3rd. February. 2021. Daily Devotion.
30th January 2021 A Candle in the Window Peter Millar
Words to encourage us all in tough times. ionacottage@hotmail.com
One of the good things about these Candle reflections is that although many of those who read them would consider themselves to be on the Christian journey, there are many others who tread a different spiritual pathway, and also many others who are just interested in them but would not think of themselves as religious in any way. During the years that Dorothy and I lived in The Abbey on the island of Iona, day after day I saw for myself that a sacred place can touch into a totally undiscovered part of a person. I think the same about written words. Without our necessarily seeking it, they too can take us into our depths. They can surprise us and even transform us. Certainly, they can refresh our perceptions. The other day when a good friend quoted to me on the phone these words of Archbishop Rowan Williams – ‘God is a one-word poem’- I felt my spiritual awareness being deepened.
I have by my bedside a book entitled – ‘Always Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living, by John McQuiston published in the States 20 years ago. At the end of the book are meditations for Morning, Mid-day and Evening and in this reflection, I would like to quote in full the morning one because I believe it has within it wisdom for all our hearts. I invite you to read it slowly each day for a few days and let its words rest within you. It has certainly helped me to see life in a wider perspective in tough times. Here it is:
Grace to us and peace. We are given this day, and awareness of its colours and sounds; these and other gifts, too numerous to name and infinitely rare, are received. For these gifts we are thankful.
We do not know what this day will bring – life is the great enigma; life is the great good; we expect good from this day.
At all times, and at this time, we participate in the great Mystery. We acknowledge our contingent nature. We humble ourselves before that which we do not understand.
When we consider the vast reaches of the cosmos, the incomprehensible forces at work in each moment, the numberless stories of each life, the millions of forgotten ancestors who preceded us, the untold acts of kindness which occur each day, we humble ourselves.
Help us to save ourselves by forgetting ourselves. In every experience and thought, bring us into the certain knowledge that we are children of the infinite.
Assist us to envision life as an opportunity to share in the creation of a caring environment, open our mind’s eye to the knowledge that if we give love, nothing in life or death, nor things to come, nor things past, can separate us from the state of grace. So, help us this day, both to receive grace and to give it.
We believe that we are children of the unlimited and that we are enveloped in an unbounded network of friendships, affiliations and relationships which are in time and beyond time.
We believe in the ancient message that adopting an attitude of faith and hope toward this life and all that it brings will profoundly alter our lives and our universe.
In our activities this day we ask for the power to be continuously thankful, not only in our words, but in our hearts; to give up concern for ourselves and thus to walk in perfect freedom.
We trust ourselves, we trust our friends, we trust our families, we trust life, we trust the universe and we release our past to the past, our future to the future, accepting our present.
We abandon our illusions of control; we acknowledge our complete dependence on providence. We relinquish our apprehension. We rely on that which we do not sometimes understand. We have faith. We have courage.
Keep us from all fear today. Open our hearts to the gifts of this moment and bind us to great unknown through complete trust.
May the vast Mystery beyond comprehension fill us with joy and peace and hope this day and always.
We lift up our hearts.
(Published by Morehouse Publishing and the ISBN number is 0-8192=1869-3.) I am not sure whether or not it is still available. ***** Thank you again for your many messages from different parts of the world. We are walking together and seeking the Light in our many different ways. We are held each day in that Light which we sometimes feel is dim. Yet it is there. Peter. *****
