I have learned
that fences are for climbing to see
if the grass really is greener on the other side;
and that if I leave the house at night,
and stretch high on the top of my tiptoes
I might touch the quivering stars,
play with the bright young moon.
I have learned that a mind is like the universe,
an immensity of twinkling lights and
far-flung galaxies to be explored.
I have learned that the world beyond
the fence is full of human beings as diverse as the stars,
each waiting to be recognized and named
and loved by me. I have learned
that life is for loving and love is for living
and dying is for letting go.
I have learned that opposites
are inextricably linked,
that within all pain are tiny buds of beauty
and within all beauty seeds of pain;
that the sun disappears only to return
the following morning,
and that clouds are not solid;
that tears are for falling
and laughter is for taking wing;
that forgiveness is the better part of valor,
sweeter far than blame.
I have learned how
the sound of a full orchestra
can break me wide open;
that a piano’s single notes
played against adagio strings
are like raindrops of silver
falling on crushed velvet;
and that a violin concerto
can stretch me thin
and leave me full.
I have learned that
everything has its own language and that
if I listen carefully to the birds and the creatures,
and even the grasses,
I will hear the sound of God
in the music of the silence.
There are multiple realities surrounding me
and I know that I must keep the eyes of my heart open
to allow all of existence to be.
And I’m glad I was not told
any of these things
else I would not have grown as tall
nor stretched as far.
I am glad these things were kept hidden from me
until I could open the gate to taste and touch,
to smell and feel, and
to discover my self along the way.
‘Learning Life’
Catherine Garland
‘How can this be?’
“Yes. This can be in me.”
I say Yes to the ongoing revealing of God in my life.
I say Yes to the Invitation, to get up close and personal with the Living Light.
I say Yes to the consequences of Your revealing, especially those that lie hidden from my view in this moment.
A line from a Mumford & Sons song comes to me: ‘I will love the skies I’m under’. So, however midnight blueblack, dawn rose madder, or sunset gold leaf my skies get, I will accept You are with me;
I will trust You are with-in and with-out me;
I will remember that we are connected in the intimacy of a feedback loop, we are one eternal Mobius strip;
I will commit to becoming a part of the means by which Your Will is done, in my here and now;
I will praise in wonder that not just my sight will be changed.
For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,
On that one mountain where all moments meet,
The daily veil that covers the sublime
In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.
There were no angels full of eyes and wings
Just living glory full of truth and grace.
The Love that dances at the heart of things
Shone out upon us from a human face
And to that light the light in us leaped up,
We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,
A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope
Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.
Nor can this this blackened sky, this darkened scar
Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.
‘Transfiguration’
Malcolm Guite
loving the skies I’m under. iPhone image.
image into ikon 