Feasting Part Two

He came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea, Jerusalem, and the coast of Tyre and Sidon. They had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. And all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out from him and healed all of them.  Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.  Luke 6:17-21

First the healing...
Then the words.
First the listening...looking in eyes...extending God's love.
Then the theology.
How often have I gotten that backwards?
How often has my preaching, pontificating and prose rung hallow in hearts that simply wanted to be seen
hugged
loved?
How often I have I preached rather than looked?

God...help turn me upside down and backwards to see your realm clearer.
It is too easy to believe that words matter more than standing side-by-side;
Eye-to-eye
Seeing Your divinity in the eyes of humanity.
It is easy to stand at a distance and toss words rather than be close so that I might smell another's breath.

Breathe on me, breath of God...turning me upside down and inside out.
Help me realize the Beatitudes are not a puzzle to be solved,
But a wisdom to be undergone.
Not some truth I can apply,
But a promise to guide my every day life.

Let Your wisdom rummage and roam around my life
that I might see what I thought of as backwards is really the forwards way to your realm.

Grace and peace ~~