Friday, February 24, 2006

i am there

do you need me?
i am there.

you cannot see me, yet i am the light you see by.
you cannot hear me, yet i speak through your voice.
you cannot feel me, yet i am the power at work in your hands.

i am at work, though you do not understand my ways.
i am at work, though you do not understand my works.
i am not strange visions. i am not mysteries.

only in absolute stillness, beyond self, can you know me
as i am, and then but as a feeling and a faith.

yet i am there. yet i hear. yet i answer.
when you need me, i am there.
even if you deny me, i am there.
even when you feel most alone, i am there.
even in your fears, i am there.
even in your pain, i am there.

i am there when you pray and when you do not pray.
i am in you, and you are in me.
only in your mind can you feel separate from me,
for only in your mind are the mists of “yours” and “mine.”
yet only with your mind can you know me and experience me.

empty your heart of empty fears.
when you get yourself out of the way, i am there.
you can of yourself do nothing, but i can do all.
and i am in all.

though you may not see the good, good is there,
for i am there. i am there because i have to be, because i am.

only in me does the world have meaning;
only out of me does the world take form;
only because of me does the world go forward.
i am the law on which the movement of the stars
and the growth of living cells are founded.

i am the love that is the law’s fulfilling.
i am assurance.
i am peace.
i am oneness.
i am the law that you can live by.
i am the love that you can cling to.
i am your assurance.
i am your peace.
i am one with you.
i am.

though you fail to find me, i do not fail you.
though your faith in me is unsure,
my faith in you never wavers,
because i know you, because i love you.

beloved, i am there.

© 1947 james dillet freeman

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

who is james dillet fremans

peripheral in africa said...

james dillet freeman was a prolific writer and poet and worked for an organization called unity. he wrote from his heart – with the goal of uplifting others and helping them to "not hurt so much." his work has been filling the pages of a daily devotional (called daily word) for years and apparently, two of his poems have been carried by astronauts to the moon. to be honest, i really didn't know much about him until you asked. thank you. james died in 2003 but i like what the organization he worked for said about him in the following paragraph.

"jim viewed life as an adventure, one in which people may journey into the deepest valleys and soar to the highest heights. he believed that each adventure was a time worth living to the fullest."