Prayer

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The Spirit said to me,

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in the first instant of your being
I laid a burden on you,
which, if you now accept it
by the power of my grace,
can be for you as light
as a billowing cloud.

You see, I desire your arms
to be my arms, open
wide for all in need of
forgiveness and compassion.
your legs to be my legs,
carrying you to where
there is a need
for your special gifts.
your hands to be my hands,
creating beauty to inspire
and delight, your fingers
to be my fingers, pointing
to the paths of truth and
reconciliation, your heart
to be my heart, flowing
with love like a fountain
over a dry, brittle,
cynical world.

You, perhaps, are confused
that I call this burden light.
It can be light because
burdens are made heavy
by anxiety over control
and results. But I tell you
this day, that if you choose
to embrace this vision, control
and results will be mine to bear,
and you, my friend, can go forth
in peace.

© 2014 Dennis Ference

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An Old Man Stands in Awe


   How majestic is your name in all the
        earth!
                                                   Psalm 8:2

Lord, sometimes when I gaze
   at the sky,
time, which in these later years,
has come to move so quickly,
seems, all of a sudden,
to stand perfectly still.
And for just a moment
I rest at the edge
of endless possibilities,
and I am awed by the wonder
of all that has come forth
as gift from your hands.

How majestic the mountains,
how lush the carpets of green!
How powerful the moving waters,
how graceful the billowy clouds!
How vast the varieties of
   living creatures,
how splendid their mingling
   and mix!

And as part of all this glory,
here I stand with my brothers
   and sisters,
richly blessed
to know something about you,
privileged to discover
that we come from your love
to share in the spirit
that makes things to be.

How great are you
beyond all I can imagine!
How graced are we
whom you have made your own!

by Dennis Ference

© 2000 Liguori Publications

Taken from Psalm Prayers for Seniors by Dennis Ference. Available from Liguori Publications, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Itunes, and other ebook sources.

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Before the Sun Rises

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Each day, before the sun rises
I cast my lot with the believers–
those who have come to know
that there is a Source within
from which all things emerge,

which does not play
by our rules and constraints.
It is Mystery, sometimes
soothing mother, often
maddening jokester,
always larger than our vision
of what it should be.

When I awake, the birds
are still voiceless, the streets
not yet in rhythm with the duties
and desires of their denizens.
I sip from a steaming cup
to melt away the remnants
of the night’s lethargy and
burrow slowly into the stillness
of naked Being where
I listen and wait.

This is the place where
deeper meanings are discerned
and commitments are forged.
This is the place where healings
are announced and poems
are conceived. And for those
who would bow and surrender,
this is the grace of the Sacred
Now—divine and human
breathing as One.

© 2014 Dennis Ference

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“Yes”

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In the economy
of prayer,
“yes” is the
gold standard.

© 2016 Dennis Ference

My new book of original inspirational verses, From the Water’s Edge, is now available from https://www.createspace.com/6040109, http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530558018 and Kindle eBooks at Amazon.