Dear Friends of Longview Chapel,
I was searching through some memorabilia from high school when I found a treasure I had forgotten I had. It was something I turned to often as an older youth and as a 20 something. I plan to hang it at my desk this week.
It is the poem, “I Am There” by James Dillet Freeman. A copy of it was left on the moon during the Apollo XV voyage by Astronaut James B. Irwin. At first, I thought I would just share a part of it, to keep this column from being too long, but I found it was hard to truncate any part of it.
I pray it will bless you as it has and does me.
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Do you need Me? I am there.
You cannot see Me, yet I am the light you see by.
You cannot hear Me, yet I speak through your voice.
You cannot feel Me, yet I am the power at work in your hands.
I am at work, though you do not understand My ways.
I am at work, though you do not recognize My works.
I am not strange visions. I am not mysteries.
Only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know Me as I am, and then but as a feeling and a faith. Yet I am there. Yet I hear. Yet I answer. When you need Me, I am there.
Even if you deny Me, I am there.
Even when you feel most alone, I am there.
Even in your fears, I am there.
Even in your pain, I am there.
I am there when you pray and when you do not pray. I am in you, and you are in Me.
Only in your mind can you feel separate from Me, for only in your mind are the mists of “yours” and “mine.” Yet only with your mind can you know Me and experience Me.
Empty your heart of empty fears. When you get yourself out of the way, I am there.
You can of yourself do nothing, but I can do all. And I am in all.
Though you may not see the good, good is there, for I am there.
I am there because I have to be, because I am.
Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of Me does the world go forward.
I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded.
I am the love that is the law’s fulfilling.
I am assurance. I am peace. I am oneness. I am the law that you can live by. I am the love that you can cling to. I am your assurance. I am your peace. I am one with you. I am.
Though you fail to find Me, I do not fail you.
Though your faith in Me is unsure,
My faith in you never wavers, because I know you, because I love you.
Beloved, I am there.
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Building Community With You,
Pastor Donna