(Please forgive the gritty detail.) I saw this very first bud with color on the crown of a tall rhododendron bush because I was on an exercise cycle on the second floor by the window, not reading, listening, or watching anything, simply gazing.
God, help me find the right perspective
to recognize something blooming
when any other vantage point would miss it
and any distraction cause me not to notice.
Teach me to wake every morning
waiting and expecting the day will hold
one such perspective
for me to treasure and then share
Remind me to begin any word or action
remembering that those I meet
come to their spiritual,
political, emotional positions
because of their perspectives.
For some of us the gun tragedies
in the United States these two weeks
eclipse the very sun of hope,
while others grieve those dead in war,
some covid, some a deep personal loss,
and the point of view of some
is shaped by a new birth, a graduation,
a remission, a deep gratitude.
Holy One, may we be the people
who create perspective
as an artist does, who shows on a surface
of two dimensions, the impression
of height, width, and depth,
for the height, weight, depth, and bloom of us
is how we long to be known by others,
and how you know us always . Amen.
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Maren C. Tirabassi is a United Church of Christ (US) pastor, author of twenty-two books and workshop leader. Her new novel in the Rev and Rye Cozy Mystery series, “Death at Fair Havens” was released in April. She blogs at gifts in open hands at wordpress dot com.
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