Spirit Prayer – Turkey
Turkey,
If I could understand your language,
what would I hear in your gobble?
To give…
because sacrifice brings forth sacredness?
Tell me, what kind of sacrifice makes Spirit flesh?
Will putting a checkmark
next to giving to people in need, suffice?
How about lingering with them for a awhile,
letting humility move me like a bittersweet poem?
How personal does the sacrifice need to be?
What if I offer freedom to victims,
who feel they have no obvious way out,
or to people who’ve imprisoned themselves in limiting stories,
and then showed them sacredness within their sadness?
Would that be sufficient to bring me into Love’s flow?
All of this doing for other people,
will it tempt arrogance or pride in me?
Will any of it matter, in the end,
if I do not let Life transform me?
Maybe it takes a deathbed to let go of the need to be right,
to drop defenses and give up control.
Could the sacrifice that feels like losing, be as simple as
trusting in Love enough to let go of fear and love the other?
And what is love of God, if not to love one another?
How much love would it require to be patient,
kind, to keep no record of wrongs,
to persevere through difficulties and to have the other’s back?
What if everyone took those sacrificial words literally?
But Turkey, you also come reminding me to give
from a whole heart.
To honor the fire within me,
to love my neighbor, AS myself.
Surely that makes Spirit flesh, too.
When all is said and done, what does it matter if I accomplish great things,
win people over to my way of thinking,
create a respectable reputation or leave a great legacy,
if I widen the gap between earth and heaven, because I failed to love?
Making Spirit Flesh*
From the movie, Contact
David Drumlin:
I know you must think this is all very unfair…I wish the world was a place where fair was the bottom line, where…idealism…was rewarded, not taken advantage of. Unfortunately, we don’t live in that world.
Ellie Arroway:
Funny, I’ve always believed that the world is what we make of it.