February 26, 2012

Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!  Too bad now I will be hearing that song in my head the whole day, but it was worth it to be able to say that!  There is an abundance of blue skies smiling at me and sunshine, and birds.  A single mockingbird has make a whole flock of songs, and one of the cardinals is out there with its chew, chew, chew, birdie, birdie, birdie song.  The sawtooth oak is just bursting with yellow flowers along nearly every limb, and there is an occasional rain of red helicopters in the breeze from the maple!  It's so gorgeous out, it just makes you smile and smile!  The cat has stalked across the yard, slunk into the cane, and shot out and back across the yard in a blur.  Either Jim rattled the food dish or something back there in the dark shadows scared it!  Perhaps a truly ferocious rabbit, maybe two!  That is one really happy mockingbird, just singing away, he must know every song in the neighborhood.  The only ones I don't hear him making are the owl and the crow, and I am pretty sure I understand that!

Welcome Morning

There is joy
in all:
in the hair I brush each morning,
in the Cannon towel, newly washed,
that I rub my body with each morning,
in the chapel of eggs I cook
each morning,
in the outcry from the kettle
that heats my coffee
each morning,
in the spoon and the chair
that cry "hello there, Anne"
each morning,
in the godhead of the table
that I set my silver, plate, cup upon
each morning.

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint down by the kitchen table
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it,
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning,
lest it go unspoken.

The Joy that isn't shared, I've heard,
dies young.

Anne Sexton

The holy birds at my window, the daily things I so often forget to be thankful for, the smile on my face this morning at seeing such an abundance of sunshine, a true embarrassment of riches, in the church of my back yard!  All the things I see and hear make up the joy, this laughter of the morning, and I don't want it to go unspoken, I feel like hugging the world.  It's amazing what a little clear light can do for my spirit, amazing all the joys I have and so I am sitting here writing a thank-you with my tapping fingers!  And so this lovely joy won't die young, or die at all, I am sharing it!  It reminds me of an Emily Dickinson poem that tells about keeping the Sabbath at home, with the bobolink as the chorister, and God giving the sermon which is always short!  I might disagree with that, this sermon, with its lovely light and making a cheerful heart might last all day.  What an opportunity it presents for grace and gratitude!