Tuesday, June 19, 2012

WAYSIDE SACRAMENTS


Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything
that is beautiful; for beauty is God's handwriting -
a wayside sacrament.
Welcome it in every fair face,
in every fair sky, in every fair flower,
and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.
R W Emerson
Perhaps this is why I am so compelled to see,
to not miss the things that daily 'bless my soul'.
It is often, in the evening when i review my day,
that I can rest my eyes upon them and simply savor.
It is often after the encounter, in these little visits of memory
to collect the wayside sacraments of God's presence,
that I find myself spilling over with gratitude.
But there are also moments when it is impossible
to let slip to the wayside the grace we see and recognize.
Yesterday my husband and I stole away to see a movie
-The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.
There is a scene in the garden
when a single crane takes flight.
It is somehow forever etched in my memory for its beauty;
it literally took my breath away and I was sorry to see it vanish.
I sat there and realized I had put my hand to my lips.
You know that gesture...
when we gasp awestruck, dumbfounded, so common and human.
I wonder if it is when we realize
that God is as near to us as our breath,
if it is connection beyond imagining.
If it is a way to hold on, if only for a moment, to life.
Life to the full.

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