Liturgy 044: So Irritable

🕊️ A Prayer and A Blessing for God to Be Our One Desire

☕️ Lectio Divina

If God were our one and only desire
we would not be so easily upset
when our opinions do not find
outside acceptance.
— Thomas à Kempis

One thing I ask from the LORD
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple
— Psalm 27

God, you are my God
Earnestly I seek you
I thirst for you
My whole being longs for you
in a dry land
where there is no water
— Psalm 63

🙏 Prayer

Whenever I raise my voice
without intention, and in reaction…
there is a story being told

At first glance,
a collection of
reasonable
variables
for irritability

Someone didn’t do
what they said they would

A basic
point A to point B tale
of expectations unmet

Here, I am justified
my response
if unsavory
is palatable.

But underneath
there is another script
gone unexamined

Why am I so easily unwound?
Why am I obsessed with efficiencies and optimal outcomes?

In whom
does the seat
of my well-being reside?

Whose gaze
am I anxious for?

Waves of clarity rush over me
when I am happy
to waste my life
in singular desire

God My God
What is it that I am earnestly seeking
If it isn’t you?

The milk will soon be wiped down
The deadline met or lost
The affluent athlete will either win or lose

But wasn’t this all
just an internship
in the greater school
of knowing, enjoying
and personifying
love?

🕊️ Blessing

May you relax.
May you hear the morning’s invitation to smile.
May all other pursuits become small.
May you give each moment to knowing and extending the love of the Divine.
May you hunger for God.
May the nearness of God give you permission to say:
You have nothing to prove, no one to impress
You are beloved

In the Name of the One Whose Spirit Dwells in You
Amen