Conversatio Divina

Part 4 of 4

Winged Things

Jean Nevills

A moth flutters into view

while morning dawns

behind the mountain

silhouetted dark

against the awakening sky.

A small airplane circles ‘round low

glimpsed in the treelined gap,

its flight timed to coincide

with this fluttery creature.

What is it about these winged things that captivate me?

A Douglas fir stands still,

a sparrow on its branchy finger.

If stillness I hold

will That which defies gravity

come to me, lifting me

into Thy hands, O God?

My dense self,

too heavy today,

solid, slow moving

and, what….

fear laden, weighted weary.

My flight path strewn

with debris,

expectation and accusation

without and within.

In the beginning was That

which defies gravity

creating gravity

and winged creatures

to remind gravity

the limits of its jurisdiction.

Perhaps

at the beginning of today

I may

simply

be what I be,

wait for Thy Breath’s

lifting me

from overt action and effort,

presencing me into Presence.

 

Invitation to Reflection:  Become aware of God’s loving Presence. Name what holds gravity for you that is weighing you down.  How might attention to your breath and God’s Presence limit its jurisdiction?

 

Footnotes

About the author: Jean Nevills is a Spiritual Director and Supervisor with a Master’s degree in Christian Education and Certificate in Spiritual Formation from the Renovare Institute. She has served as a Spiritual Director and Supervisor at Portland Seminary and is a praxis instructor for Fuller Seminary’s DMin in Spiritual Direction. She is an instructor in the Spiritual Direction Training Program at CompanioningCenter.Org and serves on the Content Development Team at Conversatio.Org. Marriage and mothering, a family business, and community life are the natural arenas for ongoing spiritual transformation, spiritual practices, and living life with God in a Jesus way. Jean and her husband Dave also have a personal retreat space available for silence and solitude on their quiet, rural property in Hillsboro, Oregon.