The Grandeur of God

Today, from the archives, this scrumptious morsel of words that bear reading and re-reading, by Gerard Manley Hopkins

"The world is charged with the grandeur of God.
It will flame out, like shining from shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil
Crushed.  Why do men then now not reck his rod?*

Generations have trod, have trod, have trod;

And all is seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil;
And wears man's smudge and shares man's smell: the soil
Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

And for all this, nature is never spent;
There lives the dearest freshness deep down things;

And though the last lights off the black West went
Oh, morning, at the brown brink eastward, springs--

Because the Holy Ghost over the bent
World broods with warm breast and with ah! bright wings."

--by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

I’m grateful for the Spirit of God who makes those He inhabits to be lights in dark places despite themselves!  Shine on!

--LS

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Jn.8:12 ESV

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Mt.5:14 ESV

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*"reck His rod" = heed His divine authority

Edited from the Archives--Dec.3,2010