Is It So Small A Thing?- part 2
-Wendell Berry, Given Poem, “Sabbaths 1999: VII”, Shoemaker Hoard © 2005
Again I resume the long
lesson: how small thing
can be pleasing, how little
in this hard world it takes
to satisfy the mind
and bring it to its rest.
Within the ongoing havoc
the woods this morning is
almost unnaturally still.
Through stalled air, unshadowed
light, a few leaves fall
of their own weight.
The sky
is gray. It begins in mist
almost at the ground
and rises forever. The trees
rise in silence almost
natural, but not quite,
almost eternal, but
not quite.
What more did I
think I wanted? Here is
what has always been.
here is what will always
be. Even in me,
the Maker of all this
returns in rest, even
to the slightest of His works,
a yellow leaf slowly
falling, and is pleased.
“The trees rise in silence almost natural, but not quite, almost eternal, but not quite…” Have you ever had the sense that the trees were trying to speak to you, if only you could be still long enough to listen? That the midnight stars rang in harmonic beauty, if only you could quiet your mind long enough to hear? One of the deep wisdoms of Buddhism is that our life can only be found in this present moment, and that if we miss this moment, we miss our life. It’s not in our plans or our expectations or our agendas that our life will be found; it is with the grass beneath our feet, and the wind we hear in the trees, and the love we hold in our hand. Right now. No other time or place. Just right now.
Enjoy the rest of your summer…
In Christ’s love, Pastor Hawkins