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Read a Friend’s Heart:
April 8, 2008
BIRTHDAYS: Gautama Buddha is 2,571;
Ponce de Leon is 548; Mary Pickford is 115; Sonja Henie is
96; Carmen McRae is 88; Shecky Greene is 82; Franco Corelli
is 80; Jacques Brel is 79; Kofi Annan is 70; John Havlicek
is 68; Julian Lennon is 45; Patricia Arquette is 40, and I,
well, I am not older than most church doors or deep wells,
but ‘tis enough, ‘twill serve!
HAPPY NATIONAL POETRY MONTH!
On his first summer in the Sierras, John Muir agreed to accompany
a flock of 2,500 sheep on an annual odyssey from the parched
California Central Valley floor to the cooler weather and
green pastures of the mountains. On June 4th, 1869, he entered
the following observation in his journal:
“We are now in the mountains and they are in us, kindling
enthusiasm, making every nerve quiver, filling every pore
and cell of us. Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle seems transparent
as glass to the beauty about us, as if truly an inseparable
part of it, thrilling with the air and trees, streams and
rocks, in the waves of the sun—a part of all nature,
neither old nor young, sick nor well, but immortal. Just now
I can hardly conceive of any bodily condition dependent on
food or breath anymore than the ground and sky. How glorious
a conversion, so complete and wholesome it is, scarce memory
enough of old bondage days left as a standpoint to view it
from! In this newness of life we seem to have been so always.”
“Our flesh-and-bone tabernacle”…isn’t
that marvelous? With appropriate wonder, innocence, and joy,
with wisdom beyond his lifetime, Muir shares a personal conversion
moment that all who hunger for spiritual awakening yearn for.
Blessings, Light, and Love!
Robert
www.robertmcdowell.net
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