The light of your soul

Daily Devotion - May 1

I will send a brief message each day (except Mondays)
while we are pausing gathering in person.
- Kara

Some of us are spending WAY more time alone right now. Others of us, WAY less. But all of us are living differently with our selves - near to our own selves differently.

This blessing, by John O'Donahue, is titled "For Solitude," but I think it fits well both for those of us who are mostly alone right now, and also for those of us in constant close proximity to a precious few others and nobody else.

For Solitude

May you recognize in your life the presence,

power, and light of your soul.

May you realize that you are never alone,

that your soul in its brightness and belonging

connects you intimately with the rhythm of the universe.

May you have respect for your individuality and difference.

May you realize that the shape of your soul is unique,

that you have a special destiny here,

that behind the facade of your life

there is something beautiful and eternal happening.

May you learn to see your self

with the same delight,

pride, and expectation 

with which God sees you in every moment.

How are you meeting yourself anew through this?

Turning your gaze to your self, your soul, with compassion and curiosity, 

what are you discovering in these strange days?

Are there things you are coming to recognize and appreciate about your unique presence in this life, in this world?

Can you sense, even briefly, the delight God has in the only youthere is?

CONNECTING RITUAL:

Perhaps tonight at bedtime, whenever that is in each of our homes, we might pray in this way and so join our hearts.

In the great lights of the night sky

and its unbounded stretches of space

I glimpse the shining of your presence, O God.

In the universe of my soul

and its boundless depths

I look for emanations of your light.

In the silence of sleep

and the dreams of the night

I watch for jewels of infinity

In the silence of sleep

and the dreams of the night

I watch for the shinings of your presence.

(Prayer by J Philip Newell)