Through Stained Glass: Gazing at Grass

Gazing

“How can you act like God?

What a thing to even suggest!

I will tell you.

Gaze like the angels do

upon the riches of creation,

including you.”

~Meister Eckhart

I noticed it today.

I notice it right now.

I notice green.

In the trees.

In the grass.

In the weeds.

                        In spring.

I see it in my backyard.

I see it in the flower beds at church.

I see it in me.

                        I see spring.

The earth is reminding us of the promise of Easter.

No winter is too long to keep creation from springing.

No darkness is too dense to keep life from rising.

No death is too final to keep us from resurrecting.

The plants we’ve waited all winter for are finally risen!

                                                                                                Christ is, too!

The psalmist got it.

6 By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, * by the breath of God’s mouth all the heavenly hosts. 7 God gathers up the waters of the ocean as in a water-skin * and stores up the depths of the sea. 8 Let all the earth fear the Lord; * let all who dwell in the world stand in awe of God. 9 For God spoke, and it came to pass; * God commanded, and it stood fast.

Green makes me stand I awe.

Green makes me feel everything.

Green makes me want to paint with the color of tulips, butterfly bushes, and dandelions.

Tonight,

            Right now,

                        I see green in the white paws of my puppy.

                        I see green in the aroma of fresh cut grass.

                        I see green in the Spirit renewing the very yard I’ll curse in August.

The prophet got it.

Isaiah 40:8

The grass dries up;

    the flower withers,

    but our God’s word will exist forever.

The green of today reminds me of the promises of God that grow forever.

            Yes, the grass dries up. Faith runs low, too, sometimes.

            Yes, the flower withers. Hope drops its bloom, too, sometimes.

            Yes, the presence of God is as barren as death’s valley.

                                                                                                            Still it endures, too.

Jesus got it.

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think God will attend to you, take pride in you, do God’s best for you?”

God loves you.

            Christ loves you.

                        Spirit loves you.

You are in fact, “the riches of creation.”

You are a gift of this New Spring.