Seven Times

they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and they shall wet thee with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over thee, till thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will.

Daniel 4:25

I’ll take whatever baptism I can get —

Let me be wet with the dew of heaven, 

till I know:

1)

Not my scheming mind, 

not my fretting, fearful mind, 

not my story seeking,

straw-grasping,

hoping and despairing mind,

but the Mind of stars and seasons,

of microscopic earth connections,

of fragrant sweeping tides and cedar boughs

guides the action of my life

2)

Not my self-concerned, capricious tastes,

not my opinions,

hot my brittle sense of what I am

determines me,

but the Soul that sings through every morning

and sustains the song all through the afternoon,

goldening the evening,

coloring the mystical transition into night,

chiming through the stars,

tuning the subtle shifting

in every blessed hour until the dawn

3)

Not my cyclic bursts of will,

my spurts of motivation

(between the slumps of lethargy)

not my halfway efforts

to accomplish something,

but Spirit’s steady, constant inspiration,

that brings life’s fruits to fullness,

each in their perfect time —

this crafts my being

4)

It’s not my sense of life,

its little arc, and my attempts

to fill it with the things I think I want,

but Life’s design that brings me forth —

so joy-filled, so abundant,

spilling forth delight,

limitless and free

5)

Not the set of things I’ve thought I loved,

nor the (also small) set

of what I’ve thought loves me,

but the unrepressed infinitude

of Love comprising everything,

fills me up with its desire to be

6)

Not my former judgments of what’s true,

based on what I thought I understood,

but this great Truth is what I must acknowledge —

which makes a place for every being,

each one with its center, each a centered love

7)

Not my sense of law — of what is right

or what I might decree,

but that full Principle,

which holds the world

in ever-moving harmony,

is the law that governs me

Seven times, and then 

my reason will be sound

for I will know

The Most High, the All Good,

makes me what I am.

©Wendy Mulhern

September 21, 2015