If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off;
         it is better for you to enter life maimed
         than to have two hands and to go to hell,
         to the unquenchable fire.
                   —Mark 9.45

The hand that causes you to stumble
is not at the end of your arm. It’s deeper than that.

What is the hand in you
that reaches for what is not yours? Cut it off.
There is nothing you need to grasp.

What is the eye in you that does not look with love?
Pluck it out. The eyes of love are good enough.

What are the feet in you that that won’t trust,
that lead you away from the path of love?
Cut them off. You don’t need to go there.

Does it sound harsh? Don’t worry,
they’re not part of the real you.
Besides, they’ll grow back.

The Teacher is not asking you to maim yourself.
He is inviting you to name what interferes,
and to take away its power.
He’s leading us out of the unquenchable fire
of our fears, desires and attachments.

Without our grasping, fearful, compulsive parts,
perhaps then we will rely more
on the eyes and hands and feet of Jesus.

This pruning is how we become whole. 

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

September 23, 2021

Autumn comes with a little woven basket
for gathering, harvesting.
She looks at the garden, and you.

A time of plucking,
of saying “Good enough.”
Greater dreams go to the compost pile.

Laying out the fruits, admiring,
thanking, forgiving, noticing
what thrived or didn’t.

Colors deepen,
textures grow small, grasslike.
What is fragile looks boldest in its dying.

Shadows come out of their hiding.
Footfalls rustle.
Chill knocks, and enters.

A time of cherishing, and laying to rest.
Held by a deeper turning, remembering
the seeds we save.

In every space now a grave silence opens,
and singing, grateful,
balanced on this moment.


On the first day of spring
this is what you remember.
Letting go, you dive in.

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

September 22, 2021

         Whoever is not against us is for us.
                   —Mark 9.40

Those who seek truth
gather toward it,
and so approach one another.
Languages and religions, these do not matter!

God grant me humility
to sojourn with all the pilgrims
on the Way with me,
to drink from their cup,
to learn from their learning,
to help each other wander.

Even my enemy is a good teacher
if every moment
I am ready to learn.

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

September 21, 2021

         The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.
                   —James 5.16

God is not a fix-it man.
God is not a guy
who (sometimes) does what we ask
(though clearly not always).
God is love. Love is the only power God has.
Love doesn’t fix things.
Love liberates, blesses, connects, accompanies.
Love sees, honors, and gives itself—gives the giver—
to the beloved.
But love doesn’t solve problems, get jobs, end wars,
cure cancer, or rescue people from danger.

Praying isn’t asking for stuff, even very good stuff.
It’s paying attention to God.
We hold our hopes, fears and desires
in the light of God’s love, so, yes, we say what we want.
But we listen more deeply to what we really want,
and what we want more than that.
And mostly we listen for what God wants—
what God is already doing,
here even in our unmet needs, our “unanswered” prayers.

Love is an energy like electricity, a force field like gravity.
When we give ourselves to God
we tune ourselves to love,
we harmonize with the oneness of all things
(we are one in the Spirit),
we add our love to God’s.
We increase the power of love in the world.
That doesn’t fix things. But it changes them.

The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective
because it puts us in tune with love,
so miracles can happen, even if just in us.

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

September 20, 2021

When we listen for the voice of God
we don’t usually hear big revelations
or great pronouncements.
We hear God’s patter,
divine murmurings
as God goes about the house—
like, “Well, look at that,”
or “I see you.”
A mother murmuring to her infant,
small talk, terms of endearment,
sweet nothings.

Listen for that.

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

September 17, 2021

         A capable wife who can find?
      She is far more precious than jewels.
                   —Proverbs 31.1


Yes, praise an industrious wife,
         with a good business head,
productive and wise
         (who sounds eternally busy….).
Praise a woman who excels
         in work men think their own.
         Praise, and do not be so surprised.

But, too: praise a capable person, married or not,
         who takes care of herself,
who honors both her calling and her limits,
         who rests when she needs to.
She is capable in work, assertive and wise,
         but more so in heart, attentive and generous,
able to appreciate beauty,
         abundant in forgiveness,
         kind, and a good listener.
She is strong, with courage to stay true to herself,
         and capacity to endure for the sake of love.
No one determines her worth;
         she knows it.
No one chooses her path;
         she owns it.
She is God’s Beloved, and does not apologize;
         and she sees that light in others.
Even when burdened by despair
         she carries the light within her.
Praise the capable person whose spirit is light,
         whose heart is love.
Praise, praise,
         and give thanks.

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

September 16, 2021

         Show by your good life
         that your works are done
         with gentleness born of wisdom.
                   —James 3.13



Beloved,
be my wisdom,

my way of seeing,
knowing by your love.

Be my gentleness,
my soul meeting another.

Let my wisdom be
tender respect for all.

You who are so gentle with me,
by your grace

let my gentleness
be my good life.

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

September 14, 2021

         They are like trees planted by streams of water,
                  which yield their fruit in its season,
         and their leaves do not wither.
                  In all that they do, they prosper.
                            —Psalm 1.3



Roots seek resolutely.
         God moves underground,
                  flows up.

Effortless!—
         (the work is in the offering)—
                  rich fruit.

Root deeply.
         Ripen gently.
                  Give thanks.

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

September 13, 2021

         “Do you see these great buildings?
         Not one stone will be left here upon another.”
                   —Mark 13.2

When the towers fell
it seemed the center of the world had vanished,
but the center, it turns out, is elsewhere.
When the towers fell
it seemed the end of the world,
but wars and rumors
have come and gone, and here we are.
They said everything changed
but nothing changed.
Empires come, and pass. Stones fall.
Hate and anger are still unable to build, but only destroy.
Still some people harm; some bless.
We seek stones unfallen, but stones still fall.
Even stones are made of smoke.

Listen. Things happen, things pass;
but they don’t express God’s love for you.
That’s constant. And so is God’s invitation.

Now—before the tower of this moment falls—
is the time to decide whether to be kind and how,
whether to show mercy.
This is the moment—unchanging—
and always has been, the moment
to love.

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

September 11, 2021

When you feel despair,
the dread that all is lost,
when there is no hope,
when you fear the struggle will overwhelm you,
you may feel God is absent, or uncaring.
But take heart.
Even your despair is God in you.
Despair is just the dark side of hope:
believing in something greater than what you see.
This can only come from God,
from the Beloved within you,
yearning for life.
Even if all you have is the yearning,
all you have is God,
who will not give up on the yearning,
will not give up on you.

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

September 9, 2021