blessed are the destitute ..

it's an unfortunate truth
often it's when we are dislodged from our safety that we are open to godness
in our human frailty, within the security of our fragile fences, we think we have a future, losing sight of reality, trading it for realty and career and wealth and ..

the real reality lies within,
inside, in our heart where the substance of me is, where there is no pretense when i look in the mirror to me, knowing i am who i am

to find that 'me' involves a denial of who i am seen to be, even to my own self, the person we often display to those on the outside, and too a denial of my true self, the person i really am on the insiide

mine is to become destitute of all reliance on stuff, and to open me to the Divine, freed, completely reliant on God for all i am and am to be, walking the Way of Jesus, single-eyed

it may well be that those who are not only ' poor in spirit ' but also poor in wealth have a one-up on those of us who have
it may well be that, in their poverty, they are more open to the speaking and singing and dancing of God, as he woos us, than i am
not to say a hungry belly is a desirable thing ( although there is the value of fasting for spiritual growth ), or that having to panhandle is in any way to be sought-after ( although there is the example of Francis of Assisi ), but it calls me to wonder if perhaps in their physical need a person is not somehow closer to the real God than we are in our cathedrals, as they stare upwards from their hiddenness under a bush or bridge into starry space at night, wondering if they will survive into whatever dreadness tomorrow holds
that sort of living drives us to the brink of our mortality, challenging the facades we were born into and educated for

strip me, o Lord, of all the ropes and handrails and things i hold on to as i climb through life
cause me, in my wealth and satiety, to be destitute in spirit, relying only on you, leaning hard on your Spirit to ground me, guide me, and to cut through the distractions that cling to my boots as i walk your Path

and bless the poor and the needy, those that mourn, those stricken in this life, deprived somehow
may their poverty and deprivation be a doorway to you
and meet them in their neediness, please; relive their hurtness ..
use me in their destitution
give me opportunities, and open my eyes and my heart