This Amazing Gift of Being

Why do we have this amazing gift of being?

The ability to experience, to think and to imagine, to care and to love?

I love the words of a little-known writer, Thomas Traherne. He writes about the gift of life in a poem called ‘Salutation’:

1
These little Limbs,
These Eyes and Hands which here I find,
These rosie Cheeks wherewith my Life begins,
Where have ye been? Behind
What Curtain were ye from me hid so long!
Where was? in what Abyss, my Speaking Tongue?

2
When silent I,
So many thousand thousand years,
Beneath the Dust did in a Chaos lie,
How could I Smiles or Tears,
Or Lips or Hands or Eyes or Ears perceiv?
Welcome ye Treasures which I now receive.

3
I that so long
Was Nothing from Eternity,
Did little think such Joys as Ear or Tongue,
To Celebrate or See:
Such Sounds to hear, such Hands to feel, such Feet,
Beneath the Skies, on such a Ground to meet.

4
New Burnished Joys!
Which yellow Gold and Pearl excel!
Such Sacred Treasures are the Limbs in Boys,
In which a Soul doth Dwell;
Their Organized Joints, and Azure veins
More Wealth include, then all the World contains.

5
From Dust I rise,
And out of Nothing now awake,
These Brighter Regions which salute mine Eyes,
A Gift from God I take.
The Earth, the Seas, the Light, the Day, the Skies,
The Sun and Stars are mine; if those I prize.

6
Long time before
I in my Mother’s Womb was born,
A God preparing did this Glorious Store,
The World for me adorn.
Into this Eden so Divine and fair,
So Wide and Bright, I come his Son and Heir.

7
A Stranger here
Strange Things doth meet, strange Glories See;
Strange Treasures lodged in this fair World appear,
Strange all, and New to me.
But that they mine should be, who nothing was,
That Strangest is of all, yet brought to pass.
‘The Salutation’ by Thomas Traherne

He thinks about the gift of his body, of his experience, of having life itself.

He sees life as emerging from nothing – we each have our own personal “Big Bang” as another writer, Richard Rohr, said, and he takes it all as a gift from God.

I find it a beautiful poem. A poem that speaks to me about the beauty of the experience of life.

Life can be good when we are able to be grateful for each day of our existence, and gift our gift of being to others, as well as enjoy life for what it is.

New Blooms of Light

The light comes

in the morning

a new creation

As the darkness

divides

And we see

all that is good

All

living things

Have their moment

of hope

Reaching high

into heaven

And we

like them

Feel the green shoots

bursting within

Budding into

new blooms of light.

So Many Colours!

So many colours surround us!

It is June, and we are surrounded by wild flowers everywhere, in Shropshire and beyond!

Most of these wild flowers were just growing on the side of the road, or in a hedgerow, and how many times would we all have driven or walked past them?

And yet each is a tiny miracle all of its own!

Wouldn’t it be good to stop and gaze at these little beauties once in a while and be reminded of how beautiful this world can be?

A Beautiful Dawning

The world can be so beautiful.

I took this photo earlier this year, at dawn,of The Wrekin, in Shropshire.

The colours of the morning were so fascinating, and perhaps all the more special as they were constantly changing, and I knew that soon they would change from sunrise to morning.

I draw strength from the beauty of the world I see around me.

Maybe we all can?

Whose earth is it?

When I came across this flock of ewes and lambs in March this year, they looked at me as if to question my right to be in their field.

Whose earth is it anyway?

Is it ours to do with as we please? Or is it “shared space” – even shared creation, as many living things actually create the environment we need for life.

It is good to be made to stop and think.

Perhaps the earth is more sacred than many of often think.

Perhaps we should behave more like guests than owners.

Whose earth is it anyway?

Sheep and lambs, Hanwood, Shropshire, March 2021

Emerging from the Mist

This week, the Wrekin – that beautiful distinctive hill of Shropshire photographed here – was crowned by cloud and mist. It was something beautiful but indistinct.

Just as life sometimes is so confusing, so disorientating, such a muddle.

The end of the day can be an opportunity to discover the meaning of the day. Was it in a beautiful sight? Was it in a precious relationship? Was it in a powerful moment of experience? Was it a day without anything special, just the usual, wonderful gift of life?

Isn’t life good when we have had a meaningful day?

What causes you confusion in life

And what brings you meaning ?

Meditate on Things…

“Sure Man was born to meditate on things,
And to contemplate the eternal springs
Of God and Nature…”
Thomas Traherne, “Dumbness”

Colemere is small, tranquil lake in North Shropshire, which I have posted about before, and this beautiful mute swan lingered near the banks on a recent visit.

Reflection seems to be as natural for us as humans as it is to the surface of water, and it is something that is distinctively human.

I saw beauty in these simple, but complex, reflections of light and dark on the surface of the water, just as I did in the simple white beauty of the swan.

And I agreed with Thomas Traherne: “Sure Man was born to meditate on things“.

His lines are from a beautiful, thoughtful poem called “Dumbness” (in the sense of not being able to speak), and you can read the full poem here.

When the world speaks to us in such beautiful, reflective ways, it is good, very good.

I hope these reflections, and Traherne’s poetry, have spoken to you.

A Moment to Glide

A moment

To glide

While the wind’s

Favourable

And the air

Is free

Joy

Sensation

Spontaneity.

Flowering amongst the weeds

We each have our wounds.

We each have our share of pain.

But is there anything more wrong with you than with others who have lived, and suffered, and struggled, and rejoiced?

We are all part of a complete yet ever-expanding human community.

We flower amongst the weeds.

We have our imperfections, and our strengths. Our moments of weakness, and our moments of inspiration.

Like flowers, we stretch towards the light that is goodness and truth.

Truly we flower amongst the weeds.

Silence and Reflection with Thomas Traherne

“Sure Man was born to meditate on things,  
And to contemplate the eternal springs  
Of God and Nature, glory, bliss, and pleasure;  
That life and love might be his Heavenly treasure;  
And therefore speechless made at first, that He
Might in himself profoundly busied be:”

Reflection is as natural to being human as it is to the surface of water. The image above is of Colemere, a tranquil “mere” (small lake) in North Shropshire, dating back to the Ice Age. As Thomas Traherne says: “Sure Man was born to meditate on things“.

He continues:

This, my dear friends, this was my blessed case;  
For nothing spoke to me but the fair face  
Of Heaven and Earth, before myself could speak...


Then did I dwell within a world of light,  
Distinct and separate from all men’s sight,  
Where I did feel strange thoughts, and such things see  
That were, or seemed, only revealed to me...


“D’ye ask me what? It was with clearer eyes  
To see all creatures full of Deities;
Especially one’s self: And to admire  
The satisfaction of all true desire:  
Twas to be pleased with all that God hath done;  
Twas to enjoy even all beneath the sun:  
Twas with a steady and immediate sense
To feel and measure all the excellence  
Of things... every stone, and every star a tongue,  
And every gale of wind a curious song..."

These lines are from his beautiful poem called “Dumbness” (in the sense of not being able to speak), and you can read the full poem here.

Ironically, Traherne is anything but “dumb” when he writes about his pre-language childhood world. It seems a heavenly state, where the whole world “spoke to me”.

When the world speaks to us in such beautiful ways, it is good, very good.

These reflections on Colemere did just that.

I hope that they, and Traherne’s poetry, speak to you.