved,
or to be abandoned.
I have hoarded worthiness
and unworthiness.
I have kept account.

I am sorry, and I renounce
my whole account,
and all to which I cling.
I repent of the wealth
of what I think and what I fear
and what I want.

O I am truly poor; I have nothing
but this one breath, and its release,
and my openness to you.

Bereft as air, I await
the song of your grace
to fill me, bless me, redeem me.

Keep me free,
and sustain my blessed poverty,
an open hand,
reaching out in this present moment,
to your open hand.

__________________
Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net