There was a rich man
         who was dressed in purple and fine linen
         and who feasted sumptuously every day.
         And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus…
                           —Luke 16.19-20

If I believed in a literal hell I would have to take note
that here and in the great judgment of the sheep and goats,
the one criterion for being sent up or down
is how we treat the poor.

Of course I give to the poor at the food bank.
But I still keep them outside my gate, don’t I?

And what of the socially homeless, the wounded,
the lonely, the scared, the trans, the different?
How do I cut myself off
from the hurting outside my gate?
How do I shelter myself in my privilege?
How do I love that gate?
What shields me from other people’s suffering,
from other people’s vulnerability?
Today will I even notice it?
What can I do today to open the gate,
to invite them in, or to go out?
Only when our gates are open can they become
the gates of heaven.

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

September 25, 2019

The “X” on your treasure map
         is usually a wound.

Your buried treasure takes a lot of digging,
         or sometimes just sitting there.

The latch on your treasure chest
         is usually a silly little thing.

But it seldom opens easily.
         You sealed it shut for a reason.

Sometimes the Beloved lifts it open for you.
         Or pushes it open from inside.

It’s bigger on the inside than the outside.
         You have to climb in.

There’s never anything in there.
         Just you, as you were created,

beloved,
         treasured.

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

September 24, 2019

First day of autumn,
stepping from summer’s ease,
letting go, mindful of letting go,
trees surrendering so much,
the thin mist of regret in the meadow,
shedded leaves of loss gently falling,
shallow stream of time flowing away,
so many things no longer in season,

                  and yet,

first day of something.
For my friends on the other side of the world,
the first day of spring.
From the other side
every departure
is an entrance,
every loss a liberation,
every end
a new beginning.

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

September 23, 2019

There is one Creation.
We are all it.
None of us is all of it,
but none is anything else.

When we give voice to the cry of the earth,
when we stand for reverence for Creation,
the universe speaks in us.
Those who stand to gain from greed and complacency
will ridicule us, that we have no power.
But they are alone
while we are one with the wind and seas.
The power of tides and rivers flows in us.
The hope of every living thing
sustains and empowers us.

In gratitude, we stand firm.
In hope, we cry out.
In deep belonging, we act boldly.
With the certainty of seasons we seek justice,
we practice reverence,
we exercise hope.

We are the earth.
This is our cry,
and this is our courage.

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

September 20, 2019

God, I confess
I’m in a hurry, so I mass produce my life.
I’ve sent you a lot of junk mail.
I live an entire day as a form letter.
Most of my deepest thoughts I’ve outsourced.
It’s all automated. Robots. Saves me time.
So much of what I say to people is autofill.
It’s awkward sometimes, but close enough.
I say I have you on speed dial, but
I don’t know your number.
Wouldn’t recognize your voice,
since I do all the talking, then hang up.
I get impatient if you don’t offer overnight shipping.
I’m in a hurry.

God, slow me down.
Give me the grace of reverence,
to live at a pace of awe and attentiveness.
Patient as a monk, a shadow, a bee.
I want to be present. Here. Now.
Let me be a lake still enough
to reflect the beauty around me.
Without knowing what’s next, or needing to.
For you, who create this day for me,
may my living it be handcrafted, fermented,
reverently, at the speed of delight.
May I be present.
Amen.

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

September 19, 2019

         No slave can serve two masters.
                  —Luke 16.13

God I admit: so often
I am trying to look good.
I’m serving the master of being right.
I’m loyal to the boss of my ego.

But I can walk away from that master.
I am free to serve you,
to belong to your grace alone,
to seek only to receive and give love.

Faithful in small things, to be faithful in great,
I submit to your grace.
Help me each moment to examine my loyalty
and serve only your love, absolutely devoted.

         Your love … alone.

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

September 18, 2019

The tiger chasing me is not real.
         The fear I am fleeing so well is imaginary.
                  There is actually no danger.

The palace I strain for so nobly is not real.
         My ambitions are a distraction.
                  There is no treasure there.

My fears and ambitions drive me,
         push and pull, before and behind,
                  yet they are so small, so small!

How puny my will is compared to yours.
         How weak must I become to gain
                  the infinite strength of your will?

Give me courage to stand still in what is real,
         to empty myself of my fears and desires
                  and be guided instead by your delight.

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

September 17, 2019

In the farmer’s market
each booth creates a world of smells,
a little universe of color, root, and leaf,
a song of music or of thread,
the scent of flowers, the smell of bread.
Each center breathes out its own creation
ringing out and overlapping every other,
a world of worlds to every other world singing.

And so among the people as they stroll
and as they go, and as they work and walk
accustomed streets and subway platforms,
each creates a little world that ripples out
and fills the world, a world of worlds.
Each one chooses, as you do, their colors,
gravities, aromas and their givens..
The world you live in others do as well.
Be mindful of its song, its light, its smell.

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

September 16, 2019

         They were grumbling and saying,
         “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
                  —Luke 15.2

The worst way of being lost isn’t
not knowing where you are
but knowing you’re in the wrong place:
feeling you don’t belong.
Righteous bullies will try to convince you
there’s no place for you.
Whatever it is about you they pick
it means you can’t be with us.
You belong elsewhere: nowhere.
Get lost.

Alas, poor frightened bullies,
there is no such thing.
Everyone belongs.
You have a place in this universe,
which was created with you in mind.
The world with no place for you
is an imaginary one.
The shepherd who doesn’t find you
isn’t yours.

You have a place of belonging in this world,
the lily in the pond, the note in the song,
and no one, no place, and no lack of place
can take it from you.
Beloved, you can lose your belongings
but you can’t lose your belonging.
You’re always in it.
You can’t get lost.

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

September 13, 2019

No map shows the street
where this house stands secretly,
full of light and music,
no street runs away from this home
that does not pass it by on all sides
and arrive, though travelers wander
in search, looking always too far,
consulting signs and charts,
sometimes asking directions
to this house that stands, full
of candlelight and song.
All the doors go in. People have
searched yet no one has ever left
its many mansions, or been outside,
ever, even those who never go
into their room and close the door,
this house of ordinary things, light
on windowsills, small voices, a cup,
a little bread, and kin who cherish you.
Everyone in it wanders searching for the house
they’re in, where always, in this house,
this house of yours, you belong,
you belong.
You may sit anywhere you like. It’s yours.
Every time you find you’re in it,
we have a party.

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

September 12, 2019