Cultivate gratitude each day this month.
Day 30: Grateful for God’s Presence
- Scripture: Psalm 16:11 — You show me the path of life, In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
- Meditation: Allow the presence of Love in your life, in whomever or whatever way it is made known to you, become a wellspring of gratitude and perspective. Reflect on the ways that you know God is present to you.
- Spiritual Practice: Today take a few moments to meditate or sit in silence, acknowledging God’s presence with you.
SONGS:
- Slow It Down by The Lumineers: https://youtu.be/GO3KwVSd7gY?si=fIxDbKeVSVxJ0YUo
In the Cleaving a Blessing (excerpt) by Jan richardson
I want to be unafraid
to turn toward
this blessing
that binds itself to us
even in the rending;
this blessing
that unhinges us
even as it
makes us whole.
Poem by Rumi
One dervish to another, What was your vision of God’s presence?
-I haven’t seen anything.
But for the sake of conversation, I’ll tell you a story.
God’s presence is there in front of me, a fire on the left, a lovely
stream on the right.
One group walks toward the fire, into the fire, another toward the
sweet flowing water.
No one knows which are blessed and which not.
Whoever walks into the fire appears suddenly in the stream.
A head goes under on the water surface, that head pokes out of the
fire.
Most people guard against going into the fire, and so end up in it.
Those who love the water of pleasure and make it their devotion are
cheated with this reversal.
The trickery goes further.
The voice of the fire tells the truth saying, I am not fire. I am
fountainhead. Come into me and don’t mind the sparks.
If you are a friend of God, fire is your water.
You should wish to have a hundred thousand sets of mothwings, so you
could burn them away, one set a night.
The moth sees light and goes into the fire. You should see fire and
go toward the light. Fire is what of God- is world-consuming. Water,
world-protecting.
Somehow each gives the appearance of the other. To these eyes you
have now, what looks like water, burns. What looks like fire is
a great relief to be inside.