I'm reading The Tumbler of God: Chesterton as Mystic. I've barely begun, but even in the introduction there are gems to be mined. This caught my attention this morning:
One of the tests of sanctity is said to be a contagious happiness and inner peace. Chesterton had his share of sorrows and of illness and his darker moments; but more than most people he was imbued with a kind of unpretentious beatitude that tended to convey itself to those around him. The writer Franz Kafka said of Chesterton, "He is so happy one might almost think he had discovered God." Indeed he had, and he was doing his best to live in the light of that discovery. What was his "secret"? It was to love the splendor of the real, and to live in adulthood the innocence and wonder of the child who sees everything for the first time. The Gospel tells us we must become again like little children in order to enter the kingdom. Chesterton shows us how.
Indeed he did, and was filled with excitement and joy at recognizing the top of the weeping cherry in our front yard which was all he could see of it.
Life these days is pretty serious and it's tempting to nurture worry and anxiety and embrace it in a spirit of discouragement. But Spring is in the air with it's budding new life and beauty. It can lift our hearts as we see God's fingerprints all around us. Let's not miss it!
On the way home from visiting my sister in Pennsylvania yesterday we took a break at a rest stop in West Virginia and were greeted by a glorious display of Spring flowers, the ones you see in the photos. Let us never forget to rejoice with the wonder of children at the glories God pours out on us in abundance. They are more precious than the wealth of nations!
So true Mary Ann! Thank you for the reminder. Here in Texas the wildflowers were everywhere as we drove our five grandkids back home from Houston to Ft Worth. Large fields of solid yellow flowers interspersed with bluebonnets and some beautiful bright pink flowers. There was also an orange flower our oldest granddaughter Cecilia kept calling an Indian Paintbrush. As we drove north the flowers grew sparse but we know they will be here soon!
ReplyDeleteListen to this sweet "county" hymn.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/fQhtw0N8YYM
Spring flowers are a couple months off in these here parts, but thanks for the reminder that God hasn't completely abandoned us to our own devices, despite the Springtime of Vatican II's putrid fruit rotting all around us. There is much to appreciate about Gilbert Keith Chesterton.
ReplyDeleteI love the bluebonnets, Nana. Our son lives in Georgetown north of Austin and my daughter-in-law is posting photos. We have the bluebells here in Virginia. They are gorgeous too. I need to plant some in my yard!
ReplyDeleteI've just discovered that grains of sand magnified 300 times under a microscope look like this: https://www.businessinsider.com/images-of-sand-grains-through-a-microscope-2014-1
ReplyDeleteNo one grain of sand - trillions and trillions and trillions - is like another. Each one is its own "self". The magnificence of God is truly without words.