Sunday, April 04, 2010

The Grace of God

While walking down what many would call a “country road” one sunny April afternoon, I happened upon a tree donned with some of the most magnificent blossoms I’ve ever seen. As I walked toward the tree, captivated by its beauty, I noticed it was slowly, almost poetically, raining down a blanket of petals on the earth beneath its well-dressed branches. Shades of white, pink and lavender covered the ground.

So enamored was I with this sight that, for a brief moment, I was tempted to stretch out my body over this little piece of Paradise and let its sweet aroma caress me, enchant me, intoxicate me; and I may well have done so, had I not feared that the poor unknowing owner of the “property” on which this Oasis rested would mistake my attempt to “touch Heaven” for an attempt to give him trouble.

So, I restrained myself and limited my compulsion to simply picking a petal from one of the branches just within my reach. Even so, I couldn’t help but feel I was “stealing” something, like some beggar making away with a morsel of bread to satisfy his hunger; except, it wasn’t bread I was after. It was a piece of Heaven…a piece of God, Himself; and I simply had to have it. I needed it.

As I continued on my way, I looked back to catch one more glimpse of the beauty of that scene, holding the petal I had picked in my hand…and then I walked on toward my destination.

Every two or three steps, I couldn’t resist the urge to hold the petal to my nose – as I walked – and inhale the sweetness of God’s Creation. It was so powerful – yet gentle – a scent that it literally had me walking with my eyes closed! I didn’t want to stop walking, and I didn’t want to be distracted from the sweetness of the experience…so I walked, and inhaled, and closed my eyes, and imagined I was in Paradise.

I thought to myself:
“The Beauty and the Humility of a Flower: She just IS! She does not jump and shout to get you to notice her. She doesn’t have to. The way she “IS” gets your attention without even trying. Her being what God Created her to be makes her irresistibly attractive…to birds, to bees, to Men…to me.
“She doesn’t have to ‘try’ to be beautiful, she just is. Her sweet aroma cannot be duplicated, or mimicked, or mass-produced for profit. She is ‘The Truth’, and any attempt to mimic her would be ‘false’."

She is the Gift of God, not the product of man. She is beautiful. She is subtle, yet powerful. She is a temporary reminder of the Eternal Grace of God, the matchless Beneficence of God, the indescribable Beauty and Love of God; and I am grateful and humbled to have met her…to have ben touched – and my life enhanced – by her.

Even now, I hold the petal in one hand, and write with the other, occasionally raising it to my nose to breath in its Essence, to be reminded that there IS beauty left in this world; that there ARE things worthy of our hope and admiration; that all is NOT lost…because she lives.

Life is Good, and all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the worlds.

RM