by Matt Nash
ORDINARY DIVINITY
Grounded in a place of paradox—
face straining up toward heaven
while my toes are consumed
by the soil they are dug into—
I wait.
God, whose eyes find what I don’t see,
enter the rooms I boarded up with
bruised and bloodied hands!
Be my death doula, please.
Let mercy come
as rain that does not ask
which soul or soil deserves it.
Wash away what remains.
Your paradox is the oxygen
of a kingdom not yet here
and also, here,
all around me.
Keep me in the soil,
rooted where no one can see
your work in my soul—
until I am ready.
Let this mercy
of new beginnings
seep into my dry bones
until your breath awakens me—
my Ruach Elohim—
reminding me
how to receive.
They say,
an ordinary divinity
will come in its time,
but not before Grief and Gratitude
tie a knot that never breaks—
all this to say,
there was the fruit all along.
MATT NASH
Matt is a writer, spiritual director, and former missionary to Rwanda with nearly 30 years of experience in pastoral ministry and church planting. He holds a doctorate in Transformational Leadership and teaches as an adjunct professor at Nazareth University and Winebrenner Theological Seminary.
In 2022, Matt founded Kardia Community, which offers soul care and spiritual formation retreats. His writing has appeared in Good Words for the Young: A Children’s Devotional, inspired by the work of George MacDonald, and Church Planter Magazine. He is also an ambassador and writer for Inkwell. His first book, The Joy of Disruption, is forthcoming in 2028.
Matt writes about soul care, grief, mental health, and spiritual formation. He lives with his family in Upstate New York, where he enjoys reading, traveling, and spending time in nature.
Connect with Matt on Instagram or subscribe to his Substack and podcast, The Shape of the Soul, HERE.