“The Hebrew word hesed (lovingkindness) is impossible to translate exactly into English. We have no equivalent. Words like lovingkindness, mercy, and steadfast love must all be incorporated to even come close to the depth of its meaning.” –Kay Wilson, Fruit of the Vine

Query: How might you be more aware every day of God’s love and compassion for you?

Skeptical Mystic

circle this steeple house

move in, peer tentatively

this glass is clear, not rosy stained

with filters meant to impose experience,

stage absent of spotlight, still

memories crescendo of manipulative music

seducing an emotional high

juxtaposed Pentecost –

we are not drunk

as you suppose

as into a pool, I slip unnoticed

side door, wade around the edge

watch, wait, test it – poised to escape

flood the margins with whispered queries

is it real? is it true?

is it packaged, produced, replicated

reverence? what do I witness?

listen, low expectations

toe baptism deepens

this is rare surrender, slide

further till submerged in Friends

we sit with it, convinced

to silence

gaze out, windows lucid

Light surrounds evergreen

cottonwood raining magic

like snow in warm slow-mo

covering our meeting, mystical fluffs

and I ponder all these

things in my heart

–Joann Renee Boswell, Cosmic Pockets