A bird perching, preening, praying on the branch of a guava tree

I was walking one morning on my way home when I chanced upon this bird on the branch of a guava tree, PERCHING... PREENING... PRAYING!!!

A BIRD PERCHING ON THE BRANCH OF A GUAVA TREE.

A BIRD PREENING ITS FEATHERS ON THE BRANCH OF A GUAVA TREE.

A BIRD WITH ITS HEAD TILTING UP TO HEAVEN AS IF PRAYING ON THE BRANCH OF A GUAVA TREE.

The Perfect and the imperfect: a perfect combination?

I am an imperfection.
Perfection is a need and a want in my imperfect soul.
I, who am imperfect, cannot perfect my own self.
He Who is Perfect knows it.
So much so He came into the world: to where imperfection is.
For, truth is -- only One Who is Perfect can perfect that which is imperfect: I.
And I welcome and accept His Coming into my life.
And I go to where He is often: to admit and confess my imperfection.
And touch Him with my tongue and swallow Him into my system.
Perfection is not an overnight thing.
Living faith and constant communion with One Who is Perfect everyday will eventually lead Him to perfect me.
He Who is Perfect knows I'll fall along the way.
He has a "wishing" well built for me.
He loves it there where I confess my misery, my imperfection.
For, He is drawn closer to my need, my want.
He Who is Perfect is the fullness of I who am imperfect.

Shekinah: 'God Himself dwelling in the cloud of glory'

I was walking one afternoon just before last week's Good Friday when I saw this awesome Shekinah!

I was glad because I had my camera with me.

I took these pictures.

Glory to God for the grace to be able to see one of His Shekinah glories!

[*Shekinah (pronounced she-kai-nah) is a Hebrew word meaning "the 'dwelling' or 'settling,' and is used to denote the dwelling or settling presence of God, especially in the Temple in Jerusalem." --Wikipedia.

[*Shekinah was used by the Jewish writers even before the time of Jesus to express what they understood to be the Very Presence of God, God Himself dwelling in the cloud of glory.

*Shekinah, then, was a term for God and His abiding presence. --www.svbc.org.]

[*Shekinah is the feminine attribute of the Presence of God. --Wikipedia.]

Oasis in the desert

Let the world speak against me, but I have the whole of the Lord within me.

Why should I worry when the All-Powerful and the All-Knowing God Creator is inside me?

There is pain -- yes! -- because I am human and still living in the world; but the Presence of Jesus is greater.

And every pain I have, I offer to the Heart of Mercy for the good of my soul and those of all.

There are times of complaints in my heart about the pains that trouble me.

But when I realize to offer them to God, I rejoice because I have something to offer to the Heart of Jesus.

There are also times when my "enemies" attack me from every side, within and without.

Times when, despite the overwhelming attacks, I cannot feel the Lord even a bit.

Times when I feel it is already God Who attacks me, for nothing happens without His consent.

Those are my desert.

And when I find myself in the desert, I run immediately to my oasis:

I trust in the Lord.

The other Joseph the Dreamer?

I am alien to my own family, my own brethren, my own flesh and blood.

I live far away.

They persecute me for no reason at all.

One, the eldest, nearly crippled my right knee -- out of jealousy!

I have kept a distance.

A safer distance.

"For my love, they are my adversaries."

I run away from my family when the world is an enemy.

For, they side with those who disagree with me.

It's futile -- for me -- to think of a family as a refuge in time of adversary.

It's safe to be alone.

Safest to suffer alone.
.

"My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Only Father and Mother did love me.

Did love me because both now live in the next life.

It's jealousy!

It's envy that rules their hearts.

Why, O, why?

Simply because I was loved much?

I was loved to the point of arousing jealousy among my brethren.

Is it my fault?

Were my parents to blame?

Never do I think so.

Grace Divine made it so.

That I be loved much.

And, no matter how they tried to make it secret, still would it make manifest.

For, no smoke can a hand hold.

Am I the other Joseph the Dreamer?

For, I, too, have had dreams in my sleep, dreams that came to pass, prophetic dreams.

A dreamer of prophecies?

Or: a prophet of dreams?
.
God, You know better than I.

Am I no man?

No man is an island -- but I am an island: am I no man?

Not only an island -- but an island of desert: am I cursed?

Or: has Heaven a Hand on this experience?

Ah, a flicker of understanding now I see: It is You, O God, Who author this experience of my soul!

But my mind is yet clouded as to grasp the Divine Reason behind all this.

In time, I know, will I fully understand.

I trust.

I, becoming a desert isle

 No, I cannot be who I am not.
I stand by what I already said: I need a friend.
Let me say it again -- this time, with tears! -- I NEED A FRIEND.

Find a friend in God?

But I am not all divine: only the soul in me is.

And part of me is human.

I am a soul within a human body.

Love Divine must be personified.

That Love is personified in Jesus, you say.

And I agree.

But why is He hiding Himself from me?

Treating me like an enemy?

Promising me without end?

And promises are still promises to this day -- I am not seeing the fulfillment.

God, I am lonely -- without friends, without You!

I am an isle.

And I am in the midst of an ocean of its deepest blue.

The loneliness in the human me is worsened by the loneliness I have in my soul.

An isle of desert, I am becoming!

Does anyone see how lonely I am?

Can anyone understand?
Words cannot comfort me -- but letting me speak out the depth of the loneliness of my entirety: body and soul!

Ode to god-sister Tonette

Beautiful, indeed, it is, that we discover each other in this journey called life. 

And the discovery that has taken place between us is divinely ordained. 

It is a connection between our two souls. 

It is the Spirit that is alive between us -- the Spirit of God -- that connects us to each other. 

We are both inspired with each other because we are of the same spirit. 

We will still be friends even in the beyond.