Beatitudes Blog
Heart Like an Oyster (poem)
Heart Like an Oyster J. Marshall Jenkins Your heart is no mere blue thistle surprise on an altar with lilacs, lilies, and leaves, all of which will die soon after the church service ends. No, your heart is an oyster among oysters resting on coral and sharp...
Mother Teresa and the Thirsty Christ
How far must you go to give a drink of water to the poor? Calcutta? Across town? Next door?
Searching for Something Eternal (8th Wedding Anniversary Poem)
Searching for Something Eternal for Wanda, on our J. Marshall Jenkins 8th wedding anniversary Just a moment while we check out our home surroundings for something eternal. Consider the clear plastic bird feeder full of...
Taking Wind As Love
Taking Wind As Love J. Marshall Jenkins I remember the wind that caressed my brow when I could not yet walk well. Sitting in the stroller in hot, sticky Montgomery, I watched the air until it moved, which I took as love without hands, without a face, without words,...
You Can Rest Now
Get a feel for true righteousness. And relax.
The Formerly Blind Man Remembers
The Formerly Blind Man Remembers (poem) by J. Marshall Jenkins “Tell no one,” he insisted after spitting on dust and rubbing the mud in my eyes until I saw, before anything else, his face. Now I understand: Time ripens like a fig, does no good plucked too soon, no...
Willingness: The Way Through Resentment
A way through resentment to serenity…
The Denial
The Denial “Woman, I know him not,” Peter replied on behalf of us all. Give him credit: He did not altogether lie. Who then could claim to know Christ? Time and again he worked wonders and forbade the healed to tell, a futile command, true, but to our eyes, it...
“Take Comfort. See My Face.”
The surprising comfort of finding Jesus’ face.
Knowing Wind (poem)
Knowing Wind for Wanda by J. Marshall Jenkins The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit (John 3:8). You teach me much about trees,...
Dare to Expect Abundance
Expecting abundance rather than scarcity could begin the change you want to make in the world. Read more to see why.
Soft Morning Light (Poem)
Soft Morning Light for Wanda J. Marshall Jenkins No matter how strident the march of darkness as my good angels scatter and deny knowing my name, your soft morning light prevails after predawn darkness, sometimes playfully, sometimes ever so quietly. It is...
As a psychotherapist and spiritual director, I bring well-honed insight and skill to these posts; yet, my vulnerability plays a more important part, for more than advice from experts, serious people of faith need resonance with fellow travelers.
In my writing and in your reading and comments, may we face our challenges in God’s compassionate presence rather than in a private dressing room where we try in vain to make ourselves presentable to God at an appointed meeting. God meets us where we are.
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