Ships Returning Home

ships returning

                                      home

   We all are ships returning home laden with
life's experiences, memories of work, good times
and sorrows, each with his special cargo;
  And it is our common lot to show the marks
of the voyage, here a shattered prow, there 
a patched rigging, and every hulk turned black 
by the unceasing batter of the restless wave.
  May we be thankful for fair weather and smooth
seas, and in times of storm have the courage
and patience that mark every good mariner;
  And, over all, may we have the cheering hope
of joyful meetings, as our ship at last drops anchor
in the still water of the eternal harbor.

                               - Max Ehrmann
                                 The Desiderata of Faith

Personal Comment & Reflection:
  The image of coming home is a very ordinary life phenomenon.  Part of man's restlessness of being is that he is always on a certain quest, on a journey, or going out even to far and unknown places to find food for his family and meaning for his life.  Coming home is the easier and relaxing part and as Max Ehrmann said like ships we return home bringing with us our experiences.  It is not just physical coming home, it can also be spiritual.  Each of us has a spiritual abode, the Kingdom of God within.  Prayer is the way for this coming home and writing too.  As we bring our experiences of the day in prayer, we stand or simply sit humbly before God, knowing that every moment lived with awareness and a listening heart becomes a road to a holy walk with God at every juncture of our life's experience.  Out of the depths of our inner longings, joys and hopes, we echo to our ever loving and listening God our songs of praise, our cry for forgiveness, our acceptance of people, things and situations and our aspirations for better days ahead.  Yes, as we come home to God in prayer, we also come home to our true self, God's apple of His loving eyes!

                                       -  Bobby Parian Sagra
                                         
                   

Night

   For some of us it is late afternoon, for some already it is night.

When the end comes, if there still remain some clear ray of 

consciousness, may we not be rebellious, remembering it is the

time when the natural man, as if in sleep, must return to the 

elements.  In that time may we feel the solace of them that 

journey home after their day of pleasant labor.

   But if there be nothing else after the night has come, and the

bright playlet of life in our brains is blotted out, yet would our

speechless dust be thankful that once it throbbed with life and 

love on the beautiful earth.

   Out there - clear sky, bright stars, and silence.

                                      - Max Ehrman
                                         A Desiderata of Faith
                                         A Collection of Religious poems

Personal Reflection/Insight: 

   The time just before sundown is a perfect moment to spend some quiet time of prayer and self examination.  It is a time to pray for gratitude for all that has been experienced during the day, for all that has been received from life and for all that has been offered in love and service to others.  It is really a moment of grace, joy and thanksgiving.  It is also a time to re assess one's life - its harmony of ideals and practical living, it's reasons for hopes, despair and courage.  It is a time to make some amends by accepting some mistakes done and a time to renew one's strength to carry on the burden of one's life responsibility and goal. In every moment of it as the shadows engulf the skyline, it is time for a deep contemplation into the very core of God's being - love.  Just being in that moment, allowing the last bright rays of the sun covers oneself with so much love and care from the Creator.  And when evening comes, to rest in the contemplation that night is only a prelude to another greater day ahead, that I can rest my heart and mind, knowing that "all will be well".

Thou Whom we call God

thou whom we call God

   Long has been the time since I spoke with Thee,

Thou whom we call God.  Now I soften the stern

face I carry upon the street as a weapon in the struggle

for existence, and I cast out of myself the evil of the

world, all possession, all malice; and I yield up my soul,

as a flower lifts its petals in the twilight of the morning.

   Unbind me from the things of the earth, and let me

through the world like the still stars of the night.

Come Thou near me, as in olden days when I saw Thee

everywhere, in the woods and the sky, and heard Thy voice

in the silence of the fields.  Take my hand and lead me

as my earthly father when my steps were feeble.

Teach me again to love, and make soft my voice with

gentle words.  As a gardener waters his garden,

refresh Thou my soul with tenderness, and bring peace

within the troubled household of my heart.  Knock at

my door in the lonesome night; and as I have need of Thee,

send me forth to others who sit with drooping faces 

at the table of despair and see Thee not.

   This prayer is born of my need; and if indeed 

men convince that Thou are not, and that these words

are spoken but to die unheard, yet have I been answered,

and shall believe that Thou art - Thou whom we call God!

                     - Taken from The Desiderata of Faith

                        A Collection of Religious Poems

                                 Max Ehrman

Personal Reflection:

   After the famous composition of Max Ehrman, the poem Desiderata this one, thou whom we call God comes along with furious portrayal of a soul in constant need of God, of His guidance and help in the ongoing journey of finding, knowing and loving Him to be his effective instrument to assuage the plight of those, "who sit with drooping faces at the table of despair and see Thee not."  In spiritual life as in making a journey through a strange land, one's soul is longing for a home, a familiar place, a place of peace and security, an environment of love and care.  This very home, this very place is in the heart at prayer with God.  Since time immemorial, God has been the solace of those in despair, the light of those in darkness, the joy of those in sadness and sorrow.  The matrix of today's society is mostly pointed to the outward appearance of things, images and profiles of people, dreams and aspirations of greatness, wealth and knowledge.  The true children of God remain unknown, poor, quiet, ordinary, yet they live lives of humility, greatness, heroism anchored in the very strength and power of the One they call God in the recesses of their hearts.  The challenge of the 21st century men and women is to find this God as the author Max Ehrman found Him in the brightness of the stars at night, in the flower lifting up its petals in the twilight of the morning, etc.  In this true essence of the mingling of poetry and prayer is found the true spirit and art of spiritual quest, asking God, "As a gardener waters his garden, refresh Thou my soul with tenderness, and bring peace within the troubled household of my heart."