moonsong

Oh mystic moon,

before we knew what you were,

you gazed on us

lovingly,

pulling us with you

into some great unknown.

We gazed back,

and were gifted with

sacred glimpses

of God.

We danced,

as the waters of the oceans,

moving to your mysterious rhythm.

Then science explained away

your incredible patterns

and we,

disenchanted,

no longer followed your lunar dance.

But oh glorious glowing globe,

you still gaze on us

lovingly,

mournfully? hopefully?

and waltz with the waters

to the music of an unending

universal

heartsong

Nature as Metaphor

God happened to Suzanne and me yesterday.  We were sitting in the chapel for morning prayer with heaving snow falling all around us and a forecast for 7 inches on our minds, when I opened the bible to the day’s assigned reading from Isaiah (55: 10-11):

“For as the rain and snow come down from heaven,

and do not return there until they have watered the earth,

making it bring forth and sprout,

giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,

So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose

and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

What a stunningly beautiful metaphor of God and life to read in the 3rd month of winter…

We had no choice but to follow it by singing Rain Down (“rain down, rain down, rain down your love on your people, rain down, rain down, rain down your love, God of life”)!

The trees, the water, the flowers and stones, the birds, the ice – nature constantly provides us with metaphors for the spiritual life: trees bending, flowers blooming, seeds sprouting, birds singing and soaring, ice melting, water filling…

But they aren’t trying to do any of this, they aren’t doing it for us, they are simply being.  Being themselves, being what they were created to be.  They are not thinking about it, not choosing to be an example, not wondering if they are correct; just simply living and being. 

And that makes it all the more powerful.

fireboxes

I am a firebox.*

The fire is the Spirit of God alive within me, “luminously glowing,” keeping the “house” of my life warm and vibrant.

To keep a fire going, you must pay attention to it, tend it, stoke it. If you forget about it, it will go out, and if the ashes get cold, it will need to be completely restarted, which is not an efficient use of energy. and meanwhile the house gets cold.

Be always mindful of holding the light of Christ, of God, within you.

*Brayton’s terms for woodstove