“Let me be as a feather, strong with purpose, yet light at heart. Able to bend. And thou I might become frayed, able to pull myself together again.”
Anita Sams
“What is the basis of our security? When we start thinking about that question, we may give many answers: success, money, friends, property, popularity, family, connections, insurance, and so on. We may not always think that any of these forms the basis of our security, but our actions or feelings may tell us otherwise. When we start losing our money, our friends, or our popularity, our anxiety often reveals how deeply our sense of security is rooted in these things. A spiritual life is a life in which our security is based not in any created things, good as they may be, but in God, who is everlasting love. We probably will never be completely free from our attachment to the temporal world, but if we want to live in that world in a truly free way, we’d better not belong to it. “You cannot be the slave both of God and of money” (Luke 16:13).”
Henri Nouwen
Henri Nouwen
“Fear can be what we feel – but brave is what we do.”
Ann Voskamp
“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”
1 John 4:18
MY PRAYER today is for the perfect love that casts out fear. That love is not a love that comes from outside. It is something we must give ourselves, because no-one else is able to. We must be our own best friend. The only person that can be sure to accompany us for the remainder of our lives, is ourselves. We are the be all and end all. A lonely thought, until we bring His love into the equation. His love is the perfect love we draw from to encourage and love ourselves. Unlike our imperfect human loves, His love defies understanding in its complete unconditional commitment to us. He has pledged himself to us, surrounded us with his promises, and his never-ending grace. Kingdom subjects in a kingdom that will never end, we have a right to walk with our heads high, and fill the space in which he leads us. We have a purpose for our existence, in each living moment we draw breath. Today I pray that we would ‘rest in His security’. Our attachments come and go and are tenuous at best, but his attachment to us cannot be questioned.
Artist Seymour Joseph Guy. (Garden of bright Images)
These are drawn from daily prayers and reflections I write for my Chaplaincy colleagues
Living Tree Poetry 