All You Must Do Is Remember

When your past overwhelms you,
when it threatens to drown you,
remember we already surround you.

When your grief returns from its too short hiatus,
when you can't stop saying how much you hate this,
remember to reach a thought out to God and His angels.

When your fears once again begin to crash over you,
when you start to question how someone could care for you,
remember these are just the thoughts of a poisoned ego, don't let them get to you.

If you wish to create the future of your dreams,
you first must release the nightmares of your past.
Not one thing in your past has the power to mar you;
only the perception of wrong-doings and terrible pain
are creating the illusion of coiling chains.
But we assure you, it's all in your head,
all you must do is remember.

Remember who you are. Remember your courage and strength. Remember that your purpose can become greater than the sum of your history. Let your past give you vision. Let your past give you hope. Let your past give you the future of your dreams. Invite and invoke God and his host of angels. Ask them to pour their healing grace into the painful past and transform it into something that will lift you instead of weigh you down, that would quiet the ego's venomous nightmares and replace them with the vibrant dreams of your soul.

When your past overwhelms you,
when it threatens to drown you,
you must keep your head high,
your chin to the sky,
and remember
you will learn to fly.

Here to Take Flight

Deep down you know just who you are,
so stop what you're doing, stop playing small.
Deep down you know you are more than you seem,
so please stop pretending
you can't follow your dreams.

Don't doubt what you're doing,
don't doubt your purpose for living.
You are here to do some marvelous things,
so don't let your "what if's" stop you
from spreading your wings.
You are here to take flight,
you are here to uncover
all of your might.

Don't forget who you are, don't let go of your dreams,
for those are what will give you your wings.
Please remember that you are entirely able,
so don't give your doubts a seat at the table.

Time to Take a Leap

Take a moment.
Sit still, dig deep.
You are on the precipice of transformation
and it is time to take a leap.

Take a moment.
Breathe in, breathe out.
You are approaching perfect vision
and it is time to forget your doubts.

We are not asking you to forget or deny the past
for everything you went through serves a purpose.
The world is awaiting your transformation,
for humanity cannot learn to shed its prison
until you've made a demonstration.

Your true path is calling you.
Will you be brave enough to heed it?
Your transformation is upon you.
Will you be open enough to receive it?

Your past has tried to convince you
that you must be the Devil's spawn.
But you're understanding now,
that you are nobody's pawn.
You have, at long last, made it
to the other side of the board
and received your queen,
for that was always who you were.

Your true path is calling you.
Will you be brave enough to heed it?
Your transformation is upon you.
Will you be open enough to receive it?

Take a moment.
Sit still, dig deep.
You are on the precipice of transformation
and it is time to take a leap.

Take a moment.
Breathe in, breathe out.
You are approaching perfect vision
and it is time to forget your doubts.

My Dear Child

My dear child, I am here for you.
My dear child, you've been so brave,
but its time to let your grief out.
It is safe now.
You can let it all out now.

My dear child, I assure you,
there is so much strength in you,
even through your tears.

My dear child, I am here for you.
My dear child, you've been incredibly courageous,
but it's time to let your rage out.
It is safe now.
You can let it all out now.

My dear child, don't doubt your power;
it is coursing through your veins.
My dear child, stop casting your doubts
into your dreams;
you are here to be free.

My dearest child,
you know deep down just who you are;
hold fast to your visions
and follow your heart.
Our love has been with you
right from the start.

An End to Unending Grief

This poem is a kind of letter to my inner child.

There seems nothing to do
but sit with you
as you grieve an unending grief.

My words, I know, would offer little comfort.
My words would make but a feeble salve
for a wound so grave;
they'd fail to staunch the bleeding.
But I hope the love I pour into you
and your willful, stubborn wound
would dull the sharpness of your pain.

There seems nothing to do
but sit with you
as you grieve an unending grief.

My words, though I try,
cannot make a reliable tourniquet
for this kind of wound.
My words, though clever, would merely
suppress and repress your tears,
and those surely, must be expressed.
But I hope the silence I hold for you
wraps gently 'round your wound.
I hope the hugs I offer you
fill the chill I know you feel
with unceasing warmth.

There seems nothing to do
but sit with you
as you grieve an unending grief.

Please forgive me my occasional impatience.
Please forgive me my desire to turn away.
I can't help but find it hard
to look at you,
to look at me,
with all my scars.
But I am learning. I am growing. I am strengthening.
I am becoming strong enough
and brave enough
to carry you with all your history. 

I shall carry you and your history
with the gentleness,
with the tenderness you never knew.
I shall hold you and your history
close to my beating heart
until you learn what comfort is.
I shall carry you and your history
until you're ready to trust the ground beneath us,
to trust our legs beneath us.

One day, I hope you'll open your tear filled eyes
and see that the dawn has already arrived.
One day I hope you'll see
that there is, indeed, an end to this unending grief.
But I promise to love you,
to embrace you,
to carry you
until that day arrives.

A Prayer to Replace the Darkness

Mother, Father, God, I invite You and I invoke You into my heart
so that it may carry only love.
Mother, Father, God, I invite You and I invoke You into my mind
so that it may carry only peace.
Mother, Father, God, I invite You and I invoke You into my soul
so that it may carry only light.

Dear God, until today I have carried  in my heart
the heavy burdens of self-judgement and self-reproach.
Dear God, until today I have carried in my mind
the heavy burdens of chaos and turmoil.
Dear God, until today I have carried in my soul
pockets of darkness where I felt certain of my inferiority,
pockets of darkness where I felt I must remain hidden and silent,
pockets of darkness where I felt the absence of love.

Dear Mother, Father, God, I invite You into the places within my heart
that have long doubted the presence of Your love for me.
May Your loving compassion support and assure my heart today.
Dear Mother, Father, God, I invite You into the places within my mind
that have long carried shame, guilt, and fear.
May Your loving grace teach me to view myself as Your beloved and holy child.
Dear Mother, Father, God, I invite You into the places within my soul
that have long wished to feel Your embrace but could only bear witness to the pain.
May Your loving light seep into all the dark pockets of my soul that have longed for dawn yet felt only the chill of the night.

Dear God, please fill my heart, mind, and soul with Your infinite loving grace.
Dear God, please replace the darkness with Your infinite healing light.
Dear God, please replace the nightmares that roam through my mind with Your infinite peace.
Thank You, God. Thank You, God. Thank You, God.
Let this be so. And so it is. Amen.

#MeToo Prayer

    Today I am sharing a prayer I wrote in honor of the #metoo movement on the morning of October 23rd.     As a survivor myself, there is a certain kind of grief that fills my chest whenever a news-story mentions r*pe/sexual assault; I grieve for all my fellow survivors. So this morning when I woke with this weight on my heart, I came up with a prayer.

Dear Mother, Father, God, please fill this grief with love, light, grace, & peace. Dear Mother, Father, God, please fill this grief with love, light, grace , & peace until it overflows to all those who share this grief & shame with me. Dear Mother, Father, God, please comfort us with Your loving assurance, please embrace us with tenderness. Dear Mother, Father, God, please erase our fears, please erase our shame & guilt. Fill us instead with Your strength, Your power, Your infinite healing light. As we grieve & mourn our perceived powerlessness & loss of innocence, please dear God, fill our heavy hearts with Your love, light, grace, & peace. Remind us that our traumas can't separate us from Your love. Remind us that we are still perfect, whole, & complete. Remind us that nothing we experience is proof of having been abandoned by You. Fill our hearts, dear God. Fill our heavy hearts, dear God, with peace that surpasses all understanding. Asé. Aho. Amen. Let this be. And so it is.