Thursday, December 23, 2010

Rejoice Over Everything


Just for today, in spite of everything still to be done - services not quite complete, gifts not yet wrapped, meals still unmade, errands still to run - I'm going to try to heed these words, just a tiny bit.

Rejoice over everything.
Exult. Exhilarate.
Be glad. Be delighted, elated, and bowled over with joy!

Frolic freely, hop, hope,
dance on the dare, cheer,
champion the little ones, revel in the riotous light.

Invoke God without ceasing. Pray with passion.
Whatever you do, do not quench the Spirit.

Take care not to douse or dampen the bold blaze in your depths.
Jump into life. Hold fast to it. Give thanks for everything.

For everything, even the most misshapen and misunderstood,
is the disguise of the divine.

Susan Virginia Hull

Tuesday, December 21, 2010


Noel
by Anne Porter
When snow is shaken
From the balsam trees
And they're cut down
And brought into our houses

When clustered sparks
Of many-colored fire
Appear at night
In ordinary windows

We hear and sing
The customary carols

They bring us ragged miracles
And hay and candles
And flowering weeds of poetry
That are loved all the more
Because they are so common

But there are carols
That carry phrases
Of the haunting music
Of the other world
A music wild and dangerous
As a prophet's message

Or the fresh truth of children
Who though they come to us
From our own bodies
Are altogether new
With their small limbs
And birdlike voices

They look at us
With their clear eyes
And ask the piercing questions
God alone can answer.