Daily Bread October 21

What Is Real
Katie Harmon-McLaughlin of Walnut Creek, CA, USA


Mark the blameless, and behold the upright,
    for there is posterity for the peaceable. -Psalm 37:37

Let it be what it is.
Don’t rush to fix it.
Maybe just try to give it a name.
Hold it with honesty
And the assurance of grace.
Resist the urgency claim.
Find rest in the inefficient.

This isn’t about progress.
Stand still for a while,
Just long enough in one place,
To sink in deep.

The journey inviting us
May be the one we hadn’t thought to take
That beckons beneath our feet,
Beneath the layers of protest in the soul
Over productivity and time.

Rest into a different rhythm,
A downward way,
And forget all thoughts
Just for a while
Of moving forward.

Exactly here
Is where the Spirit is speaking-
Not in some future moment,
But in this one.
Let it say what it needs to say
About what is forming within you
And taking a shape you cannot yet see.

Let what is real in you be real
And trust for a while
That it will lead to a place deeper
Where beneath the swells
Of whatever feelings emerge
Is a holy source of life
That is about more than
Merely making it through
Or wishful thinking
Or suffocating politeness
Or the need to make it sound ok.

Let it be what it is
Just for a while
Just long enough
To really see
What is really real,
To practice being brave
To let what feels important
Find its way to the surface
Breaching in the soul
To breathe
To live.

Prayer Phrase

“Attention is the beginning of devotion” (Mary Oliver).

Spiritual Practice

Holy Attention

Spend a few moments paying attention, wherever you are. Notice your surroundings. What draws your focus? Look more closely at detail and color. Notice what pulls or prods within you. How is the God-in-all-things speaking to you through what you see and feel right here, right now?

Today’s Prayer for Peace

Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.

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