Friday, December 1, 2006

Today’s reading

Philippians 3:17-20

“Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have seen in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:17-20).

Prayer

The seasons change. Snow blankets the ground. Northern gusts fashion shimmering art of exacting detail on every limb and fragile sprig that frames the street. Earth transforms, again, offering a fresh gallery of creative joy. Great oak boughs groan beneath the weight of glistening glory. Pairs of perfectly coated crab apple trees stand sentry at the back corners of the fence. Every delicate twig glistens as in a snow globe, perfect, no detail unattended by the painters hand. The birch splays its arms high and white above, a visual alleluia to whatever Creator imagined this.

And I wonder, Dearest Friend: Do you take creative joy in this wonder through which thousands trudge their way to daily duties? Despite the struggles it creates for us, your wondrous Earth moves me to gratitude without my choosing or willing it. It appears full grown in my soul. I merely drink in what little I can perceive about me.

Such gratitude is your your Spirit taking possession of my own, moving me to praise you for this stark and brutal beauty, and for the wonder that creation should exist at all. You move me into joy that there is something and not nothing. But my most profound gratitude is for a heart to see it and to love you for all your joyous creating, ever ongoing.

On a snowy morning, this heart of joy and love for you tells me that I am not alien to you. This heart is of your making. In my mortal flesh, you whisper assurance that you, Joyful Contriver, Master of the Snow, create in us minds for wonder and hearts to name you who are beyond all naming. And yet, we know you so well through your most exquisite creation, our brother Jesus, the beauty of your face, the face of our everlasting future, the future of all you so gladly contrive. Amen.