Author: rkcdlitt

She is Benevolent

examine our lives

see a lack of understanding

and acceptance;

look for spiritual awakening,

rejoice, be glad,

praise God

and be

thankful for Her presence in our lives;

everything under the sun

is Hers and Her creation

we pretend, but doubt

we are loved, but doubt

and are here

by God’s pleasure and grace;

we rise over self-imposed failures,

and She holds our hands,

lifts us, nurtures us

She is a benevolent deity.

Mine Life is Changed Forever

Seek Thee in mine heart

for Thou art nowhere else;

I journey not alone;

Thy passion and comfort

are mine companions.

I never walk alone through darkness,

for Thy presence lights mine path.

Fields of plenty are laid before me;

mine path is made smooth as I walk in Thy footsteps.

I am but a child holding Thy hand,

safely knowing I walk with someone who loves me.

I am blessed by the beauty of Thine creation

and revere the wonders of Thy love.

I only absorb what I see as created by Thee;

as a parent Thou are patient with me,

knowing that mine heart belongs only to Thee.

Like the servants at Cana,

I do whatever Thou asks;

Jesus asks that I follow Him;

what more or what less can I do.

Mine life is changed forever.

Surrendering to Serenity

Riding the Rocky Mountaineer,

marveling at the festal expedition

of nature’s glory.

A time to do nothing

but wonder at the beauty

of God’s Garden of Eden.

Smooth lakes amid the majestic

green mountains surrounded

by blue skies, enriched by the artistic

dabs of cumulous clouds,

interrupted by the rare eagle

floating effortlessly

over his monumental kingdom;

nothing for us

but surrendering to serenity.

I am spiritually domesticated and

have come alive with the Word;

the word is Love;

the word is God.

I learn from the

teachings of Jesus

2000 years ago,

to clear my heart of hate.

I devour this lion

and rid myself its traits,

and welcome all

without prejudice, jealousy, or hate.

In 1994, I suffered a devastating rupture of my large intestine; thinking it was just a minor flu, I laid in bed. On the fourth day, my wife tried to reach me on the phone and found me totally incoherent; she rushed me to our local hospital. After extensive surgical repair, I laid in the hospital 21 days, on the verge of death for much of that time.

I was blessed by the hands of God, who kept me alive and brought me back to begin a successful teaching career, which began as a high school AP History teacher and ended 25 years later as a college literature and writing professor. God opened many doors for me to become the teacher that he made me. This was when I realized that I was walking the path of light God had prepared for me.

Since then, I have devoted my life to prayer, first as a Stephen Minister and then as a personal divine prayer minister at our local Episcopal church. I also began writing prayerful meditations and poetry that I have shared through both Facebook and various internet poetry sites.

Recently, I went into the hospital for a spinal fusion; the surgery involved getting to the spine through the abdomen. Problems arose when the doctors reached the spine and began to move a strand of scar tissue aside, when the scar tissue, which had wrapped around a major blood vein, burst. I lost over three pints of blood in less than 30 seconds.

The doctors stopped the bleeding, closed, and sealed the vein, and did not complete the spinal fusion, feeling it was too risky to continue. My awakening in recovery was extremely difficult. I did not want to leave the warm comfortable place which I inhabited. It was in the most pleasant place that I have ever been in my 77 years of life. I fought the awakening process, but I lost the fight; I awoke to a room with three or four nurses attending to me. The first words out of my mouth were referring to the several angels who were taking care of me. I was referring to the nurses. But something else was happening around me.

As I became more aware of my surroundings, I experienced two or three ethereal images floating above me, just below the ceiling; in my confusion, I thought I was dreaming. When these figures did not disperse, it occurred to me that these were in fact truly angels sent from God. Moreover, I felt a very warm feeling of being embraced by strong, gentle, loving arms. This feeling stayed with me all during my time in recovery and well into my first night in my own room. One by one, these ethereal figures lowered themselves into the figures of the various angelic nurses who tended to me over the next three days.

I continued to refer to my nurses as angels, and I still had the feeling that I was surrounded by a love much greater than I ever experienced before. I knew the angels of my reverie inhabited the bodies of all the nurses who attended to my needs. When the doctor checked on me the next morning, his words indicated that they almost lost me, and he explained what had gone on. I was greatly disappointed that my fusion did not occur, but I was overwhelming thankful that he had the God-given talent to keep me alive. God brings those to us when we are in dire need of help.

The overwhelming feeling of the warm embrace never dissipated over the next few days; I still had the feeling that God had and was holding me close to Him. This aura never left me for the three days I was in the hospital. In my drug-induced state, I tried to express this to my priest, but the words just could not come into my befuddled brain. Now, my third day home, I am capable of forming a lucid statement.

Now that I am home and recovering, and getting my mind clear of the anesthesia, I look back on the experience, knowing that God kept me alive, and for some reason, unknown to me, I am especially important to God’s work on earth. I write meditations, prayers, and poetry in praise of God and His works in humanity. I don’t know what the future will bring, but I do know that God wants me to live for a reason; originally, I thought that was being the teacher I was, but now I think it is something much more important. I leave the path open to follow God’s lead.

And, I feel blessed that He has chosen me twice in my life to help light His way to those I reach through my writing, my prayerful meditations, and my prayer ministry. I believe that God showed me what beauty mortal death brings; perhaps, for a moment, I actually stopped living, but Jesus invited me to re-awaken and carried me back to life. Being thankful to God is one thing; taking on the effort to bring God’s love to those I meet will be difficult; but with God’s help anything is possible. As Julian of Norwich wrote: “all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.”

Russell Carter

May 2020

A Certain Rich Fool (Luke 12:20)

A reflection on “The Man Who Was a Fool” a sermon by Martin Luther King

He suffered from the disease of egotism;

as we are, he was a victim of this cancer.

Jesus did not condemn his wealth,

just his misuse of his wealth.

He refused to realize

all life is interrelated,

disregarding God’s loving

refuge and strength,

His help when man is troubled.

The man was foolishly minimizing his

eternal and internal self,

maximizing the external and material,

fully involved with egotism and hoarding.

missing Jesus’ message to

feed the poor,

cloth the naked,

heal the sick.

Jesus did this

without wealth,

but with love only.

Is this certain rich man Western Society?

God leads us

To share in the bounty

First by leading us

across the Jordan.

Then from the reawakening

and the raising of Lazarus;

blessed are we

to be forgiven and

loved by God.

We are invited to share his commandments,

challenging, but simple when examined.

Love  God; prosper, be blessed;

he who believes will live, even

even though we lose our mortal lives.

I will bless God, always;

I sought God in my hour of need.

He answered me,

awakening me from a certain death.

God is Good;

God is Love;

God watches over us,

and redeems us.

All he asks is to Love Him

and love his children,

all of us.

Gift of Love

God is Love!

All is well;

every manner of this

is well.

This comfort is within us;

we carry it in our hearts.

We can never separate

ourselves from God’s Love.

Fear not!

Worry not!

Share this Love;

Restore humanity;

Hold us all together

with this Love.

God’s Love

will always

be with us.

Listen for His Voice

I heard a loud voice,

deep within my soul.

What you try without Me will fail;

what I do through you is eternal.

Life grows abundant, untamed,

and out of your control,

in places you have never before seen.

The great agitation that parches

your being, your heart, will be wiped away.

Through Me, your inner strength

will bring light to your efforts

and shine before men.

During this time of terrible unpeace in the world,

you will see that life will live to its fullest.

All of your brothers and sisters will be welcomed

in My new world,

because I have many places

in My heart for all to flourish.

With Me in your hearts,

we will bring peace and love

to all who listen, to all who believe.

Being

We are not objects to be tossed aside;

we are destined for something greater.

What we can accomplish

is not defined by others;

rooted in God’s eternal gracet

giving us a nobility

not bestowed by man.

This is the love of God,

revealed to us, when

we enter the life,

glorifying God

I don’t mean just the priests;

teachers do God’s will;

nurses do God’s will,

The post man and truck driver, too.

Doctors and trash collectors,

Lawyers and shopkeepers,

all do God’s will.

We must be who we must be;

our paths are open to us.

What we choose to do,

if we do in God’s name,

is glorified by the most high.

In God’s eyes,

we are all His children,

equal in His eyes.