Good morning…
As I wake in these wee hours on my 60th birthday, my thoughts turn to a story I met this week. I am inspired to savor some cinnamon toast.
******
“Great Things Have Happened” by Alden Nowlan
We were talking about the great things
that have happened in our lifetimes;
and I said, “Oh, I suppose the moon landing
was the greatest thing that has happened
in my time.” But, of course, we were all lying.
The truth is the moon landing didn’t mean
one-tenth as much to me as one night in 1963
when we lived in a three-room flat in what once had been
the mansion of some Victorian merchant prince
(our kitchen had been a clothes closet, I’m sure),
on a street where by now nobody lived
who could afford to live anywhere else.
That night, the three of us, Claudine, Johnnie and me,
woke up at half-past four in the morning
and ate cinnamon toast together.
“Is that all?” I hear somebody ask.
Oh, but we were silly with sleepiness
and, under our windows, the street-cleaners
were working their machines and conversing in Italian, and
everything was strange without being threatening,
even the tea-kettle whistled differently
than in the daytime: it was like the feeling
you get sometimes in a country you’ve never visited
before, when the bread doesn’t taste quite the same,
the butter is a small adventure, and they put
paprika on the table instead of pepper,
except that there was nobody in this country
except the three of us, half-tipsy with the wonder
of being alive, and wholly enveloped in love.
******
One night in 1963, I was born. I took my first breath. My ordinary life began.
“Is that all?” I heard someone ask.
This sentence strikes me. How often, over my 60 years, have marvelously mundane things happened and I have totally missed the magic, “Is that all?” The people who sat (dwelt enveloped) in darkness have seen a great Light, and for those who sat in the land and shadow of death Light has dawned (Matthew 4:16, AMPC). This next decade, I hope to live half-tipsy with the wonder of being alive, keenly aware, “We are all wholly enveloped in the Light of love!”
What I say to you in the dark (privately), tell in the light (publicly); and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the housetops [to many people] (Matthew 10:27, AMP).
…Sue…
P.S. We had a magical time together yesterday as so many people came out of the woodwork to savor together our Lenten Lunch and Learn. It was so so fun to hug, chat, and connect. Joan Alexander did an amazing job unwrapping for us the gift of “soul friends”. When it is prepared, I will share with our written word community a link to the audio recording. Thank you, Joan, for listening to the Spirit’s whispers in the dark private hours then sharing with us the guiding light of God’s love.
