When you pray,
be open
as the entirety of earth,
and allow
miraculous love
like rain
to fall
into the cracks
of your dry valleys and
soak
into the depths
of your soil.

Don’t hide
your active volcanoes
from the power
that can diffuse
molten lava
and transform
dusty old craters
into reservoirs
that overflow.

Let grace
wash away
the mildew
of ordinary life,
and replace it with fresh dew –

You can begin
to reflect the Light
like a diamond …

You can have
waterfalls that cascade
over the sides
of your mountain tops
like living fountains of jewels.

You can have a deluge,
new growth,
beauty beyond
your wildest dreams.

When you pray,
be open to natural elements
working together
for the salvation
of your joy.

Do you feel comfortable with transparency in your relationship with God?

In Catholicism, the sacrament of confession is seen as the healing sacrament because of how freeing it is to receive forgiveness and absolutions for our sins. A Catholic mystic once wrote that if people could see the graces received in the sacrament of reconciliation, they would be lined up outside the church for blocks like they had tickets to the superbowl.

So often instead, we cling to our secrets and hide our flaws, likely because of the ways we project the shame we’ve received from humans to the shame we may experience from God even though nothing can be further than the truth.

The reality is: God is love and mercy. Forgiveness and redemption are inevitable in the presence of the Lord if we are willing to be transformed. He understands the reason we are the way we are and seeks to heal us, not judge and condemn us.

In our humanity, we are vast and complex, multifaceted like the earth. Generally it is thought that we operate 10% from a place of consciousness and 90% unconsciously based on our deeply rooted belief system, which has been shaped by life experiences and choices from the womb. We are also impacted by the subtle energetic realm of spiritual forces all around us. In one aspect of our being, we may experience a sunny day at the beach but in another part of ourselves, we may have stormy skies and looming danger. We may even feel that storm blowing in from the distance in an intuitive way.

Recently, life events made me aware of a volcanic part of myself, which I hadn’t been aware of – a deeply wounded and frustrated part of myself, which was bubbling under the surface and pretty uncomfortable to look at. It kind of represented a subconscious choicepoint between caving in on myself and truly expressing who I am in the world, the pressure was (and still honestly is kind of) intense.

Even though it is uncomfortable, I am happy to be in touch with that explosive part of myself because it is my experience that when we become consciously aware of a struggle we have deep down, that’s when God is about to heal it. In the process of a life well lived, everything from the depths of our subconscious eventually comes to the surface to be healed, and we’ll never be finished with this creative process of life because there is always room for transformation and evolution. If we’re alive, we still have healing and expansion to do. When volcanoes erupt over time, they can create beautiful islands.

I’ve learned it’s a gift to be aware of all the parts of ourselves and to allow that grace to fall like rain into those parts. No doubt as Jesus performed miracles, He was completely aware of all parts of Himself in His humanity and Divinity, along with the nature of everyone He healed.

The rest of us aren’t fully aware of all the buried parts of ourselves like Jesus was, and that’s okay. Our spiritual journey is a lifelong process, but I hope this poem is encouragement to stay open and allow God’s miraculous healing power and grace into all the nooks and crannies of your broken humanity.

Transformation is possible and even inevitable, when you persevere in the richness of contemplative prayer.

Are there parts of yourself you feel the need to hide from God or others? Have you experienced deep healing from being transparent with God in prayer? Comment below, and I’ll be delighted to keep you in my prayers.

Lord, give us the grace to be completely transparent with you. Help us to trust in Your Divine Mercy, so we can let go of limiting beliefs, be fully healed and live lives that express the fullness of Your glorious creativity. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

written by Nicky Gant for http://www.uniteinprayer.org 2/10/2021