Streams of Mercy
While dusting my bookshelf this morning, I came across a book that was very important to me in my young adult years – New Beginnings: A Book to Make You Fall in Love with God Again.
I read it with other members of the small prayer group I was a part of in those years. At the end of the book is a passage with these instructions: “Ask someone you cherish to read these words to you as though the living Christ were lovingly speaking them aloud while you listen with closed eyes. Imagine the Master saying these words to you.”
Remembering the beauty of that experience, I share these words, praying that you may experience Christ lovingly speaking them to you:
“What happiness it is to complete My joy by being with you. It is well that we are together. I know your every expression. I know well that hooded, withdrawn look when you separate yourself from Me. When you look into My eyes and I see a rekindling of the warm fire that burns in you for Me and for those you love, I rejoice that you know that nothing can separate us. I sing when your eye leaps to meet the flame of a cardinal winging his redness through the summer green. I smile when I watch you take a deep breath and complete the task I have given you. It gladdens Me when I see your reverence for everyone you know, as well as for My freedom to deal with each one as the wind of My Spirit prompts. Your humility in the presence of My creation, the honor you give to the universe which the Father and I have made, your openness to My truth everywhere, your incessant reach for purity and excellence, your obedience to My words makes you precious beyond all price to Me. When you forget yourself by giving yourself to My kingdom among the poor, the oppressed, the misused, the blind and indifferent, the lost and the angry – you move Me to tears of gratitude. It is well we are together. My joy in you is great. When you fail yourself you do not fail me. Your deceptions, your meanness and pettiness are all opportunities for Me. As you face your own truth, there will be a turning to Me, and a new beginning is now possible. Don’t you realize that there is nothing you can do to change My love for you? Don’t you know that you can’t stop Me from loving you? Will you hear me now? You are always more to Me than what you do or what you say or how you appear. To Me you are always you – the self I love and will always love is not yours to dispose of as you wish. A love which ceases to be is not My love. You belong to Me, as you belong to no one else, and I will never let you go. I am in you that your joy may be full.”
As I look back on my life, I give thanks for the books and friendships that have enriched my journey, for reassurances of God’s love and care when I most needed it, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing.
Elizabeth