Written in a recent FPC weekly update was a reference to Henri Nouwen's words, "I have lost the eyes to see the joy and the ears to hear the gladness that belongs to God...found in the hidden corners of the world." It was suggested that if one is to attend to God's gladness, we must look, search, notice, celebrate it.
In her book Simple Abundance, Sarah Band Breatchnatch leads her readers to recognize, appreciate, even celebrate the simple ordinary things, sights, sounds, happenings in our daily lives. God's natural creation has offered me so many simple abundant joys: observing a cardinal feeding on berries in a backyard hawthorn tree, listening to its melodious song, seeing finches bob to and fro as they feast on seeds of spent coneflower blooms, soaking up the beauty of an arching rainbow during a summer rain, viewing a brilliant, fast-fading Lake Michigan sunset, chuckling over the rapid chasing of two squirrels.
How warmly touched I was with a phone call from a friend of years gone by, and feeling blessed after a long-distance conversation with a now 90 year old whose friendship goes back more than 30 years.
Sharing meals with family on ordinary days or on holidays, having the opportunity to provide a meal for a couple recovering from surgery, all examples of God's simple abundance, available to us to recognize and joyfully celebrate God's gladness in His creation.
Gracious, loving God, open my eyes, open my ears to your simple abundant gifts that I may joyfully celebrate Your gladness in Your creation. Amen.
Patricia Lindroth
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