One day last week, one of the Sisters I live
with, Sr. Alberta Hermann, said, “I believe in a God of surprises.” That got me
thinking about how everything is a surprise to young children, because they are
seeing aspects of the world for the first time … and so, when it feels like
life is rushing past us, we would do well to remember to look at the world with
the eyes of a child, which will help us slow down and reconnect with the God of
mystery and surprise. The following poem is a meditation on that desire.
Time Travel
If you want to stop time from hurtling through your already short
life span,
you need to apprentice yourself to a four-year-old child,
who will teach you how to become absorbed
in the tiny insect
c r a w l i n g
across your dining room table,
in the patterns of s u n l i g h t
dancing on the carpet,
and in the smooshy
sensation of mashed potatoes in your mouth.
Put your faith in the God of surprises, who transforms your world
from a dreary and familiar place to one in which lilacs
bloom in September, the grocery
store offers
free samples of honey lavendar ice cream,
and your being resonates to the beat
of a West African djembe drum.
Make the book of your life a
mystery, not a travelogue,
and don’t forget
to add a twist
at the end.
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