Conversations With God
Poetry and prose conveying spiritual truths on formation, being enclosed, and considering greatness from within the walls of our prisons
There isn’t a really good introduction to this. I usually save Authentically Elisa for long woven essays about my honest thoughts on tricky things in real life, like paradigms, faith, and healing.
But this, below, is my more truthful writing. Most of what I write actually looks like this, hidden in the pages of my journal. I was wondering if sharing some of this might serve you too, either to provoke your own questions, or as a comfort.
What can conversations with God look like? Well, here are some of my meditations.
Formation (A Prayer)
You're cultivating a garden
You're shaping a body
You're constructing a city
You're creating a temple
You're building a kingdom
Form me, too, Oh Lord
“What’s important is that God makes the seed grow…For we are both God’s workers. And you are God’s field. You are God’s building…For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
A Letter To Lambs
Dearest one,
I see you twisted and judging yourself harshly. What you carry here today, the things you think about, and your fears—I see them. You wonder if what you consume is corroding you and you question what your indifference to immorality says about you. And you feel helpless not knowing how to raise children in a culture that at best tolerates me. You second guess your choice to not shelter them from this world.
Ultimately, you wonder how far you are falling short. For you know too well that you haven’t met a standard of perfect holiness and wholeness...
I want you to know that I see your heart to be near me.
You can mind the gap, but really, I am the one who closes the gap.
I don't judge you like you judge yourself.
You are worthy to be with me, not because of how good you are, but because I chose to make a way to bring you into my presence. I see you trying to be your own holy Spirit. But am I not the Spirit already?
Let me remind you, you don't have to clean yourself before you encounter me. You are not a self-cleaning spiritual oven.
You don't have to come with your checklists of full disclosure, reporting what you didn’t get right. You aren’t designed to be an anxious assistant to an angry boss. I will not be your angry God.
I hear your desire to cast down every idol, to ensure I am first. But let me lead you. You are striving and you don’t have to—your inheritance is rest.
I've already brought you into my sheepfold. And I am a gentle shepherd—a gentleman. You don't have to have it all figured out. You don't have to stand before me with shame. I am your safe enclosure.
I already surround you.
Will you trust me? Will you relax into the safety of you with me?
“I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep…Those who come in through me will [find safety]. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures…My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”
A Poem on John the Baptizer
His name didn't matter;
Could have been anyone
But it was his voice
Chosen—
His roar:
It did not waver
As he stepped from Wilderness,
Unshaken by the whims of culture
Strength that didn't move
He discerned who he was
Or at least knew
What to speak.
His was a road
Of becoming
Unimportant
Diminished
Smaller
Lesser
Least
—As the Anointed One
I N C R E A S E D—
Until compliant
Within a prison cell
Unoffended when
His work was
COMPLETE.
At his end, only belief, not
Results
—Not glory—
Remained.
But who can be satisfied
In the dungeon, fading?
Maybe this was why
The merest nobody
Becomes OUTSTANDING
Against the backdrop
Of writhing empires
And might we be, too?
It seems only if we’re willing
For the path to greatness to look like
Evaporation
Ego-vanishing
Evanescence
Lesser
Least
Loss
“Jesus told them, “Go back to John and tell him what you have heard and seen— the blind see, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised to life, and the Good News is being preached to the poor.” And he added, “God blesses those who [are not offended by me.]”
As John’s disciples were leaving, Jesus began talking about him to the crowds. “What kind of man did you go into the wilderness to see? Was he a weak reed, swayed by every breath of wind? Or were you expecting to see a man dressed in expensive clothes? No, people with expensive clothes live in palaces. Were you looking for a prophet? Yes, and he is more than a prophet. John is the man to whom the Scriptures refer when they say,
‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
and he will prepare your way before you.’[c]“I tell you the truth, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John the Baptist. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he is! And from the time John the Baptist began preaching until now, the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and violent people are attacking it.”
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Thank you.
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