We are Happy

"I look at Him, He looks at me, and we are happy"

The retreat leader and spiritual director Majorie Thompson tells the story of a conversation between an eighteenth-century priest and an elderly peasant who would sit alone for long hours in the quiet of the church. When the priest asked what he was doing, the old man simply replied, "I look at Him, He looks at me, and we are happy" ...

[In the words of] the fourteenth-century Eastern Orthodox writer Kallistos Katafygiotis...

The most important thing that happens between God and the human soul is to love and to be loved.

- John Mark Comer, "Practicing the Way"

The NAPO thread I did in 2020 was my favorite for one reason: I didn't center the theme around myself, I centered it around Jesus. I want to do the same thing this year.

i. all in all

Jesus be the center of it all
Your love is like an ocean
And right now I feel so small
While i’m trudging through
The thick if it
It’s upon your name I call
If I’m in need of anything
Lord you are my all in all

ii. All in All (Expanded)

Jesus be the center of it all
Your love is like an ocean
And right now I feel so small
While I’m trudging through
The thick if it
It’s upon your name I call
If I’m in need of anything
Lord, you are my all in all

All I need is you, God
All I need is you

Jesus be the center of it all
Your heart is like an ocean
And right now mine feels so small
While I’m trying Lord
Enlargen it
Keep my steps so I don’t fall
My Lord, you are my everything
Jesus, you’re my all in all

Lord, you are my everything
Yes, you are my all in all

All I need is you, God
All I need is you

Jesus be the center of it all
Your love is like an ocean
And right now mine feels so small
While I’m trudging through
The thick if it
It’s upon your name I call
If I’m in need of anything
Lord, you are my all in all

iii. Upon My Heart

I will write your word
Upon my heart
I will hold it dear
’Til it changes me

I’ll hold your word ever closer to my heart
All of my days, my treasure, never depart
Your ways are truer and your way sets me free
Lord, let your word transform my heart completely

I will write your word
Upon my heart
I will hold it dear
’Til it changes me

What you say of me
Is all I really need to know
When this life ends
I hope you call me friend

Your friends know you through obeying
I give myself to conforming
Overseer, see my growing through
Make me like you

I will write your word
Upon my heart
I will hold it dear
’Til it changes me

iv. Just to Be Close to You

I want to be close to you
My heart desires to know you
I’m asking what it takes
I’m willing to give anything

Kill my flesh, I’ll die quickly
Lay down my life, surrendering
Transform me, make me new
What’s needed to be close to you?

What do you require?
And what can I give?
What does it look like to live not just to live but to
Make you my one desire
To set my heart on this:
I want you more than anything
I want you

So I will live for you

I want you more than gold
More than the dreams my heart holds
I love you more than life
Only your love can satisfy

You’re my hope, you’re my dream
Take away all that’s hindering
Hold me close, consume me
If I get you, I lose nothing

What do you require?
And what can I give?
What does it look like to live not just to live but to
Make you my one desire
To set my heart on this:
I want you more than anything
I want you

So I will live for you

Just to be close to you
Just to be close to you
I’d give anything
Even if it costs me everything

What do you require?
And what can I give?
What does it look like to live not just to live but to
Make you my one desire
To set my heart on this:
I want you more than anything
I want you

So I will live for you

v. friend

i trace the scars in your hand
you were my first friend
and you taught me peace

i asked you to stay with me
and i knew i wasn’t alone
and the proof of your love
was written in your palms
on your head
in your side

by my side
i hold your hand in my hands
you are the longest love i’ve known
and you met me in my heart
meek, humble - gently
with a tender pull of my hands
your hands
holding me close, until your scars
covered mine
and i remember how it felt to know
that stillness could be found in all spaces
in the quiet of my soul
and that even in the darkest places
i would have a friend
in you

vi. known

everything you’ve made is a metaphor
somewhere in it, a picture reflects your glory
because you want me to see
without dying
i look to the stars to taste a fraction
of infinitude
to understand what my hands can’t grasp
an invisible God made visible
your marvelous works, made tangible
i’m grateful
you want to be known

vii. untitled

i imagine what it’s like to come to agree
to be the lamb slain ‘fore the world came to be
to foresee the suffering, the stumbling, and pain
and choose to make man knowing that he’d betray

i imagine your musings: your hearts still expanding
the trinity’s love too unending, demanding
a people to share with and stories to tell
to make known your love to tender earthen shells

i imagine your feelings; emotions are yours
made man in your image all-knowing the course
still signed up to save us, still signed up to give
to pour out your own life to that man might live

this is a story that i wouldn’t tell
but you are infinite and you know just as well
your manifold wisdom is more than i know
but it’s revealed to all when your mercy is shown

your father so loved us, he gave us his son
sometimes i still wonder if you didn’t come
where we would be now; if he didn’t show grace
if you hadn’t prepared for this in the first place

i don’t have to fear though, ‘cause you made a way
though briefly your father’s face was turned away
you still chose obedience, because of your love
knowing only your blood would be enough

you don’t despise it, the scandal of grace
no one’s deserved it but still you have saved
all who turn and surrender and call on your name
and pick up their cross following in the way

maybe this was the journey He planned from the start
prepared an inheritance born in His heart:
a people who’d choose you with love that’s sincere
a worthy gift for the Son he holds dear

i imagine your father, and hearing he’s pleased
to know that he’s loved you as you have loved me
i picture communion, and unending peace
it's hidden in you that I’m finally free

viii. kindred spirit

i met a kindred spirit and between both her and i
we agreed that prayer is more than words when we abide
two unashamed mystics, were content to agree
that an undervalued state with God is just to simply be
to meet his eyes, to love him, and to see and to be seen

ix. moth

the inevitability of my soul’s underlying state being exposed in your light is what scares me: i am a moth, drawn to your sun until i see my reflection in your eyes. and i scatter. you want to see me like this and you already have. i’m the one that runs to the safety that denial offers. thinking: if i close my eyes you’re not there. you won’t see me.
and i won’t have to face the ugly truth: that i’m nothing like you. it wounds me more than the words of my mother, and the silence of my father, and the distance of my sisters. to know that i am finite consumes me: i am limited, and you— you’re forever. i can’t grasp you. i don’t have the hands to hold you, and i never could. everything i know right now is like i’m looking through a crack, seeing dimly. how is it this limited light still reveals me? i can’t match its power. i can’t match its might. i’m small, i’m weak, you’re right
you knew that i was like this, you shone that i could see. i know i need a savior but now i know my soul needs saving. the inevitability of your face, facing mine, enveloped in your light is what keeps me: i am a moth, drawn to your light, and where you could crush me into dust, you hold me — in light meant to keep me, not to burn.

x. seen

do you see me?

i rest my cheek into your palm and feel the heartache to the full
i am not made to entertain - but some days i live for the escape
some souls consume and some create and i know making more than taking
i am hungry and i've always been. some things can't be filled with laughter --
amusing to death ten times over. i don't need an audience, but one
you see past the persona in fullness of face, and i can't pretend
to be silent
growing up with no opinion, growing into mine, growing into yours
i'm louder than i like to be, and you hear it: i have what they call star power
a dying star, drawing me in, drawing me to you
i want an audience of one. potential is shaped into gold in man's hands with applause
but i prefer clay. i crave success but a dream always dies with the age
longevity. eternity. i'm told my personality's a commodity. i could profit if i wanted.

if i wanted

i think your eyes are kindest when we stand face to face.
you don't ask for a performance, you ask for my devotion. and i'm a black hole
take me away with you, somewhere sweeter. where your hands come together and hold me
hear my death with smoke rising. i’ll burn out into you, you’ll revive me
life’s a stage and you’re no audience. you’re the show, and i’m watching you, watching me, in the crowd
you don’t find a platform to give and to take. you give and you give and you give and you take
one look at me
i’m undone
when i’m seen by the eyes of the one that i love. i don’t need more attention
i’m content knowing love that’s beyond comprehension. i’m absolved and evolved in your light; star possession
make me shine like a star in the night: a reflection. not me

as you rest your hand against my cheek

xi. the best things

the best things i know in life have layers like onions
i know it in my grandmother's cooking: lasagna was her labor of love
and revelation is opened eyes. cheeses blanketed with pasta are savored
as a fraction of a holy experience. i was made to know something new
to know depth, in the senses

the best things i know in life are endless like oceans
i'm not a good swimmer and i fear drowning, but i'm drawn by the vast expanse
looking at you is like looking at the horizon. when i get high enough, it curves
and when i look off the cliffs at crashing waves i see no end to it
eternity, inexpressible

the best things i know in life have no shelf life
but everything here has an end. i know it when the credits roll
the years start coming and they don't stop coming, and rewind buttons
can't replace the first experience. i was made to know something new
to know you, an inexhaustible expression

Spoiler

@alliyah there. I did it. TWO shrek references and cheese inclusion AND I made it thematic to my thread. give me my money I jest. i enjoyed the challenge