Keep awake, for you do not know
         in what moment your Love is coming.
                  —Matthew 24.42

When you wake up
God is already in your body before you slip into it.

At breakfast it occurs to you
how far away this banana came from.

On the morning commute you glance over
at someone who seems unremarkable,
but an unexpected spark of compassion flies up in you
in case they are actually enduring a tragedy.

The stranger in the headline is actually related to you.

Standing alone looking at a row of houses
you might accept the mystery
of the seeds of grace you have planted in unseen places.

A vision of your bit of selfishness passes by you
like stranger on the street.

You think again about the miracle
of that spark you felt this morning.

In the shop window you see God arranging a display,
only what you see is your reflection,
only what you see is her standing there with you.

In the quiet of your room, what comes to you is
a certain, calm Yes, though it is not yet clear
who or what it is for.

You are awake, waiting.

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

November 25, 2019

God, when I close my eyes to this world
         may your presence nudge me awake.
When I am weary and ready to quit,
         your passion for this world energize me.
When I am hopeless, your gaze raise me up.
         When I am afraid, your love enfold me.
When I am angry and want to blame,
         your kindness sweep me off my feet.
When I am bitter and ready to fight,
         your forgiveness quiet me.
When I find myself in a land of sorrow,
         your presence accompany me.
When I am broken and I despair,
         your delight make me whole.
God of grace, as you send me into this world
         may your hope live in me, your love, your joy.

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

November 22, 2019

 “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
                  —Luke 23.43

I don’t want a mighty warrior
who can threaten or destroy
the scary parts of my world.
I don’t want an engineer
to manufacture a nicer place.
I want in this very place
love stronger than fear,
that nothing can resist,
love that completes me,
your love that reigns supreme
even in my deepest anguish,
that accompanies me even, even
through devastation and trauma,
and even there offers me paradise
and even then
in your eyes
I am there.

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

November 21, 2019

We imagine
a mighty ruler
who might
order the world
as we wish it
and who in fact
should,
and so
we usually miss it
when God
with utter
powerlessness
we can’t overcome
appears
with oddly
a full bowl
but always
begging.

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

November 20, 2019

         “If you are the king, save yourself!”
                  —Luke 23.37

Condemned, scorned and disposed of,
whose life does not matter,
enthroned under the weight of a cross,
crowned with pain and humiliation,
holding a scepter of powerlessness:
the little man is a sad excuse for a king.

That is, if you seek an unmoved mover,
removed, impervious,
who will excuse you from life,
enabling you to be likewise.
You can have him.

Give me the one whose sovereignty
is to rule in all suffering,
to bless all pain by occupying it,
to shine the light of love
from inside the darkest night,
whom nothing can prevent
walking with us in our gravest trials.

Give me royalty under whose reign
every abuse and injustice,
even toward the least honorable, is treason;
whose decree, even from within
our public agony and secret prison cells,
is paradise.

You can have your mighty warrior.
Give me the little man with holes in his hands
whose heart is never far from mine,
whose imperial reign is right where I am.

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

November 19, 2019

Rain comes down
like prayer
between the trees.
The ground is soaked.

A line of geese, singing,
circles the valley
as if wandering,
going their distances.

Trees, these prayers, reach down
into mysteries, converse unheard.
I walk among them.
I walk among them.

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

November 18, 2019

Beloved, I awake
in the glory of morning
and you lie beside me
still sleeping
and I see how beautiful your face is,
how lucky I am that you are with me,
and this becomes my only will:
to be here with you.

Prayer is the silence
after we’ve both said this
to each other.

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

November 15, 2019

You are the Silence that remains silent with me,
the Presence I cannot sense, the Embrace I cannot feel.

Like a tourist I want pictures, but there is Nothing there,
only you, abiding, evading my calls for sensation.

I confess my desire to feel alive rather than
simply being alive, being present, being yours.

I give myself over to be yours without knowing,
to be beheld without beholding, without needing more.

I am the night in which you move unseen,
I am the morning that has become light

without knowing how.

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

November 14, 2019

         Nation will rise against nation…
         there will be earthquakes… famines and plagues…
         dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
         They will arrest you and persecute you….
         This will give you an opportunity to bear witness.
                  —from Luke 21.10-13

Amidst the chaos and evil of the world
you bring something different.
You are not tainted by the world’s fear and hatred.
You bear love to the world.
To nations in warlike frenzy
or to neighbors afraid
or to families upset and struggling
you bring peace.
You bring trust in God.
Their resentment and resistance
is your opportunity to love.
Their craziness is deadly.
Hold steadfast to love;
that’s how you stay alive.
“By your endurance you will gain true life.”

____________________
Weather Report

Signs and portents
on earth and in the heavens,
fire and smoke and great storms,
and unseasonable cold.
None of which changes
the low pressure zone that produces
the great calm within you.

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

November 13, 2019

I’m going to be a mess today.
Not by any effort, but simply because
I’m a mess.
I will be fragile today,
small and incomplete. 
I’ll be broken a bit, not completely,
but enough. Damaged.  Bent.
And you will love me.
I’m going to be no better
than the total failure I despise,
no more deserving than the worst of them.
And you will love me.
But then, I will be no less worthy
than the Virgin Mary
and you will love me.
Because your love has nothing to do with my deserving,
but your infinite goodness,
your infinite goodness,
your infinite goodness.

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

November 12, 2019