Today, from the archives, this scrumptious morsel of words that bear reading and re-reading, by Gerard Manley Hopkins
“The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;
It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed. Why do men then now not reck his rod?*
Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;
And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.
And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;
And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs–
Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings.”
–by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)
I’m grateful for the Spirit of God who makes those He inhabits to be lights in dark places despite themselves! Shine on!
–LS
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jn.8:12 ESV
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt.5:14 ESV
————————
*”reck His rod” = heed His divine authority
Edited from the Archives–Dec.3,2010