Tag: comfort
I Will Be Your Anchor
When you feel overwhelmed by
the rush of cold water around you,
I will be your anchor.
When the darkness below tries
to pull you under,
I will be your anchor.
When the winds catch your sail,
and threaten to toss you
to a scary destination,
I will be your anchor,
keeping you attached –
tethered to the strength
I have given you.
Life will push you about,
bring changes and dangers.
No one can avoid this,
for each of us has our own
path of peril
through which to pass
and learn from the passing.
None of this is to be taken personally – except
God’s promises to be in the muck with us.
We are like trees with roots that run deep,
roots that hold us up in the storms.
We fall over when the roots
are allowed to decay.
God says, Stay tethered to me.
I will be your anchor, your root.
Hang on to me –
and never let go.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Beyond the Surface of Things
I see your smile,
how nicely you are put together –
the thought placed in what you present
to the world,
to me.
Underneath it all,
is the secret you keep to yourself.
You could be as finely tuned inside
as you are on the outside,
with a heart wide open –
smoothly pumping,
ready for Life to be born before you,
eager for use and expression.
Or, you could be
broken and faltering,
tired and lumbering along,
with all your systems, heart included,
weakened by the work of Life,
ready to rest,
alone in all your suffering –
even though none of this is revealed
on your surface.
We can bloom and grow in life
or crumble in the living of it.
One wonders at the choices along the way
that shape each path.
It seems to me,
we are like plants deprived of sun and water,
and wither because of it,
the more we live as if
we have no need of God.
I see it at the end –
the weathering or
the glowing
when final breaths are taken –
and I know which path
I choose to take.
Abide with me, precious God,
and continue to show me the way
to live beyond the surface of things.
Radiate through me
from that deep place
that connects me to all there is,
now and forever.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Be a Branch
You come to me with searching eyes,
your shoulders slumped,
your breathing shallow.
“I need help,” you say.
I open my arms
and reach for you,
taking you into the Love,
ever-present.
Comfort flowers.
An elderly woman drops her grocery bag
and oranges and potatoes scatter
all over the road –
I run to her.
My hands get busy gathering her food.
Our eyes connect and
together we laugh.
There is no problem, anymore.
We are connected.
Everyday, situations show up
to wake us up to
who we are
and why we are here.
Most of the time,
we don’t notice.
We are too busy with ourselves,
living as if
we are on our own.
We forget that God needs us
in order to be seen,
to be realized –
and we need God.
“I am the vine.
You are the branches.”
The instruction is given:
We are deeply connected to God
and when we extend ourselves
in Love,
life blossoms as it should –
and God is at work
with us.
Nothing else makes more sense
or is as beautiful.
Be a branch.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2018
Don’t Let Go
Like a warm blanket
takes the chill away
from my weighted shoulders,
your Presence is sweet comfort.
When alert,
I catch glimpses of you,
and they are just enough
to enliven
that inner pilot light
you so gracefully set
to burn within me.
Sometimes it burns fiercely
and then I know –
that is what flames are meant to do.
You are with me all the time.
You are my inner light,
waiting to flame up
every time I dare
to share its healing energy.
I surrender to the flame,
to its powerful glow,
trusting that
when the chill dares to set in
from time to time –
when I manage to turn away
for a minute
or a month,
you will wrap me up in your
inviting Presence,
hold me close,
and re-light the flame.
Don’t let go.
Copyright © Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2017
This Heart
I suppose I am
one of the lucky ones.
I got a heart that was loved
from the beginning –
despite imperfect parents,
with broken hearts of their own.
I knew from the beginning
that I was loved.
That is huge.
My heart had a grounding –
an ontological gift,
an understanding that
no matter what,
it was worthy of affection.
That grounding
has been my strength.
It has lifted me above the long
and bumpy road by
connecting me
to the Divine.
A kind of safety ladder…
Through many seasons of lack
and longing
have I arrived
finally
to a place of fullness –
even bursting!
I have been filled up
and pried open
with the gentle tool
of growing awareness
of what a heart can be –
what a heart can do.
This is my heart:
open and ready –
stretching to you.
Free!
Take and seal it.
Copyright© Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2017
Interdisciplinary
It takes all of us
to bring you home;
to follow your lead
while you demonstrate what you need –
how we can help.
Sometimes you don’t know.
After all,
this is a first for you.
We understand.
So we show you the way.
At first,
it is all about the pain
in all its potential forms
and impact.
Then it is
all about the Love –
given and received
over a lifetime
and in this moment.
We help unwrap
how Love endures
through it all.
We have travelled this road
with so many.
But no one is
exactly like you.
We are here.
Right next to you.
Each of us tasked
with a different
aspect of you –
the whole picture of you
and the life you were given.
As witnesses to your
soul’s journey,
we catch merely a glimpse
of the mystery
ahead
that calls to us all.
Thank you for that.
The comfort flows both ways.
We will never forget you.
Copyright © Cynthia Cady Stanton, 2017
Becoming and Beholding 