The Reading of the Day, September 10, 2010

Waken in Me a Sense of Joy

O extravagant God,
in this ripening red-tinged autumn,
waken in me a joy
  in just being alive,
joy for nothing in general
  except everything in particular;
joy in sun and rain
  mating with earth to birth a harvest;
joy in soft light
  through shyly disrobing trees;
joy in the acolyte moon
  setting halos around processing clouds;
joy in the beating of a thousand wings
   mysteriously knowing which way is warm;
joy in wagging tales and kids' smiles
  and in this spunky old city;
joy in the taste of bread and wine,
  the smell of dawn,
    a touch,
      a song,
        a presence;
joy in having what I cannot live without-----
  other people to hold and cry and laugh with;
joy in love,
     in you;
and that all at first and last
     is grace.

From Guerrillas of Grace by Ted Loder