Dear Friends,
Before January 2024 comes to an end, I wanted to reach out and offer my affection and respect for each of you. It is a privilege to share my thoughts and efforts to choose hope with you on a monthly basis. In fact, this month marks the 10th year I have been writing and publishing these Glimmers on my website. Ten years of world events and American cultural changes, ten years of our lives unfolding before our eyes, ten years of reflection on the themes of our humanity and the invitations to our souls.
I intend to celebrate this accomplishment later on in the year. Hoping, for example, you might join me in a community Zoom to share a time of wonder. More details will follow, until then this month’s Glimmer will be brief. I am still processing complex events from the last two months that have stretched my heart in multiple directions. I cannot use them as a springboard, as I often do on these pages. I cannot describe them simply in 342 words to offer a connection with you and the events of your lives. Not today, anyway. Today I embrace the wisdom of contemplative practice and allow myself to “just be.”
As this new year begins, I offer this song – a place of rest for those of us needing to “just be.” May it ease the way and help us hold a space of grace. May God’s peace keep you safe, dear friends. With love, Lisa The lyrics follow, to hear the music click on this link:
God Beyond All Names by Bernadette Farrell
God, beyond our dreams, you have stirred in us a memory, you have placed your powerful spirit in the hearts of humankind.
Refrain: All around us, we have known you; all creation lives to hold you, In our living and our dying we are bringing you to birth.
God, beyond all names, you have made us in your image, we are like you, we reflect you, we are woman, we are man. Refrain
God, beyond all words, all creation tells your story, you have shaken with our laughter, you have trembled with our tears. Refrain
God, beyond all time, you are laboring within us; we are moving, we are changing, in your spirit ever new. Refrain
God of tender care, you have cradled us in goodness, you have mothered us in wholeness, you have loved us into birth.
Refrain: All around us, we have known you; all creation lives to hold you, In our living and our dying we are bringing you to birth.