“The Creator of the Universe is looking at you, waiting for you to pay attention,” the Sister said. “Take a walk in the forest. Be specific about what you are praying for, what you long for, and ask for the grace of a response.” Then sit with Ephesians 1: 3 -14, savour words that resonate with you, and converse with your God.
I set out on my walk with the intention to be ‘one’ with Creation and to place our children and their families before the Creator, seeking His guidance and favour for them in the new directions in which they find themselves. All are on new and unknown paths.
I hadn’t left the Centre before my attention was drawn to a statuette of Blessed Mother Mary framed by a natural grotto formed by a hollow in the heart of the trunk of a cabbage tree.
Mother Julian of Norwich, in one of her revelations, was shown the heart of Jesus ‘riven in two.’ Her visionary eye was led through the gaping wound in His side, where was revealed ‘a beautiful and delightful place, large enough for all mankind that will be saved to rest there in peace and love.’ The space was created by the pouring out of His precious blood and water and the severing of His heart. Then followed the words: “Look how I loved you … My child, look and see your Lord God, your creator and your endless joy. See what delight and bliss I have in your salvation, and for my love rejoice with me now.”
Creation was the first Incarnation, the first material expression of God’s nature, and character, and being … and for me this ‘grotto’, with the Mother of our Suffering Saviour at the entrance to the hollowed-out centre of God’s Love, is a powerful image. It speaks of the revelation that our ‘safe space’ is in the cavity of the riven heart of God, made open to us through the spilling of His precious blood and the suffering of His Passion.
And then to look up and see the tree trunk – despite its hollowed centre and wounded appearance, grown tall and majestic with a slendid, flourishing canopy of leaves merging with the abundant foliage of a neighbouring mango tree.
What an image of the Love of Jesus, the power of the Resurrection and the creative resilience of the resurrection life against all odds!
In the course of my walk, my attention was drawn to trees that spoke to me of the lives of our children and their spouses - the journeys taken and those beginning:
Where branches change direction, choosing different routes as they seek the light, where they will flourish.
What an image of the Love of Jesus, the power of the Resurrection and the creative resilience of the resurrection life against all odds!
In the course of my walk, my attention was drawn to trees that spoke to me of the lives of our children and their spouses - the journeys taken and those beginning:
Where branches change direction, choosing different routes as they seek the light, where they will flourish.
Where a tree hosts other lives, affording them the opportunity to flourish, and ascend.
Where a branch has grown into a garland of thorns, speaking of our Creator and our Salvation.
Where a tree serves as an aid for others to grow up and around and over and through, into a complex tangle of continued growth.
Where a tree emerges to soar above the rest of the canopy.
Where the burden of foliage deepens the shadows, yet the density of growth accentuates light shining on the path ahead.
Where a single flower blooms triumphant above the foliage in the full glory of sunlight and azure skies.
Where a trunk and its branches grow tall over time, and only towards the end of the growth point do they burst into an explosion of foliage in different directions, like an exploding firework.
Encouraged in my spirit, confident that all will be well with our children, I sat down to read Ephesians 1: 3 -14, savouring in particular the words in bold:
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ … to be holy and blameless in His sight … adopted as His sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will …”
I felt confident that our children are secure in that ‘beautiful and delightful place’ in the hallowed, hollowed heart of our Saviour.
“… to the praise of His glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One He loves … lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding … according to His good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ.”
God assured me that regardless of the trials and tribulations to come for my children and their families, as they did for His beloved Son, all will be well and “put into effect” when the time is right. I was given the comforting knowledge that although the verse in Ephesians 1: 10 is on a cosmic scale – “to be put into effect when the times have reached their fulfilment” - for those who have already been “brought together under one head, even Christ,” their time has reached fulfilment – they are already in the resurrection life.
So this is the prayer I was led to pray for our children:
‘“You also were included ‘in Christ’ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.” You and your families are safely and securely in the heart of Jesus Christ – that wide and lovely space for which room was gladly, willingly, made by Jesus through His suffering and the spilling of His precious Blood and the tearing asunder of His heart for your sake.
And, “having believed, you were marked in Him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,” who is a guarantee of your inheritance as redeemed beloved sons and daughters of God. You “are God’s possession – to the praise of His glory.”
Nothing else really matters, but to stay ‘in Christ’, through whom all things will eventually be brought together under Him, to the glory of God our Father. Please grant this, Triune God, though Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.
“As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24: 15).
A Sharing of the Heart - an Account of a Prayer Retreat, January 2020 By Rev. Peter Habberton
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