Returning to Reflections








As I enter part two of sabbatical, (after a month back at work for various endings and big events).  I hadn't originally planned to but I decided after my helpful first visit  to return to the hermitage at Reflections. Below are some images, thoughts and a prayer that bubbled up as I was exploring in the space.

As I've mentioned before; having space to stop, to be still, to reflect, to be can be rather frightening!
 
In the peace, love and seclusion of this place I come to know afresh the person I am. In slowing down, in prayer and reading I find a new space a understanding. By reflecting on different models of personality and 'self' I recognise those things within me that make me, 'me'.
Yet to do so means facing the shadows, it means illuminating the dark corners and hidden places, to recognise afresh the fragility of my life.

What then do you do with those bits you recognise but dislike? In younger years I would seek to suppress or amend them and though still I seek the transforming grace at the heart of my faith maybe now I am also able to begin to accept, and be, who I am and know more fully what it means to be known and loved in my head, heart and soul (gut).

One of the books I was dipping into on personality and prayer led me to read afresh 2 Corinthians 12. Dare I believe that God’s words are true -  ‘my grace is enough for you, my power is at its best in weakness’. 2 Corinthians 12: 9

What does it mean to be confronted by aspects of who we are that we might dislike?  The things that at times we might reject, or seek to change… or what may we need to lovingly accept, embrace or even hold?


I think of the sculpture in the garden, two hands holding the sphere of creation – all of creation, its joyous blooms and its fault lines,  the brokenness and completeness are held, upheld, known and loved.


Loving creator, 
hold me within you tender grip,
allow me the freedom to move and dance in the richness of the life you offer,
bring your soothing touch to those depths within that struggle to be loved.
Gently shape in and beyond me the person I am,
who I am to you,
who I truly am.



Breathe your love and peace in me afresh.
May I receive these gifts from you and not search longingly for them.
Enable me to know who I am in you, 
           a beloved child, 
                         a new and transformed creation.




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