What a Grand and Glorious Experience (part 2 of 2)
John Bonney of Springfield, OR, USA
We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us-and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? -1 John 3:16-17
What a grand and glorious experience when there is contiguously so very much of the negative running rampant on our earth.
What? When we rape and destroy all that is around us in our haste to consume what this earth has to offer? If I can be inspired by trees and snow and sunshine, can I also be inspired by the face of the child, the elder, and all of those in between? Can I look at a crowd of humans and see the creative hand expressed again and again? Expressed in such a rich and overwhelming array of creativeness? Can I see the “…tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free” (Emma Lazarus)?
What riches have been made ready and available for us! What glory there is in sunshine, or rain, in fog-shrouded snow, in mountain majestic, sea mighty, in desert forbidding but alive and powerful, in a drop of water, in the small cry of the newborn, or the final breath of a one moving onward into eternity! There, there, and there; that one now expressed as a glimmering spot of light and energy-part of the Overall.
What blessing is ours, even in those moments, places, and times that seem so devoid of any blessing? Maybe we aren’t looking closely enough. Mostly I bow my head to the center of being. I look out from my limited human eyes and read the words, or view the view, and I see majesty, might, impossibly complex creative presence. And there I go. Around the corner and into the celestial day. But for now, it is the All that calls me, and for now I raise my unheard voice to say, “Oh, thank you!”
Prayer Phrase
“The glory of God is the human person fully alive” (St. Irenaeus).
Spiritual Practice
Fully Alive
Enter a time of prayer and hold St. Irenaeus’ quote in your heart. How do your mind, body, heart, and soul work together for your aliveness in God each day? What does it mean in your life and ministry that God desires for each of us to be fully alive?
Today’s Prayer for Peace
Engage in a daily practice of praying for peace in our world. Click here to read today’s prayer and be part of this practice of peace.
