Be Still
And know that I am god
Be Still
And let me love you

Be with me
In intimate silence
Be with me
Deep in your heart.

Leave behind you
All cares and worries
Leave behind you
Fears and uncertainties

Focus your senses
On the beauty around
Focus your senses
On the sounds of nature.

I know there is pain
Allow it to be
I know there is pain
Give it to me.

Let me share
Your burden
Let me share
Your load

Be Still
And know I love you
Be Still
I am your God

Trish Coleman
13.3.99

EVEN THOUGH
The fig doesn’t blossom
And there’s no fruit on the vine…
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour.

EVEN THOUGH
My pain goes on
Suffering with no respite…
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour.

EVEN THOUGH
I ask, I plead for relief
And feel no response….
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour.

EVEN THOUGH
My heart grows weary
And my Faith is greatly tested…
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour.

EVEN THOUGH
I cry out in distress
And reach the edge of despair…
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour.

For I am truly gifted
With the love of my God
Yahweh – my strength,
Who says, “Fear not, little one,
I will not let you go.

Yes, I will rejoice in the Lord
I will exult in God my Saviour
He who is ever faithful
He who is my strength
And who will never leave me.

Inspired by Book of Habakkuk 3:17-19

Trish Coleman
28/10/2006

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Flood my spirit
Course through my veins.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Fill my heart with courage
Help me face and
conquer my fears.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Burn within me
Provide precious healing.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Enter every part of me
And bring strength to my bones.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Pour yourself with abundance
Into my very being.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Become one with me
Enter the depths of my soul.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Fill me with trust in you
Help to welcome you.

Sweet Wine
Blood of Jesus
Be my sustenance
Be my life.

Be with me Lord
At every turn, every obstacle
Help me find peace and joy
In ‘whatever’ you ask.

As we travel this road
Stay close to me
Hold me in your arms
Never let me go.

Trish Coleman
3/11/2006

Help me to carry,
I beg and I plead,
My cross is too heavy
Help me…

I look at him, beside me,
All battered and bruised,
As he asks in earnest:
“Help me…

“Help me to carry
The Cross of the Kingdom
As it weighs so heavy
Upon my shoulders.”

I am surprised
And humbled yet,
That he should ask me
So weak that I am!

How can I help?
I ask in dismay
I can’t even carry
My own little cross!

Yours is so big
I’d be crushed by its weight
“But no,” he says,
“Come, just try…

So we link arms
And balance the weight
And somehow, support each other
To carry the cross…

He’s right, you know,
It’s not so heavy
When we work together
When we share the load!

“Don’t despair, little one,
Don’t give up,” he says,
“As you can see,
Together we are strong!”

Trish Coleman
13/10/2006

Inspired by Sieger Koder’s
“UNISON” in `A Time to Celebrate — The Folly of God’

She said “Whatever, Lord”
And found peace…
Can I say “Whatever, Lord”
And really mean it?

I am fearful of the whatever’s…
What can be,
What might be,
What could be…

I pray for healing,
For relief of pain,
To be able to stand upright
And do what needs be done!

Can I accept whatever comes?
Can I trust so fully
That the Lord will hold me
In the palm of his hand?

“Come my little one,
Let me hold you near,
Let me take your pain,
Your anxiety and fear.

“My peace I leave with you instead
And I will give you faith and hope
And the strength to endure
“Whatever comes’ “.

I give you my “whatever, Lord”
Though I’m not sure how sincere…
I believe in your love and faithfulness
“Strong and Constant is Your Love”.

Trish Coleman
26/8/2006

Inspired by Barbara Johnson’s
“So, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy”.

The Icon draws me in
Toward the Table
The Trinity waits for me.

Each person is relaxed
Patient in his waiting
They seem to know I’ll come.

Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid.
We welcome you with love
Come sit with us at table.”

I notice his hand –
It points to the cup
And I am afraid.

I know it’s the cup
Of suffering and pain.
He asks me to drink.

I hesitate
I look away
Yet still I am drawn…

Their charism is strong
And irresistible to me
It overrides my fear.

I take another step forward
And sit at their feet
I am ready.

The cup is offered
And I drink
While the Trinity looks on.

It is sweet to the taste!
This surprises me
I had expected bitterness.

But no – it is the sweetest
Most succulent wine
I have ever tasted!

I savour it
And feel a glow.
I am lit up from within.

“This cup will bring you pain
But your suffering will bring life
For it is mixed with mine.”

“Drink deeply,” says Jesus
“Take in my burning love
As we become one…”

“We shall give you a new heart
And put a new spirit in you
This is our promise to you today.”

I stay at the table
Surrounded by love
And the courage it brings me

Trish Coleman

The One I love…
Waits, gently insistent,
Trusting my inconstancy,
Touching my weakness with sure strength.

The One I love…
Calls, breathing my name
As tho’ I’d never a name before,
Framing my syllables with delight.

The One I love…
Comes, with a fierce tenderness,
Gathering my willing blindness
Into a fiery assent.

The One I love…
Hides, causing me to seek Him
With a lambent longing that
Fragments me into wholeness.

The One I love…
Withdraws, holding me at a cradled distance
Until He can bear my need of Him no longer.

The One I love…
Moulds, forms, fashions me
In a hungry flame that coruscates
My very being.

The One I love…
Dies, momently yielding up what He is
In a consenting passion that
Demands my company.

The One I love…
Lives, vibrantly, exuberantly alive
And fuels my appetite and zest
For loving.

The One I love…
Is. He graces my living with freshness. Endows my grief
with meaning. Grants my loneliness
A home. Binds my wilfulness
To obedience. Burns my anger
To compassion. And calls me –
Oh so willing- to a death,
That we may be
The One I love.

Anon.

I have gone once more into the golden dark
Where void is not empty, and where lightness is;
Where freedom and obedience are one,
And joy is my Beloved’s, and I His.
I have found, since our beginning, unawares,
That I have put Him on, as flesh enfleshed
And now it is not possible to be
Other than Other, He and I enmeshed.
And I have asked, how is it,Love, that I
Knowing Your beauty, can forget your name?
‘Tis not forgot,’ replies my heart’s desire,
‘My beauty and your True Self are the same.”
If I am Other, so shall I be free
To reverence others, as You reverence me.

The Response.

“Come then once more into to golden dark
Where void is not empty and where light occurs;
Where freedom and obedience are one,
And joy is my Beloved’s, and I hers.
You have learned, since we began, all unawaress
That you have put me on, as flesh enfleshed.
And now it is not possible to be
Other than Other, you and I enmeshed.
And you have asked how it may be that you,
Knowing My beauty, can forget My name?
‘Tis not forget: Know this, My heart’s desire,
My beauty and your True Self are the same.
If you are in Me, so you shall be free
To reverence others, as I reverence Thee.

Anon.

It is the dailyness of our loving that entrances me;
The quiet comment; the soft referral of a question
That is sure of as soft an answer.
There is no chance that we may pass each other by.
You are ever close, stepping serenely to my whatever pace.
We talk in feelings and in murmurs:
Half-sentences that find silent completion in the other’s being.
We assume each other’s presence,
Unsurprised to find the assumption correct,
Yet heightened by the reminder of a touch,
A smile,
A gentleness that flows between us,
A glimpse of mischief,
A sliding tear.
Even as we turn willingly, outward to others,
Our backs are secured, each to each.
.
We move often as one, sometimes as counterpoint,
Always in relationship.
And when I miss my step, you match me rather than admonish me.
When I wander aimlessly , you lend me your purpose
And make it ours.
You are complete, yet you say I add to your completeness, as you, oh yes so surely, hold me to uncover mine.
You are my experience and I – mysteriously –
am part of yours.
Shall we move closer to each other yet?
This is your promise and my wishing,
Though not what I’d imagine, as you seem so very here already.
I await your quiet surprise for me …and yet, who knows but that in the end
I too may surprise us both?

S.M.T. 26.4.08
Anon.

I have thought of light and dark as two,
As opposites, implacably at war:
And thought that I am Dark and only You
As Light can strive with me, embattled at my core
Of self, to save and make me impenetrable.
I have believed that I must choose between
Both Light and Dark, thus me and You; but now
Your Light, it would appear, insists on being seen
As brighter for my Dark. Where I am most in night,
Your shining there is brightest. Where I am most alone
Your deep enclosing call compels me,
To bring me to my home.
There is but one choice, no choice at all: for You
Shall make the Light and Darkness only one.
Your Light makes my Dark golden, and my blackest night
Glows warmly as it liberates Your Sun.

Anon.