After a long, lonesome and scary time… the people listened, and began to hear… And to see God in one another…and in the beauty of all the Earth.

Children’s books help me to understand life better. Actually children help remind me to look at life and stop to think. But in this story I learned from a turtle-a very Old Turtle.

Douglas Wood published the book Old Turtle in 1992. It’s been 18 years and if it had been 1800 years it would still be a relevant book.

Think about the words. Not just long time, but long and lonesome and scary time. These words explain our times now just as well as 1992. Today it is scary. I think sometimes these long, lonesome, scary times teach us to see God in one another. Yet, when we live from a place of fear, we might also be afraid to see God.

Take the time to be attentive to life. If your world is covered in snow like mine, imagine the dormant seeds waiting for spring, the melting snow refilling the aquifer or the cold that gives the trees rest from growing. Listen and hear… listen and hear.

One of my favorite poets, Robert Frost, said, “A poem begins in delight and ends in wisdom”. Robert Frost died when I was a child (1963 – I’m not telling how old I was!). Maybe that’s why I love to write poetry from the eyes of a child.

Here’s a poem from my collection “Spiritual Poems for Children”. It begins in the delight of a child learning to sound out words and ends in the wisdom only a child could see.
Community

I sounded out a word today.
I sound out words, just this way.
I figure out the syllables,
And add them up till the word is full.

I see this word everywhere.
It’s on busses and boards here and there.
I see the word at church and school
And even on the wall at the swimming pool.

First I sounded out “come”
I know that word but I’m not done.
Next is “u-n-i-t-y”
This is hard but I really try.

Now together the words will go
I try is first very slow.
Come – Unity, Come – Unity
Come – Unity, Come – Unity.

Next I try it very fast.
Community, I can’t get past
The idea that I like it better
When it’s two words by the letter.

Come – Unity tells me what to do
I come together everyday with you.
We unite in every way.
Come-Unity with me today.

Can you see it? The delight of a child beginning to sound out new words and the wisdom in the end when they discover, it is more than just sounds!

I talk lots about beauty in the world. This quote from Confucius who was a Chinese philosopher and reformer, always makes me smile. Confucius lived between 551BC-479BC so think about how true this quote still is today.

Read the quote once and then look at the picture. What is beauty in this picture to you?
Read the quote again. How can you take your vision of beauty and apply it to other places in your life?
Read the quote again. Who can you share this quote with to help them see beauty more often?

Everything has its beauty but not everyone sees it.