Questions

The essence of prayer is really

quite simple. At its core, prayer is

a rhythmic reminder that all conversation

is opportunity to both speak to God

and listen for God’s guidance.

All seeking and striving are interactions

between our own wills/understandings,

and God’s creative purposes.

When we turn it into a laundry list,

imploring God to remove all stains

from our emotional wardrobes;

when we use it as a detailed honey-do list

for God to generate our pleasure and happiness;

when we wield it to ward off pain and suffering,

we have missed its purposes altogether.

Imagine finding a pile of precisely mitered

pieces of wood, along with a variety

of tools and fasteners at your disposal.

Was this collection designed

to be connected in a way that

would accomplish some purpose?

If so, what?

When you find yourself attaching one piece

to another, slowly, over the course of many years,

do you dream of what it could one day become?

Do you have a picture of completeness in your mind?

Now imagine yourself coming to the realization

that you know the one who not only

created the pieces of wood and fasteners

that are within your reach and influence,

but also created everything else

that was, is, and will ever be.

What if you had a chance every day –

all day long – to listen for questions

about how you are choosing to connect

the pieces, building something with the collection?

What if you had the opportunity to offer up

what you’ve already constructed to the one

whose grand design is Love itself?

Would you want to know how your pieces

fit with the rest, and how you might rearrange

or reconstruct what you once imagined,

so that it complements all of the rest;

so that your pieces find their way

into the whole, and maybe even the holy?

Yeah, that listening and conversation

are how prayer is designed to function;

opening us to see and be answers

to the deepest questions and needs

planted in the universe’s heart.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Buy the Book

A collection of 64 prayers/poems titled: Tuesday’s Muse: Visual and Verbal Appetizers for the Great Banquet of Your Life is now available in two formats.

Paperback:

Tuesday’s-Muse    

Kindle:

 Tuesday’s Muse-K  

Pursuit

It’s our hound of the Baskervilles,

pursuing across the moors

of all our hells; hot breath

on our heels, ever ready

to pounce upon our fleeing spirits.

All the while we run, breathless,

with coronary percussion

nearly shattering eardrums,

as we imagine divine retribution

for the worst of who we are,

carried as hideous secret

between self and God.

The assault turns out to be,

not angry attack, but long-lost love;

canine slobbering reunion,

welcoming us to the gift of forgiveness,

which we've mistaken as surprise party.

It’s the offering we have

repeatedly and summarily dismissed.

In spite of the hope-engraved invitation,

messiah-delivered daily, we've settled

for the guilt of accusations addressed

only to "Current Occupant".

When will we realize

that the only pursuit that matters

is the steadfast one of Grace?

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Now

Swing Low

For some, the big picture

has been so bright and crisp

for so long that we are lulled

into forgetting its fragility;

and then we are knee-capped

by a storm of epic proportions.

Sure, other storms threatened,

looming darkness on the horizon,

but they are weathered steadfastly.

In one fell swoop, the multi-LED beam

turns into a shadowy flicker,

at risk of being extinguished

by nothing stronger than a gentle breeze.

All these years, abiding in prayer

for others, hoping them toward God

with all the faith we could muster,

trusting beyond our own limits.

Now, the IV’s in the other arm,

and we’re staring at the ceiling,

surrounded by loved ones.

May the supplications once uttered

from a distance now swing us

into that prayerful hammock,

letting go to the gentle rhythm of grace. 

For Bill Cannon

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Blind Ear

What happens when we stereotype

and demonize people who

are different from us,

that we don't know?

What happens when our fear

of them obliterates any perception

of our own individual or corporate

complicity in the chasm between us?

What happens when religion

is indiscriminately bundled

with politics and economics?

Watch the newspaper.

Read the television.

See the radio.

Listen to the Internet.

This is what happens.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins

Parable

It’s a deceptively simple story

spoken at a volume and tone

that are just beyond your

auditory capacity, more at the level

of eavesdropping than conversation.

It leaves the front door cracked,

knowing that you cannot resist peeking

and then sneaking inside to get

a better listening to and look

at what you believe to be an imagined,

but still intriguing tale about

people and places that are

wholly (but not holy) “other”.

When the words stop flowing,

if you find yourself gasping in surprise,

both because you didn’t realize

you have fully become a character

in the story, and because this took you

all the way to people and places

you’d never approach on your own,

the parable has accomplished its task.

If you completely avoid that breath-taking

experience, you can rest assured you have

escaped unscathed, but perhaps, not with your life.

© 2013 Todd Jenkins