Lord let your peace
grow in me.
Let it expand
to places unknown.
Let it fill me
and gather
my fretful self to You.Peace to my fingers
to the things I hold
Peace to my feet
to the places I go
Peace to my mind
to the thoughts that grow
And Peace to my heart
that Your love might show.
All posts by Mary Herbert
Gratitude
Green grass
Golden leaves
Grace in generous hearts
Goofy grins on children’s faces
Gratitude the gift received
Generosity a giver’s bequest
Gorgeous sunrises-lifting fog
Gentle words a breath from God
Generations growing -gifts of age
Glorious Lord, Creator artist
Grand friendship and gifting Presence
A couple of days ago I was on my way home and saw the most beautiful shelf cloud. It was so beautiful, white against a gray background. I was so grateful that I was where I was and able to see it span the river, from one bluff across to another. I was so grateful for that moment in time. I still am.
Sacred Shearing
Tonight I cut her hair,
an intimate scalping…
a butchering of beauty.How inadequate my scissors
for this surgery,
slowly staged
to ease the reality
to be faced in every mirror…mirror on the wall
who has cancer…First long tresses
to only tears…
this sacred shearing
my soul left bare.
Someone I had met only a short time before this sacred moment, had been diagnosed with cancer. She had a hysterectomy and then went through a round of chemo and as she began to loose her hair, she asked me to cut it before she lost much of it. She had thick curly hair that she was proud of. I tried to spare her by cutting in increments, but in the end it all came off.
The Raven Dance
Let’s go into the desert,
and watch the ravens dance
we’ll find an odd companion
and wander away the dayWho has wandered this desert
what life was ever found?
There is no water
no shade or ease
this place of death
and drought.We’ll find a thirst
and our desire
and watch the ravens dance
We’ll eat and sleep
and eat again
a rhythm till we rise.The desert doesn’t last
It’s where the saints have gone
to listen for the Wind
and watch the angels dance.1 Kings 19:5-9
1 Kings 17:1-5
The wilderness, the desert, the “dark night of the soul” are places of invitation. We only discover the “invitation to what?” by moving into those places. It can be unsettling to be there, to feel very alone. But there is a treasure there that cannot be found anywhere else.
The Summer of the Mourning Doves
Through the summer’s watch
I heard the cooing of the doves,
watched them build their nest
and waited when they’d rest.One would coo and then the other
then the ritual of the gifted twig,
the constant care and change of shifts
behind the screen of leaves.Attentive from my chair
through the summer watched,
The partnership
of mourning doves.
Open Ears 