The River

The river is a mirror of life’s journey.
Listening to the river and letting it speak in the stillness is an invitation to listening to the deeper rhythms of our life, and the peace and harmony of God in all of life’s experiences.
In Warrandyte we have the privilege of a beautiful river to walk by and contemplate all that is speaks to our souls.

Here is a picture of another river in the small village of Migne Auxances near Poitiers in France that refreshed my husband and I in 2005.
I invite you to let the river speak to you in either the picture or the poem by William Stafford. “Ask Me”, first appeared in The New Yorker, 1975

Lynette Dugan-September 2009

Listening for Peace

Mostly it’s good to listen.
To listen to creation with all its rhythms of decay and death
and hidden mysterious new life that springs forth.
To listen to others who we don’t agree with,
but who need respect and love like us.

We are all in this journey of life together.
It is the differences and opposites that make it so rich.
If we listen could we hear the call of God, to be peacemakers?

If we listen could we hear the echoes of a chorus of angels singing peace and goodwill.
To Earth and all the fullness that is in it?
If we listen could we hear the prayer of St. Francis,
Make me an instrument of your peace”.

Listening for Peace Such listening would change us,the internal reflecting the external.
The moment becoming eternal.
God’s peace would be contagious and the springtime of the ancient prophets who asked for listening ears and hearts.
For a time when men might study war no more would now appear. Like the cherry blossom tree, addressing all who listen with its invitation. Such fragrant life, such peaceful stature.
Mostly it’s good to listen. But if listening for peace goes deeper we too will blossom.

Lynette Dugan-August 2009

Ask Me

 Some time when the river is ice, ask me mistakes I have made. Ask me whether what I have done is my life.
 Others have come in their slow way into my thought, and some have tried to help or to hurt: ask me what difference their strongest love or hate has made.

 I will listen to what you say.You and I can turn and look at the silent river and wait.
We know the current is there, hidden: and there are comings and goings from miles away that hold the stillness exactly before us.
What the river says, that is what I say.

Poem – Frontier Services

God of azure sky and broad horizon,
God of sandy creek and shady gum,
God of weathered, broody, silent ranges,
God of quiet, evening billabong.

God of searing heat and drought dry dust bowls,
God of lightning strike and raging fire,
God of fearful, howling, tearing cyclone,
God of swirling, muddy, inland flood.

God of ancient calm let your peace still us,
God of fearful storm fill us with awe,
God of lonely plains touch empty spaces within us,
Where we are vulnerable enough,
To meet you.
Amen.

From Prayers and Projects – Frontier Services