Ruah Bull - Spiritual Director

  Walk in the rain, smell flowers, stop along the way, go on a field trip, find out how things work, tell stories, say the magic words, trust the universe.

     I d o dimly perceive that whilst everything  around me is ever changing, ever dying,  there is underlying all that change a living power that is changeless, that holds all together, that creates, dissolves and recreates...for I can see that in the midst of death, life persists, in the midst of untruth, truth persists, in the midst of darkness, light persists.

 Awaken me, O Mighty One, in your holy mercy, that I might be free of fear... With boundless confidence, I abandon myself to You... For You deliver me from illusion, and through Love, my heart open to Wisdom.

  People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if we are waiting for something  already begun in us. Henri Nouwen  

 Sometimes the best map will not guide you You can't see what's around the bend Sometimes the road leads through dark places Sometimes the darkness is your friend

 somewhere between  terror and trust runs the deeper river  of resolve, and there we will reside, there the sun outshines the fires of grief a prayer rises up in a yet unspoken language of light

 Hope has holes in its pockets. It leaves little crumb trails so that we, when anxious, can follow it. Hope's secret: it doesn't know the destination- it knows only  that all roads begin with one foot in front of the other.

 Love, love, love says Percy And run as fast as you can along the shining beach, on the rubble, or the dust. Then, go to sleep. Give up your body heat, your beating heart. Then, trust.

 How Did the rose Ever open its heart And give to this world All its Beauty? It felt the encouragement of light Against its Being. Otherwise, We all remain Too Frightened.

 Help us to be the always hopeful Gardeners of the Spirit Who know that without darkness 'Nothing comes to birth As without light Nothing flowers.

  As swimmers dare to lie face to the sky and water bears them, as hawks rest upon air and air sustains them, so would I learn to attain free fall, and float into Creator Spirit's deep embrace, knowing no effort earns that all-surrounding grace.

  This is the time to be slow,   Lie low to the wall   Until the bitter weather passes.    Try, as best you can, not to let   The wire brush of doubt   Scrape from your heart   All sense of yourself   And your hesitant light.   If you remain generous,   Time will come good;   And you will find your feet   Again on fresh pastures of promise,   Where the air will be kind,   And blushed with beginning.        

Help me, love poem, rise up from the broken glass,    The time to sing has come. Help me, love poem, to reestablish integrity,    And to sing again about pain. The world isn't free of war, it's true,    It isn't washed of the blood, hate still exists,    It's true. But it's also certain that we're closer to a truth.    Violence sees itself in the mirror of the world    And it's face is not even attractive to itself. And I continue believing in the possibility of love.    I'm certain of that understanding among    Human beings, achieved over pain,    Over the broken glass.

 I abandon myself to You, O Living Presence, my strength. You are my stronghold, my freedom, Almighty One, the rock and foundation of my life, Just One, tower of strength, the source of truth and light, I call upon You, Heart of my heart, singing praises to your Name, and fear no longer holds me.

One day people will touch and talk perhaps easily, And loving be natural as breathing and warm as sunlight, And people will untie themselves, as string is unknotted, Unfold and yawn and stretch and spread their fingers, And work will be simple and swift as a seagull flying, And play will be casual and quiet as a seagull settling, And the clocks will stop, and no one will wonder or care or take notice, And people will smile without reason, even in winter, even in the rain.