Sitting in the Kingdom of Heaven

Sitting In the Kingdom of Heaven

I sat in the Kingdom of Heaven today

And had tea and biscuits

With Jesus and the Angels;

St. Teresa of Avila, who wore red slippers

And asked for extra honey with her biscuit, please;

And St. Brighid, who brought jam and her weaving,

For she liked to stay busy.

Bird songs and the roar of hummingbird wings

Wrapped our joyful chatter

In glorious praise anthems,

Holding us in their rhythm of harmony

As we munched our snack

And clinked our tea cups

From dainty china dishes I’d carefully unwrapped

From a long-ago childhood memory.

There were red roses on the white tea cups

Just like the roses in the garden

Where we supped,

Along with the hummingbirds

Who fed our Souls with their musical wings,

As we fed them honey nectar from our tea cups

And threw biscuit crumbs to the birds

To thank them for their love songs.

It was a glorious day in the Kingdom of Heaven,

Full of life after a fresh summer rain ~

Hints of the most recent rainbow

Still lingering in the air

And on the wings and breasts of the song birds.

Jesus didn’t seem to mind

My childish questions …

We talked easily ~

He seemed as if a big brother ~

One wizened from many journeys …

Perhaps One who had just returned

Home

For a lingering visit

To see His little sister,

To check up on her and make sure

All was well with her

As she struggled with her childish ways.

The Angels at the table

Sprang to life,

Leaping off photographs of Light Beings that lay next to me,

Spiraling into fullness from my childish imagination,

Joining the stone angel who was likewise animating

From the inanimate devotional object that too long

Sat on my altar shelf.

(Photos of Light Beings by Sharon Payne, Waco, TX)

They joined into the conversation just as easily,

As if gentle Guides …

There to whisper advice,

To urge me to Pay Attention!

And to sometimes h-o-l-d  m-y  t-o-n-g-u-e

At opportune moments.

St. Brighid joined in close,

Showing me secret signs and symbols,

Which Ancient Mother Earth

Once showed her long ago.

She fed my childish curiosity

And urged me to protect

Pieces of my childish innocence

In secret, hidden pockets of my Inner Being.

St. Teresa begged me to laugh heartily

And to pray often ~

Or was it to pray heartily

And to laugh often?

I got confused,

Because she seemed so deliriously Joyful!

And in the same moment

Enraptured in a state of Prayer-FULL-ness

That I cannot imagine

In my childishness

To ever attain.

But somehow, anything seemed possible,

There at that tea-and-biscuits table

With St. Teresa, St. Brighid, Jesus and the Angels …

In fact, Everything seemed possible!

Because it was, after all,

The Kingdom of Heaven …

Where different Laws govern ~

Laws I didn’t have to understand yet ...

For I was just a child

Having imaginary tea and biscuits,

Playing with wild birds and hummingbirds,

Listening to celestial music

Made of birdsongs and bird wings,

And somehow knowing,

As I ate biscuits and jam

And drank tea with honey …

That All I truly need

To be fully nourished

In The Kingdom of Heaven

Is to draw deep from the Breath of God ~

For It alone

Will Feed the Holy Flame Within

And keep my Divine Spark

Ever burning.

That was part of what Jesus taught me …

What the Angels whispered …

What St. Brighid nudged me to see in the signs and symbols …

What St. Teresa begged me to hear

Through the laughter and the prayers …

As we sat together around that table

With our Rose tea cups, drinking,

Eating, talking, whispering, and

Laughing.

Or maybe it was all the

Imaginings of a child …

Playing …

Dreaming it all up …

Confusing the Imaginal Realm

For Reality.

For either

I sat in the Kingdom of Heaven today

And had tea and biscuits

With Jesus, St. Brighid, St. Teresa of Avila, and the Angels,

Or I did not.

~ By Karen Wood

(written late August 2011 in Angel Fire, N.M.)

A Prayer for Newness

Oh, Unified One!
You Who desired us into Being ~
You Who spoke us into place
And graced us into Life ...

We bow before You,
Honoring You for allowing us
To reflect such Great Majesty
In such a humble vessel.

We bring gifts of gratitude and respect,
Acknowledging how often we do not stop to thank You
For Your great gifts ~

For Your ancient wisdom passed down to us
Through the wind, the stones,
The rivers, the trees, the land ~

For sacred moments of Silence
Where we are allowed to embrace
The Most Holy of Holies
As we sit in the same spaces as our ancestors
And hold the stillness
Within our own inner Beings.

We come before You boldly,
Asking, yet again, as we approach
The Table of Your Grace and Generosity:

Allow us to crawl deep into Your Womb
And rest a long while there ...

For we feel an urge to newness ~
A desire to create ~
A hopefulness for rebirth ~
A longing for the utter joy that comes
With new beginnings.

We crave to co-create
With the Creator of All;

To birth a new thing
With The Divine Mother
Who is Mother of All;

To sing a new song
With The Holy One
Who birthed all melodies;

To lean into the strong arms
Of The Loving Father
Who holds our deepest desires
Until we are ready to live them.

Sacred and Loving Love of All Loves ~
Allow us to merge our Creative Spark
With all those who have come before
And those who have yet to come after ~

With all those born and unborn,
Those seen and unseen,
Those who share our form,
And those whose forms take shapes
Of the winged, the finned, the leafed,
The animals, the wind, the water,
The earth and fire.

And when we finally emerge from Your safe and loving Womb,
May our Creative Spark
Ignite such an explosion of energetic Joy
That only You ~ only Love ~
Can be seen through our life.

May each new day be a new door
Through which we walk
Into Sacred Spaces,
Into the Watery Depths,
Into the Fire Within,
Into the Divine Love of The Holy One ~
Into You.

~ By Karen Wood
(written in June 2011 on Inishmore, Aran Island, Ireland, and Slane, Ireland)

A Prayer for Meditation

 A Prayer for Meditation

Divine Holy One!
You Who breathes Breath into my Soul ~

Align my will with Your Will ~
Allow me to walk with You in Loving-kindness ~

Let Your Light always mark my path.

May I seek Your loving touch of Grace when I stray,
And may I gently guide my own steps back to the path
When I find myself in the wilderness.

May I always honor You as my Royal Parent,
Bowing before You with deep humbleness and sincere gratitude
In the temple of my own Soul
Where You both govern me
And live through me.

May the Divine Spark within

Keep an eternal Flame of Love

Ever burning bright within my Heart ...

And may it Light my way,

So that not only I,

But All,

May see the Way Home

To Divine Love.

~ By Karen Wood

Building a Dwelling Place

Building a

Dwelling Place

Oh, My Soul!

May I come to know You

And love You

Even as I clear away debris

And sweep cobwebs

From dark corners and dank inner basements.

Thank you for keeping

Too many creepy crawly things

From frightening me

As I gingerly creep down the inner depths

And open doors long locked and closed ~

As I shine a tiny inner flashlight

On deep, dark, hidden places of my humanity

That need to be thrown out, swept clean,

Given away, or burned to ashes.

Let me do so willingly – even with joy –

Seeing that space as places where new life

And new beginnings can now live.

As I shine that inner flashlight,

May I grow less fearful, less afraid,

Less timid, less filled with shame

At what has lain dormant and hidden,

Drawing dust and mold and darkness to it ~

And instead look forward to the Sacred Task of cleaning ~

Preparing a place where You can dwell

In Peace,

In Comfort,

In Rest,

In Joy!

May it be a Sacred and

Holy Place

Lovingly built for You

That is truly

Home.

~ By Karen Wood

Your Holy Glance

I keep finding dark places
To scrub clean
With Your Holy Light ...

Hidden corners appear
That haven't been dusted in years ~
Or perhaps eons ...

The dirt blinds me with its pain,
Bidding me to soothe it ~
To erase its wounds
With Holy Light ...

How can You look at me?
Oh, Most Holy One?!

And yet You Alone can heal me
With just a glance.

Please look at me!  Oh, Holy Flame!
Peer into every nook and cranny
Of my inner being!

Everywhere your Holy Glance falls ...
Leave nothing to show You were there ~
Save Light Aflame!

~ By Karen Wood