Jeweled Breadcrumb # 32 : tho the country is a shit-show, God’s rudder marks my home
Sister Joan Chittister, boisterous Benedictine nun, theologian, author, leader and prophet, calls us all to be prophets because silence in this time of crisis is not an option. Now is the time to claim the values of our true North; let civility, character, compassion, courage and community dictate our words and action. Use your uncommon courage to say, “I think differently than you.”
(41 minute interview)
erase from me the fabled notion
that i’m alone on nature’s ocean
sailing solo from my source
with no wand to divine my course.
what haughty God would contrive
to wean creation from her side
dismiss her offspring from her breast
demanding they must do their best
with neither east nor west to ken
fasten their rudder just depend
on season’s flap and burly whims
to mate limp silks with kindly winds?
i tread nights’ pass go not alone
knowing God is my cornerstone
such tender soothe it offers me
i need no other eyes to see
upon which port this artless craft
will savor her life’s crowning draught.
sprung from compliance concern
with loosened sail my free ship turns
dancing on current’s flippant tongue
i ride tide’s waves beset by none
who writhe to stretch their hungry jowls
and suck me wholly to their bowels.
a bright buoy i keep my place
afloat upon creation’s face
with neither past nor future known
God’s stern rudder marks my home.
Breadcrumb
When I stumbled across the interview with Sister Joan Chittister’ “Supersoul Sunday ” last night, I was captivated by the prophetic nun’s declaration, “We are in a complete collapse and crisis of American values….” The Time Is Now: A Call To Uncommon Courage… is the title of Chittister’s new book and the subject of her unwavering declaration that the only way through our country’s crisis is through courageous “moral conversation,” using our words to restore us to political and spiritual humanity. She insists, “Not only are we going in the wrong direction. We have simply abandoned the right direction” and this will lead us to despair. Chittister goes on to say, many of us are angry, “I see anger as grace. Use your anger to fuel your uncommon courage and be able to say, “I think differently than you.”
Thank you for reading these words,
written by grace and the grit of a real human being. Debra Asis
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The assignment that brings me to the writing of these words is to unapologetically tell the story of how God nudges, cajoles, drop kicks and masters me to be the real human being that I am … becoming … following God’s Jeweled Breadcrumbs. My daily writing challenge for 2025 is to share the Breadcrumbs with you.
You may also visit me at https://www.debraasis.org/
