"beyond the chains of your story...."

"When some time has past us,
and the story is retold,
it will mirror the strength
and the courage in your soul..."

I'd left for my walk on the beach much later than planned. And although I was thrilled to watch the ribbons of dusk turn from blue, to lavender, to salmon, to pink to the last deep gasp of twilight before a blanket of sapphire cloaked the endless sky above the sea, I was a bit unsettled by the sheer aloneness I experienced there. Not another single, solitary person for miles in either direction.

That was when the chorus to Sara Groves' "It's gonna be alright..." came to me, "It's gonna be alright. It's gonna be alright..." It was a sweet reminder that no matter how deep the darkness, how vast the emptiness, how distant the light...I am never really alone. And, it is always going to be alright. I don't live in a house, on a beach, under a tree, with a family, or along a river. I live in Love, in God. And in Love, it's already alright.

When I got back to where I was staying, there was an email from a friend, with a link to the below post from 2009. I wasn't really so surprised when I noticed that Sara's "It's gonna be alright," is the song, I'd added as a link, at the end. God is so good...sigh..

offered with Love...



"beyond thinking..."

"Hello darkness my old friend
I've come to talk with you again...."

Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" speaks to me of a gentle darkness, a sweet emptiness, a delicate inner "void" I have learned to love, and am no longer unsettled by.  It is speechless.  And sometimes this silent voice of God comes so softly, almost imperceptibly, that I can really only feel Her touch if I am perfectly still, like a deer in the forest listening for the moccasined footsteps of an Indian princess as she tiptoes her scent through the fallen leaves.

When this divine whisper brushes against my heart, it is not in words, but in feelings, so tender, that I find my eyes closing unintentionally.  It is a moment of reverence so pure it takes my breath away.  And with this intake of breath, there is a shift in focus, my inner landscape takes on new dimensions, and what was once close becomes distant, while what was distant, draws infinitely near.  It is a touch that penetrates to the core place where there is neither time nor process, failure or accomplishment,  you or me.  It is beyond the chains of thinking...beyond reason.

What does freedom
look like
when you are
no longer
bound to
your
once-upon-a-time
beliefs
about
your life,
the
worn-out cliches
of someone else's story
about you,
the
fairy tale dreams
you recited
to yourself
...like mantras...
from beneath the covers,
long into the
darkness,
when
the world
was fast
asleep...

Can we ever...
is it possible
for us... 
to walk
beyond the
chains of
thinking,
wondering,
worrying,
if we might
just
be
the
product of
our own
worst
choices,
or
worse yet,
our own
best
thinking...

You are not
the outcome,
the offspring,
the effect
of
someone,
anyone
else's
rejection, neglect
abuse
abandonment...
or even,
their
love

you are
the breath of
Spirit
upon
an aspen leaf,
a drop of
holy water
on the tongue of
a saint,
the whisper of
forgiveness,
the sweetest song
to a mother
who
never meant
to
cause her
child's
tears

true
freedom
is to live
without want,
without
need,
without 
feeling
the dull ache
of thinking
there
might just be
something more...


it is
to
live
fully
within the
space of
having all,
in the
Allness
of
our
singular
relationship with Him.

it is
to be at peace
to be at home
to find heaven
in
a
closet,
a sepulchre,
a cell,
a cocoon,
a prayer....

In this space of spiritual surrender we discover that, as Sara Groves' assures us "It's Gonna Be Alright" And I believe...I really, truly, genuinely believe it is. In fact, I know it is.

""And when some time has past us,
and the story is retold
It will mirror the strength
and the courage in your soul
Oh, oh, I believe I believe,
that it's going to be alright...""

Especially when we have the courage to cast our cares on Him...for he careth for us...

for you...

Kate
Kate Robertson, CS