Arise!
“Love
wholeheartedly, be surprised, give thanks and praise—then you will discover the
fullness of your life.”
Brother
David Steindl-Rast
Good Easter
morning to you. I hope you are feeling as good as this phoenix and that
resurrection is at hand for all of us. I ran across this song of praise in Earth
Prayers this morning. It’s not specific to this season, but it expresses the
gratitude we all feel.
“Glory to God for
dappled things
For skies of
couple-color as a brinded cow.
For rose-moles all
in stipple upon trout that swim,
fresh-firecoal
chestnut falls, finches’ wings,
Landscape plotted
and pieced—fold, fallow, and plow,
And all trades,
their gear, and tackle and trim,
All things counter,
original, spare, strange,
whatever is
fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
with swift, slow,
sweet, sour, adazzle, dim,
He fathers-forth
whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins
(from Earth Prayers, p.218, Roberts & Amidon, Harper, 1991)
This prayer reminds me of
the ever-surprising diversity of creation—all the sizes and colors, all the
shapes and stripes and dots. The intelligence of it, the variety, all of it
perfectly designed and adapted to its purpose and climate. And I remember that
this includes us—flawed and fabulous, complex, brilliantly designed, wayward
and yet responsible creatures.
I hope I always stand in
awe, and I hope you do too. Because I believe the true meaning of resurrection
is this—rising to new life. The phoenix is a prefect symbol—he arises from the
ashes. From the cross and the crypt, He arises. From the pandemic, the sickness
and death left in its wake, we arise—if not triumphant, then hopefully wiser,
more conscious, and deeply grateful. As part of this created order, I praise
the Creator, and I send you wholehearted love.
In the Spirit,
Jane
(This Phoenix is my
rendition of a design that was once on a postcard for the city of Phoenix,
Arizona. I don’t know the name of the artist, but I have always loved it. Thank
you, whoever you are.)
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