Free Birds

I could hear the pounding of her feet on the sand as she ran through the desert. Soon she would take flight, rising with Spirit’s free birds, to brood over people, mired in their hopelessness.

Despairing ones had forgotten how to dream and pray. Instead, their minds were stuck in immediate circumstances without consideration of anything beyond.

They had cut themselves off from all contact with people who had come before or would come after them. Instead, they spent their time listening to looping rhetoric concerning their troubling situations.

The sooner they could let go and dream again, the sooner new life would burst into being. When they could finally slow the chatter enough to find a meditative stance, they would reunite with mentors and guides across ordinary lines that define space and time.

I looked for the dreamers, the pray-ers. And then, I spotted one, running alone through the desert. Unencumbered by nonsensical things like self-importance, she was lifted up with Spirit’s other free birds to protect those of us, who wanted to believe.

Daytime’s noise was distracting, but as the sun slipped below my sight-line, faint sounds of her wings, cutting through the wind, reminded me that she, and other loving spirits, were bringing new life into being.

As long as the crowds kept an angry God alive, free birds darted about in the shadows. But as people tired of their own destruction, they began opening their hearts to merciful, creative God. Free birds ripped the veil and allowed us a peek.

As anxious ones let go of harmful patterns, a new God emerged. This seemingly new God transformed their abusive habits into a beautiful, collective love-filled presence.

Long ago, we created a judgmental God. Finally, we lost interest and blamed each other for the sorry conditions in which we lived. One day, we will dare to turn our backs on the fear that perpetuates dishonest living. Then, we will become free birds and discover that loving Presence has been inviting us all along.

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Sacred Ruminations*

Of what fears would you have to let go, to become a dreamer or a pray-er?

What would you be willing to do, how far would you be willing to go or whom would you have to befriend, to see an ideal world burst into being?

Without selfish motives, describe joining Spirit in prayerful brooding over another’s well-being.