GIVING THANKS IN ALL SEASONS
Giving Thanks in all Seasons
``He 'saw for the first time the majesty of God’s grace and the constancy of God’s providence. He imagined himself like the tree, waiting for the life that God would inevitably bring in season.'”
The Psalmist is eloquent about the goodness and beauty of creation. We are provided with the image of a joyful God tossing stars into the sky to light our way and throwing stars onto the earth and into the sea, creating “living things too many to number,” yet still naming each as it landed to set up housekeeping.
And then, God created the Leviathan, just “for the sport of it.”
Today, as I sit back and bask in the variety and joy and even humor that lie in the heart of creation, of our world and universe, I am overcome with awe and love. My thanks come easily.
Yet, in Massachusetts, as the day light shortens, the air hints of colder weather, and the red, orange and yellow leaves fall leaving stark silhouettes against the sky, I think – Oh no! I can’t stand another bleak winter.
There are times in our lives when the joy at the heart of our created universe is hard to apprehend, and it is even hard to pick out signs, hints, that light will return, that new life and laughter will ever reappear. Sometimes, it seems hard to hold on to hope or even to pray a hesitant “Thanks.”
Yet, even in the oncoming darkness, the first frost descends, with its perfect six-sided crystals. Skating on the ponds welcomes all ages, and cold frosty nights invite us to watch the full moon rise with friends. Little pockets of beauty. “Thanks!” – even in the cold and the dark.
Brother Lawrence, a humble kitchen laborer in the 1600s, saw a bare, apparently dead tree in winter, yet he knew that it would be transformed in a few months into buds, leaves, flowers, and glory. He “saw for the first time the majesty of God’s grace and the constancy of God’s providence. He imagined himself like the tree, waiting for the life that God would inevitably bring in season.”
So my prayer for today: May I receive the grace to walk out expecting surprises, to find comfort and beauty in unexpected places, to sing an off-tune song of thanks where ever I find myself, and maybe, even, to wander down an unexplored alley way or two, just for the sport of it.
Photo credit: Nancy Lowry
