Good morning…
I remember sitting on the rug in a circle one morning during my kindergarten year. We quieted down from our giddy as we were each blindfolded. Then, one child at a time, our teacher tenderly held beneath our nostrils a series of everyday items. I was the only one in class who instantly knew the warm, sweet smell of vanilla. My knowing came naturally since my mom and I loved to bake. One dark teaspoon of vanilla went into each yummy batch of chocolate chip cookie batter we created from scratch.
I had not thought of these memories for a very long time until I met a delicious poem yesterday morning, Naomi Shihab Nye’s poem “Sifter.” After enjoying the reading below, I mixed the word “sift” into Biblegateway.com and I tasted the ancient wisdom baked into our being. “Sift and Weigh Every Word” is the heading above these two Bible verses.
A mean person gets paid back in meanness,
a gracious person in grace.
The gullible believe anything they’re told;
the prudent sift and weigh every word (Proverbs 14:14-15, MSG).
Now I think to myself: “Everyday silence with God is a marvelous sifter. Will I be mean or will I be gracious? Will I be gullible or will I sift and weigh every word?”
Please give yourself the gift of the delicacy below, like savoring a soft, gooey cookie just lifted from the trusty oven on a hot cookie sheet.
…Sue…
