Day 18 - March 25, 2014

Quote

"There are people whose presence is encouraging...The sense of encouragement you feel from them is not simply their words or gestures; it is rather their whole presence enfolding you and helping you find the concealed door."                                                            
                                                                           John O'Donohue

Meditation

As I was writing this book, I invited visitors to my website to submit stories about doors they had either read about or personally experienced. One of the most profound submissions came from the mother of a twelve-year-old daughter. This child, Mary Katherine Lidle, wrote the following untitled poem on the night before she was struck by an automobile in 1982. The accident was on March 17th and she died on March 25th. Her poem contains immense wisdom regarding our journey of spiritual growth. Read it first from the precious heart of a twelve-year-old. Then, re-read it as a lesson for your own heart.                                   
                                                                              Joyce Rupp

Prayer

Look at me--

I'm walking through a door

My life is changing and it's just perfect now

No more doors for me

They're too hard to get through

I'm staying here where it's safe--

No, child.

Those doors are a part of you

You can't ignore them

'Cause they're there

You've got to go through them

Who knows what you'll find

You've got to meet their trial

If you don't, you won't be what you should become

There are always gonna be doors and you

Can't stop 'em from comin'

You've got to go through them to grow

It's called change--

Look at the wildflower; it changes all the time

always blossoming or closing up, sprouting or withering

You're scared to go through those doors

Into the unknowing, 'into change'

You don't know what's going to happen

You don't know what change is going to bring

Listen to me

Go through those doors with hope

Go through those doors knowing change is the future

and you're part of it

You don't know what change is, that's why

you're scared

Change is the sun booming over the horizon

Scattering rays of hope to a new day

Change is a baby lamb meeting the world for its first time

Change is growing from a young child to a young woman

Change is beautiful; you will learn to love it.                

                                                                              Mary Katherine LIdle