Yet more Random Thoughts

I have spoken before about how very much I appreciate the poetry of Mary Oliver. I think her way of quietly seeing the exquisite beauty of the smallest things in nature or her way of seeing the reality of life and death as she walks through the woods or fields or by the seashore, touches something in me that gives me joy. In her poetry there is what so many of us in our busy lives miss: the detail, the world of life beyond our daily human traffic, the things that can make a difference to the quality of our lives. Here are some lines from her poem* 'The Sun:
                
                 do you think there is anywhere, in any language,
                 a word billowing enough
                 for the pleasure

                 that fills you,
                 as the sun
                 reaches out,
                 as it warms you

                 as you stand there,
                 empty-handed - 
                 or have you too
                 turned from this world - 

                 or have you too
                 gone crazy
                 for power
                 for things? 

 It just seemed to me that there really can't be any simple, free pleasure more wonderful that standing in the warmth and beauty of the sun listening to the sea or hearing the wind in the trees or enjoying the scent of the flowers. Is this trite greeting card stuff or is it the essence of the simple beauties around us every day?

Second Random Thought.  This is from *Sr Wendy Beckett's wonderful book on prayer. She says:

 Reverence means complete acceptance of other people and even of other things, letting them have their own place and their own weight. Where pride seeks to manipulate, reverence seeks to set free. It wants only the good of the other. If we love, we will never take advantage. God treats us with this reverence, allowing us to be, even when in our laziness and fear we would like [God] to take over. [God] will stand with us, supporting us to become all that is possible....

This quote seemed to me rather apt as we face so many so-called threats in our societies and perhaps at work or even, possibly in our families. Are other people or groups really threatening us or are they just different? just other?

*Mary Oliver: New and Selected Poems, Beacon Press, Boston, 1992
*Sr Wendy Beckett: Sister Wendy on Prayer, Continuum, London, 2006