17Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 138

Psalm 138

Reflections
I am not lowly    when I leverage privilege to shout or whine at the tax     rate on my shiny, selfish things. I am not lowly      when I bemoan loss of newness or bristle at friends       when they succeed where I have failed. God still sees me, but graciously invites me down. Psalm 138
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16Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 137

Psalm 137

Reflections
The guilty party goes unpunished,     and it feels like justice is an arcade token, limited     by trade and arrangement: "Win or lose, but don't expect power."     But maybe Power waits for the fruit of repentance to grow     in powerfully cold hearts. Psalm 137
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13Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 136

Psalm 136

Reflections
As I take delight in history     I'm so often the ignorant page - marked by happenings but never moved.     What if I should be upturned instead of delivered? What if I should be     torn down to be built into a mold that resembles nothing of my plans,     nothing of my dreams of victory, nothing but a beaten Nazarene. Psalm 136
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12Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 135

Psalm 135

illustrations, Reflections
If God delights in me,     even a little, why shouldn't I delight     in grace more than in self-congratulation?     What if God's little delight is infinite?     Shouldn't grace best me? ... But I wander to the     snow fields of self-care and wallow in the cold     ice-blanket alone. I will delight in me.     I will satisfy grief and the longing for     oneness and justice. But grace stands above me,     a distant, present mass of glorious flame     that warms regardless of my bitter self-love.     The gravity draws like a salt cure and leads     me to the threshold. I hear singing... Psalm 135
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11Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 134

Psalm 134

Reflections
Toiling in the mundane seems     far from blessedness, but keeping your post, or not     leaving it to chance, persists an incarnation     of God's hope on site. Psalm 134
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10Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 133

Psalm 133

Reflections
If unity means that we think     the same thing, then unity is a lost coin     in the leaves. But if it means that we share the     selfsame heart, then unity is the clean air     after rain. Psalm 133
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05Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
The Bright Blue Room

The Bright Blue Room

Everyday
I don't remember the sky without    those man-made clouds - those airplane slug trails      that lead from concentration to dissipated        sky dander. But I remember the water.     Creeks and runoffs slither and coil      in my mind's three-ring scrapbook — that oily film that glittered    on the standing water -      that eerie foam near the rapids. I can feel the rough sandbanks     on my toes and the lurking fear of the cottonmouth nearby. The road noise moves him, and the slap of his body on the green-brown shallows snaps me out of myself. And I run like hell all the way to my bright blue bedroom     in that pink brick ranch and shiver with life.
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04Oct 2017 by wprice No Comments
Psalm 131

Psalm 131

Reflections
Hope is not fickle   or noncommittal. It doesn't wait until you're occupied,    pack up memories, relational ties,      and "Dear John" your dreams. I do that to Hope. Psalm 131
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