Integritas, Consonantia, Claritas
Integritas, Consonantia, Claritas
Ian A. Wooldridge
I sit on the shore, facing out.
A fleet of cotton ball sentinels tower before me
as far as the eye can see
above the glassy, fiery blue,
illumined by its western source behind me.
There’s a simple spaciousness here that I long for —
a radiant lightness, an easy rhythm —
like the wind-swept currents that land then float
into where I am, as witness to such wonder.
The One who considered all of this and created
is now making within me a desire
to be the co-creator of my own life:
a curator of sorts, at least,
to organize and posture the raw elements
in such a way that prayer, simply, doesn’t cease.
This sacredness must be guarded, I see.
I’ll become what I love.
I stand on the shore, facing out.
This effortless expanse of space and light and breeze
is a portrait of the grace-empowered, good, true, and beautiful soul
welling up in me:
integrated and ordered,
magnanimously intersecting at the border,
the threshold of two worlds,
Heaven and earth —
the shore of which the former
I am toeing, its warm incarnate waves giving me but glimpses,
its quiet serenity orienting my senses
to the now and not yet.
Ian A. Wooldridge
Pastor & Poet
Ian serves as the Associate Pastor of Worship & Spiritual Formation at Pillar Community Church in Vero Beach, FL. He feels called to help people grow in awareness of, experience of, and response to the loving presence of God in their lives through creativity, community, and spiritual practice. You can follow his work at ianawooldridge.com
Photography by Yura Forrat