The days feel like poetry. And maybe thats because I’m a bit desperate to see Jesus here. Wide-eyed for all of the ways He’s wooing me on this little island, looking for His gentle reminders of “I love you this much.” And the more I look, the more I see it, the poetry of his Hand sprinkled a bit everywhere. This whole wide wild earth is full of God's glory, and maybe each moment is just asking us the same question- "what will we choose to focus on?"
It’s a moment by moment choice to take notice among all the movement, how the shadows of the trees waltz a bit with the wind. The artwork in the sand left behind by the dancing waters of high-tide. And the cluster of squid moving daintily with the water. They float with joy, and I float in their happiness too, watching above from the dock, glad for these moments.
If you want to be amazed, you’re going to have to look.
And yeah, this forgetful heart gets it wrong some days, forgets to notice the glorious in the mundane. Forgets to see that Jesus is here with me. And it’s a discipline to search among the unlikely places instead of moving quickly through life and all that needs to get done. Yet even in the dark, the stars shine bright if we’d just look up.
I hope a bit of all of us would be wide-eyed for poetry among our little worlds. That we’d slow down just enough to notice things we’ve not noticed before. Then document those findings, give a whole lot of thanks, and share them with others. I hope our lives would become a collection of little poems. A book of psalms full of mountain tops and deserts, lessons of love and forgiveness, getting it messy wrong and drinking in grace. And certainly filled to the brim with bold moments of presence and hopefulness, redemption and thanks giving.
I know, you never intended to be in this world. But you're in it all the same.
so why not get started immediately.
I mean, belonging to it.
There is so much to admire, to weep over. And to write music or poems about.
Bless the feet that take you to and fro. Bless the eyes and the listening ears. Bless the tongue, the marvel of taste. Bless touching.
- The Fourth Sign of the Zodiac Mary Oliver