Thursday, April 3, 2008

Dear God,

I find myself often saying, "You are..." You are the Source of life. You are the Great Healer. You are Joy. You are Gracious. You are Love. You are... These proclamations of my faith remind me that I continue to be a tiny speck on the planet, yet a beloved one. I know who is boss, who is running the cosmos. And it's not me.

More and more I acknowledge that life is not all about me, not any one human. So often we operate as if the planet is to bow at our feet, provide an answer to many of our nonsense prayers, and make our lives easier. For what purpose? You do not exist for me. I exist for you. I am to fulfill your plan, not the other way around. The greatest inner joy does not come from doing what I want, but rather from doing what I believe is your will. No amount of my own success can well up enough joy to outdo the joy I feel when I simply do as you ask.

I am currently reading Eat, Pray, Love, the story of one troubled woman on a search for God. She ate her way through Italy for four months and loved it. Now in India for four months she resides at an ashram learning the disciplines of life. Silence, prayer, meditation. Through what she calls stillness she is discovering the power of God in her own life. What a dramatic shift from the ways in which she had lived for nearly 34 years.

I am aware that a life lived with intentionality is one that will find the Sacred. One that will discover the secret treasures of the universe. One that will open the locked rooms of the heart and soul. One that will ultimately sigh with peaceful joy on the last day.

You are!
You are!
You are!
What more
shall I say?
You are!
The secret treasures
of life
bring so much joy
to my existence.
I learn more
of the truth
of your spirit.
I see its power,
observe its love,
benefit by
its grace.
You are,
O God,
you are!

Love, Andrea