Dear Friends,
As the New Year begins, and we encounter 2025’s movement in our lives, I find myself returning to a childhood memory. I used to sit close, with my teddy bear and blanket, while my mother played her piano. The melodies, harmonies and rhythms filled the room, they filled my body. I didn’t understand it at the time, but the pulses and vibrations of musical energy touched me and nourished me. Even now, I find myself brought to an inner stillness when I hear the piano’s voice.
Recently, I received a message from one of my favorite teachers, Simon de Voil, an online musician, preacher, wisdom figure. As you can read and hear from this youtube video, he is sharing the birthing of this new instrument. The playing is just 1 1/2 minutes, it leaves me wanting more. It was as if my heart heard its own song in the dark of the early morning. There are no lyrics to direct my thoughts, no other images besides hands moving across piano keys, just a quiet, tender melody that brought me home.
And thus my prayer began.
Oh, I fall into the prayer of longing, of asking why. And, fortunately, I practice the prayer of gratitude, as I look at scenes in my life and say “thank you.” But this prayer of coming home, of resting in silence as the final notes are played, changes me. It places me right into the arms of God where “all shall be well” and I am safe, loved and whole. In that grace-filled place of quiet, my heart opens to Nan Merrill’s translation of Psalm 78, that I offer to you here:
“Listen long in the Silence that the Word may be heard,
that decisions arise from the depths of your Inner Being where Wisdom dwells.
For the Spirit of Truth is written upon gentle and open hearts….
With steadfast love will the Counselor guide you.”
Blessings on your new year, friends, may we each find a prayer that leads us home and surrounds us with Love.
You are a blessing to me, Lisa