Listen

There are times that something wells up within my soul and I don't know what to do with it. If my soul had a breath, it would steal it away. Times that I am overtaken by something bigger than myself. It is a richness of getting life at the core level of what it was simply meant to be: Love. Authenticity. Simplicity. Falling. Fearing. Getting up. Rising again. Grace. Mercy.

"To the degree of mercy you have been given, so is the level of compassion you will bestow." -- Thomas Keating.

I am overtaken sometimes by the richness of life. I am overtaken by the amount of Mercy I have been given. And I never want to forget. I am not overtaken by the pain. Not the heartache. Those parts I have seen, and I have wept for. I am overtaken by the radiant beauty that can come out of that. Stories. Of a mother taking in a boy who killed her family in the genocide after her journey to forgiveness - because his family was also killed. He had no mother. Now he does. Stories. Of two lost boys of Sudan who happened to meet in a refugee camp as boys. Now leading their countries in beautiful ways into peace and healing. Stories. Of a little girl who is teaching her parents the meaning of unconditional love and healing their marriage. She has Downs Syndrome. Pure Love. There is Truth in Redemption. There is Story in Song. It's all around us. Inside of us. Covering us. Can you hear it? Listen. It's there.....