Today, we pray that we find some clarity in our lives. Life may have become so busy, or confusing, or just plain hectic, and it’s sometimes difficult to catch our breath and find some peace. Today we pray this piece of poetry below and imagine ourselves cutting down the confusing parts of our lives in order to make space for clarity. Sometimes, it is just a matter of “naming” what we are going through; or even just putting into words where we are and how we feel. Our goal for today is to find some handholds and footholds over our life, so we can find direction all over again. And it starts by creating a clearing.
1. Start by reading the poem below.
2. Imagine yourself as another person talking to this person, ____ (add your name here). Ask him/her, “How are you?” Listen to what s/he has to say.
3. Given what he/she has shared, what would you tell him/her?
CLEARING
Morgan Farley
I am clearing a space
here, where the trees stand back.
I am making a circle so open
the moon will fall in love
and stroke these grasses with her silver.
I am setting stones in the four directions,
stones that have called my name
from mountaintops and riverbeds, canyons and mesas.
Here I will stand with my hands empty,
mind gaping under the moon.
I know there is another way to live.
When I find it, the angels
will cry out in rapture,
each cell of my body
will be a rose, a star.
If something seized my life tonight,
if a sudden wind swept through me,
changing everything,
I would not resist.
I am ready for whatever comes.
But I think it will be
something small, an animal
padding out from the shadows,
or a word spoken so softly
I hear it inside.
It is dark out here, and cold.
The moon is stone.
I am alone with my longing.
Nothing is happening
but the next breath.
prayersofapilgrim.com 