What if the bread you were eating
split apart― flour here, yeast there,
a puddle of water and a little pile of salt?

What if the stuff in your soup rose up,
the vegetables in little groups,
the broth purifying and purifying itself,
the meat wandering off to find its chicken?

What if your house divided― boards here, tile there,
paint in a place of its own but experiencing
some disagreement among colors,
nails, being metal, forming a loose alliance with the plumbing
but refusing to associate with wood,
the insulation sitting alone in contemplation,
window treatments rolled up and having nothing to do with anyone,
and all the glass stacked up on the lawn, weeping?

What if your legs stayed in bed,
your liver said, “None of that running around for me,”
your arteries said, “That right hand does some nasty things.
We’re not supplying it,”
and all ten fingers posted a Manifesto of Individuals’ Rights
and each formed its own caucus?

What if your thoughts, memories, words and beliefs
had nothing to do with each other?

Yeah, that would be crazy, wouldn’t it,
if we ever got to be like that?

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

Before God judges you
       God loves you.

Before God sees your sin
       God sees your wound.

Before God sees how you thrashed in the world
       God sees what you are fighting off.

Before God sees you steal
       God sees your hunger.

Before God sees the awful things you do to survive
       God wants you to survive.

Before God punishes you
       God protects you from further hurt,
because God never punishes,
       but wraps gentle arms around you.

God’s judgment is always
       that you need more love.

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

             Blessed are those who trust in the Present One,
              who entrust themselves to Love.
           They shall be like a tree planted by water,
              sending out its roots by the stream.
           It shall not fear when heat comes,
              and its leaves shall stay green;
           in the year of drought it is not anxious,
              and it does not cease to bear fruit.
                           —Jeremiah 17.7-8



You are rooted in Love,
roots way down deep.
Love feeds you.
Sustains you.
Holds you.
Depend not on your strength,
but the love that flows through you.
Now, in this moment,
you have what you need.
Root.

      Breath Prayer:
                                     Rooted … in love

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

You love someone who is not well.
They’re sick with something
they can’t overcome, at least not yet.
Sometimes they’re hurt by circumstances,
sometimes their choices work against them.
But you love them.
You will keep loving them,
being there for them, no matter what,
no matter how ugly it gets,
how brave or foolish they are.
You don’t know how this will turn out.
They may recover; they may not.
But you will be there for them to the end.
You won’t give up hope or commitment.
You will do what you can for their well-being,
gladly, no matter the outcome.
If they heal, it will be with your help.
If this is their last days,
you will fill those days with grace,
with love and light and blessing, and even joy
And you will be grateful to have been there
in those irreplaceable days.

The one you love
is the world.

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

           “Do not be afraid;
           from now on you will be fishers of people.”
                           —Luke 5.10


To be fishers of people
is to let the great net of your love
down into their lives,
trusting that there you will discover
miracles and blessings,
and draw them out.

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

          When Simon Peter saw it,
          he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying,
          “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
                           —Luke 5.8


Don’t believe the voices you hear
coming up out of the grave in your head,
snaking around you from the shadows,
saying you are not worthy.
Yes, a miracle shimmers under your feet,
yes, you draw wonders from dark mysteries,
yes, you hold the shoals of heaven in your hands,
yes, glory you can’t yet see is more than we can bear.
Yes, and you are worthy,
you are worthy.
The miracle beneath the surface
is not yours to hide.
Open yourself, and be astounded.
Then get up off your knees and come.
The world needs that light.

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

           “Put out into the deep water
         and let down your nets for a catch.”
                           —Luke 5.4

What might it mean for you
to let down your net in these deep waters?

To listen deeply to someone,
for what they are saying or not saying,
beneath the surface…

To seek even in your most disappointing failure
the blessing that lurks beneath…

To seek, in someone hard to love,
the divine child, wounded, hidden…

To let the net of your heart
down into the vast depths of humanity
and take it all in, with tender compassion….

To love this world
and let your heart down into its darkness,
trusting the grace of the Beloved schools there…

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

           Simon answered, “Master,
         we have worked all night long but have caught nothing.
         Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
                           —Luke 5.5



So much I already know,
but Teacher, you bid me begin again.

I want progress and productivity,
but Beloved, you bid me kneel again.

I treasure my choosing,
but my Guide and my Wisdom, you bid me obey.

For all my failure,
Blessed One, you tell me the fruit is unseen.


Sometimes going through the motions
of love
produces love.

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

           “Put out into the deep water.”
                           —Luke 5.4

The deep is not out there, of course,
but within,
deeper than words and ideas,
deeper than feelings and images,
past murky depths of deeper fears,
wounds submerged and mossy,
in the dark of the utmost terror and joy,
dreams shifting in the half light,
light shining down into the dark mystery,
the unseeable deeps,
the sea-deep silence, dense and still,
where the subterranean seam of blessing
rivers through unnamed hurt,
beyond you, in dark holiness,
where you are pressed in on but perfectly free,
as if the deeper and darker you go the lighter it is,
in the depths that know you, wait for you,
where everything only is—
there,

grace swims, shimmering, always beneath,
seldom visible, always deeper.

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