Oftentimes in the busy life of ministry, I find it hard to go to sleep when the clock stares at me, reminding me it’s time now, to rest. In my years as a pastoral counselor, I listened to many people who had that problem too. It’s like our minds gather the conversations, events, plans, disruptions and ideas, and spin them around and around endlessly. Mindfulness helps, but not always. Listening to quiet music helps, but not always. I bet that you could add other things that help but not always. In thinking about exile, I went to the notion of the dreamworld, the place we go when we let go, the place that is filled with symbols and stories our mind is making in concert with God. There are ways to decipher the dream, and that’s worth your time too. This poem is something like a bedtime prayer: to let go of the stickiness of the day, and to enter into the mystery of the dream. To truly rest is when the dreams begin.
Releasing the Day
Let me empty these thoughts
into the space of dark
and enter the pool
behind my eyes
where dreams nibble
at the surface
like fish.
Let me release what has attached
to my mind and weighs
like an un-dropped anchor
heavy to lift, heavy to carry.
Let me soften the edges of thought
to loosen the debris
that the day has collected
and left me holding
what isn’t mine.
Let me empty these thoughts
and let me empty who peoples them.
Let me become like a sieve,
so all that is left
Is the sweet silence of nothing
In which the images of the dreams
move like dancers
and the whispers of words
and the breathy smell of God.
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