A Place to Be
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Newsletter
    • Blog
    • 2019 Art Regatta
    • Summer Fireside Chat Series
  • Book Groups & Bible Studies
  • Other Offerings & Retreats
  • Community Events & Socials
  • Spiritual Companioning
  • Calendar of Events
  • Resources
    • Local Worship Services
    • Contemplative Practices
    • Prose that Touch the Heart
    • Discipleship Devotional Blog
  • Support
    • Friends of the Center
  • Contact Us
  • Art Regatta Fundriaser 2022

Prose that
​Touch the Heart

Every so often, we come across (or someone shares) a poem or a prayer that really touches us in a special place in the heart.  We wanted to share these writings with you; perhaps you, too, will be graced in a similar way. 
The poems and prayers offered have no particular theme and are offered strictly for your enjoyment.  When able, the authors and the source is credited.  Do you have a favorite poem or prayer you would like to share?  Feel free to email them to
Kelly!  Enjoy!
I Will Not Die An Unlived Life: 
Reclaiming Purpose and Passion

 ~ by Dawna Markova
​
I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible;
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance,
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom,
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.
Loving God, Holy One,
Your desire is for our wholeness and well-being.
We hold in tenderness and prayer
the collective suffering of our world at this time.
We grieve precious lives lost and vulnerable lives threatened.
We ache for ourselves and our neighbors,
standing before an uncertain future.
We pray: may love, not fear, go viral.
Inspire our leaders to discern and choose wisely,
aligned with the common good.
Help us to practice social distancing
and reveal to us new and creative ways to come together in spirit and in solidarity.
Call us to profound trust in your faithful presence,
You, the God who does not abandon,
You, the Holy One,
breathing within us,
breathing among us, breathing around us
in our beautiful yet wounded world.
                                            ~ Sisters of IHM, Scranton, PA

We Wear the Mask
by Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes, - 
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
     We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
     We wear the mask!

Paul Laurence Dunbar, "We Wear the Mask." from The Complete Poems of Paul Laurence Dunbar. (New York: Dodd, Mead and Company.)
Proudly powered by Weebly
A Place to Be Spirituality Center
166 W Dekora St     Saukville, WI     262-277-1928
Summer office hours available by appointment. 
Hours beginning 9/6/22: 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Additional hours by appointment.
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Newsletter
    • Blog
    • 2019 Art Regatta
    • Summer Fireside Chat Series
  • Book Groups & Bible Studies
  • Other Offerings & Retreats
  • Community Events & Socials
  • Spiritual Companioning
  • Calendar of Events
  • Resources
    • Local Worship Services
    • Contemplative Practices
    • Prose that Touch the Heart
    • Discipleship Devotional Blog
  • Support
    • Friends of the Center
  • Contact Us
  • Art Regatta Fundriaser 2022