In Praise of The One Who Is Present

In silence there is Presence

beyond and within the silence.

In the darkness before the light

there is Presence beyond darkness.

In the mountains heights majesty

there is Presence lifting it up.

In the great broad-spread sky

there is Presence beyond its vastness.

In the star-sparked eternity of space,

In the universe’s expanding greatness

there is Presence embracing it all,

encompassing it, welcoming it,

breathing over it, infinitely.

In the infinitely small present moment

there is the Presence that is

at the center of all time.

And in the solitude and the

silence of the womb

where a new life begins

in the union of single cells

there is that Presence witnessing

and breathing itself into that new life.

This Presence waits within all things,

supports all things, seen and unseen.

In this Presence meaning resides

in all of its wonder and fullness,

and waits patiently to be discovered.

This Presence permeates everything;

there is nothing that is not

infused with this Presence.

Nothing, no one, is alone

for there is a Presence that

enters and surrounds every thing

every person, every space

with creative, affirming impetus.

All moments, all being is in

this creative Presence at all times

Nothing is abandoned.

All is inspired, indeed

All is loved by this Presence.

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All of existence expresses this Presence

in beauty, in complexity, and in simplicity.

All color and form IS because of this Presence

All meaning is from this Presence.

Yet, there is one being called human,

created in the image and likeness

of this eternal, living Presence itself,

that can see and love this infinite,

this eternal Presence for its reality,

for its truth, its goodness, and yet,

can willfully turn away from it.

But all of man’s and woman’s

prideful arrogance and foolishness

can diminish nothing of this Presence.

It, in all truth, in all reality,

cannot be denied, for it is All in all

and without it there can be no thing.

Because this Presence is,

was, and always will be

there never was such a thing as Nothing.

This Presence, this I AM,

Is the very Ground of Being

from which, and in which,

all things arise and have their being.

Glory be to God, the Presence

who was before the beginning,

is now, and ever shall be,

world without end. Amen.