At a recent gathering I attended, multiple people mentioned that they were seeing new facets of me, new aspects of who I was. I found this fascinating because at this gathering, I was, in part, doing what I do regularly…I was writing, helping the group pray… The people there had read and prayed with my work for years. But the fact that people mentioned this not once but several times made me wonder why…

This afternoon, I saw a sticker from the assembly on my water bottle—a quotation from Sr. Thea Bowman, FSPA…Remember who you are and whose you are. The why followed, whole cloth.

At Ease with Belonging

What you saw,
what surprised you, made you
think differently, change, perhaps,
an opinion, a notion, a judgement…
It’s been there, mmhmm, yes,
been there all along.
What let it shine
through me this time
and reach your perspective?

That was God telling me
not to care so much about how it lands.
Telling me to use the gifts
God has given me for the good
of a greater whole and let that
be what matters most.
Use the gifts to draw others in.
Help scales to fall away so that light
might penetrate, might saturate, might bloom.

It was God with her hand extended
saying shall we? And me saying
Yes, if you please.
I’d love to dance with you,
love to listen, love to tell the story
of this kind of freedom, this love
that is ink for my pen, that is the sound
of the quiet when people find their place
and rest, at ease with belonging.

Kimberly M. King