Click here for the beginning of my story.


Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Darkness and Light


While writing my last post, I realized anew how dark some of the portions of my journey were. But at the same time, comprehending the full story to the present, I appreciate the fact that, as in many great paintings, the dark shadows serve to offset and accentuate the bright and beautiful elements which constitute the main subject of interest. I have passed through several deep and fearful valleys in my journey towards God only to arrive on the other side at a higher and more glorious peak than before. The tentative and faltering steps at the beginning of the spiritual life can lead later, by God’s grace, to mountaintop vistas where one is moved by what is seen to cry out:
O Light! O Love!
     O Beauty Resplendent!
O Brilliance encompassing
     all things else!
O Refulgence Cascading!
     O Glittering Radiance!
O Bliss! O Hope!
     O Gladness Unforeseen!
O Great and Boundless Good!
     O Beauteous Nameless Joy!
O Serene and Golden Light
     from a clear and cloudless sky!
O Enchanted Blessedness!
     O Sight Most Fair!
O Sweetness! O Treasure!
     O Loveliness Beyond Telling!
O Lamp of Clear Wisdom!
     O Splendour Most Pure!
O Light! O Love!
     O Life! O God!

And from these heights one can look out upon the lands through which one has journeyed, and indeed upon the whole world, and see that:
In a marvelous way the world is changed
with nothing altered or rearranged
The facts themselves remaining true
each one gains a golden hue
the fair, the foul, the good, the bad
the mundane, the happy and the sad
all beheld in contemplative sight
become infused with a glorious light
each detail sharp and crisp and clear
each illumined with a meaning dear
and all together in perfect peace
serenely move and never cease
around the core of Love unmade
shining through each with glory arrayed
and rising upward one can see
what is past and what will be
and what is now seamlessly sewn
and in circling together is clearly shown
a Light, a Love infused throughout
and not one particle or thread left out
making up a glorious glorious world
a manifestation of Love unfurled!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Sojourner,

Your story is so fascinating. I anticipate the next post will be wonderful, too. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Christine Ann said...

Dear Todd,

What a beautiful tapestry your poetry weaves. My response to the first is that your words seem to describe what a soul must experience when first beholding heaven. Joy indescribable, and the sound of glorious music are what I experience when reading the poem aloud!

Your second poem brings me to remembrance of the deepest darkness of my soul and then wonderfully pulls the experience together into a profound and beautifully woven wholeness. Isn't it incredible how God works to have even our sorrowful times seem joyous?

Once again, thank you for sharing what most of us can find no words to describe!

TM said...

Thank you for your kind words - there are those rare times when words fall together and seem to express what the heart longs to say - to say they've inspired you in any way is a great compliment - Praise God for His wonderful and unsearchable ways!