Dying to Self ~ Living in God

This last week I wrote a poem about what was happening within me. Thinking about the process of dying in the natural helped me to maybe understand just a little of the process of dying to self.

There is a procession of organs that "shut down" in the body as it begins to die. Could it be that when we die to ourselves we also go through a procession shutting down our desires and cravings for the things of this world?

Here is my poem. Let me know what you think.

Dying to Self ~ Living in God

In foolish futility
I desperately grasp at
The waters of love
To keep as mine
All I treasure.

I labor to breathe in
The rhythm of the life I’ve made
As I want it.
Drowning in my self knowing,
Falling deeper into the well of me.

I press my heart to
Beat in time with my song,
My self energizing efforts supplying
A flood of little purpose.

I turn cold to this world
Its beauty
Its love
Its truth
Its comforts
Its pain
Its empty promises and false meaning.

i let go
i die to self,
i surrender my self .

You, Father, are the giver of life.
You hold life secure in Your hands.
You are the cup that spills over
Withholding nothing.

You are everlasting love
Pulsing faithfully
With a true and powerful purpose.

You are the breath of life abundant
Flowing in the rhythm of
cleansing and healing,
a refreshing fullness.

You are warm comfort,
Security, goodness and grace.
You wash away the chill of death.

You are perfect peace.


By Carolynn J. Scully
22 February 2009

Sun Queen

Bright yellow
splattered on a delightfully blue canvass
stretching as far as the eye can see.

I like it best
~when the sun does not
blaze across the sky
crowding out the deepness of the blue and
beating down on the helpless earth
like a tyrant commanding attention and
invading the universe;
~when the suns' heat does not
weigh heavy on my shoulders,
stifle my breath,
closes my eyes and
pushes me to lie down and sleep.
~when the sky is wide and free
and I feel as if I could
rise up and fly,
soaring and playing in the air;
~when the sun reigns with mercy,
allowing the sky to compliment her beauty
and the white puffy clouds to dance
in her presence and
a soft cool breeze is allowed to
brush the earth with blessing
as it sings a soft melody
to refresh and uplift my heart.

(c) 2008