Saturday, December 2, 2023

Sheer Delight and Gratitude.

Jef Bourgeau - James River Trail (Blue Ridge), 2023


 “Oh do you have time

to linger

for just a little while

out of your busy


and very important day

for the goldfinches

that have gathered

in a field of thistles


for a musical battle,

to see who can sing

the highest note,

or the lowest,


or the most expressive of mirth,

or the most tender?

Their strong, blunt beaks

drink the air

as they strive

melodiously

not for your sake

and not for mine


and not for the sake of winning

but for sheer delight and gratitude –

believe us, they say,

it is a serious thing


just to be alive

on this fresh morning

in the broken world.


I beg of you,

do not walk by

without pausing

to attend to this

rather ridiculous performance.


It could mean something.

It could mean everything.

It could be what Rilke meant, when he wrote:

You must change your life.”


Mary Oliver - Invitation

from A Thousand Mornings, 2013


“In you is all of Heaven. Every leaf that falls is given life in you. Each bird that ever sang will sing again in you. And every flower that ever bloomed has saved its perfume and its loveliness for you. What aim can supersede the Will of God and of His Son, that Heaven be restored to him for whom it was created as his only home? Nothing before and nothing after it. No other place; no other state nor time. Nothing beyond nor nearer. Nothing else. In any form. This can you bring to all the world, and all the thoughts that entered it and were mistaken for a little while. How better could your own mistakes be brought to truth than by your willingness to bring the light of Heaven with you, as you walk beyond the world of darkness into light?” 

A Course in Miracles T-25.IV.5:1-12


“Undisturbed amid the jarring testimony of the material senses, Science, still enthroned, is unfolding to mortals the immutable, harmonious, divine Principle, — is unfolding Life and the universe, ever present and eternal.” 

Mary Baker Eddy Science & Health Page 306:25-29

No comments:

Post a Comment

New Today

A Natural State of Grace

The study of divine metaphysics requires a willingness to question every value that we hold, to let light into our minds, to allow grace to ...