I’ve written before about how I begin each year with a quiet reflection and a ‘pondering on’ my word for the year. Nothing. Although I’m not super fond of it yet,  I’m choosing to engage with this word and listen to what it has to say. I could also choose to toss it out, but there’s something in this nothing that is calling my heart and soul to attention.

“Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk.” John O’Donahue from an excerpt in his book, To Bless the Space Between Us.

This phrase has been misting itself about in my brain and subconscious; while I’m walking, cooking, yogaing, biking, cleaning, driving, erranding, journaling…. Hm.

So, as a practice, after much procrastination and grumpiness,  I decided to sit down and engage with this word in a prayer/poetry way. I’ve taken the sequence of the letters and written them, as thoughtfully and heart fully as I’m able, as a prayer to the presence of the Divine in my life.

Nightly nuance my life, and others, with your presence.

Oh God, keep not silent. Oh wisdom, Oh radiant dawn, come and breathe your light into all who live in darkness or despair.

Teach me to ‘be’, thankfully trusting in your tender presence and that you reside at every threshold.

Hold my heart that I may see and hear you revealed not only in the extraordinary, but in the ordinary and even mundane events of life.

Infuse my inner world, that I may be not be indifferent to myself nor others.

Now pay attention soul; do not flee from the restlessness you feel but rather, lean into it and breathe.

God of all goodness, lead and guide  me in the practices of gratitude and generosity. Grant both my heart and others the receptivity to live in the gaze of your grace.