A Heart at Peace

“A heart at peace, 

gives life to the body.”

Proverbs 14:30

Warmer seasons come late, seeping in around winter’s greedy grasp. Leaves gingerly appear, testing the possibilities, braving winter’s many backward glances. 

The air is brisk or warm, brightly lit or misted and grey, but sampled no less, as human hearts yearn for an opportunity to be out in the newly unfolding world. 

Encourage the mind to cast out winter’s narrowed ponderings, to fling open verandas of new color, richer scents, and softer views. Human flesh, feathered birds, furred critters; all venture hopeful as temperatures slowly offer up hints of warmth. 

A walk along the pathways reveals scars of winter’s passing. Scars of cold are scratched into fencing and bark alike. The new season unfurls its green to cover such with foliage and distract the eye with vivd blooms. 

Willingly, I focus on the beauty, looking past the marred, the fallen, and the wounded; for the natural world redeemed by spring brings joy. 

And thus I am reminded, how God’s redeeming work over wounded souls also gives rise to the heart’s joy.

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Mary Speaks

A Mother's Day tribute to the young woman who carried our Lord, nurtured Him through childhood, and bore the full experience of His life and dying.

Mary Speaks: 

by Madeleine L’Engle

O you who bear the pain of the whole earth, I bore you.
O you whose tears gave human tears their worth, I laughed with you.
You, who when your hem is touched, give power, I nourished you.
Who turn the day to night in this dark hour, light comes from you.
O you who hold the world in your embrace, I carried you.
Whose arms encircled the world with your grace, I once held you.
O you who laughed and ate and walked the shore, I played with you.
And I, who with all others, you died for, now I hold you.
May I be faithful to this final test, in this last hour I hold my child, my son;

His body close enfolded to my breast:
The holder held, the bearer borne.
Mourning to joy, darkness to morn.
Open, my arms; your work is done.

Taken from The Ordering of Love ~ New & Collected Poems of Madeleine L'Engle

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