Gratitude Reflection Day 11

The other day, as I was pulling out Christmas decorations I came across a box of books. The box was open and inside I found an old book of poetry that I had as a child called, "One Thousand Poems for Children." I thumbed through the book and was flooded with memories of sitting in my room in our house in Wisconsin and reading these poems. The book is loosely organized into sections like, "Holiday Poems" or "Seasonal Poems" or "Poems for Younger Children, Riddles and Finger Plays." Here is one of the riddles:

The Wonderful Weaver

There's a wonderful weaver
High up in the air,
And he weaves a white mantle
For cold earth to wear,
With the wind for his shuttle
The cloud for his loom,
How he weaves! how he weaves!
In the light, in the gloom.

Oh, with the finest of laces
He decks bush and tree,
On the bare flinty meadows
A cover lays he.
Then a quaint cap he places
On a pillar and post,
And he changes the pump
To a grim, silent ghost.

But this wonderful weaver
Grows weary at last,
And the shuttle lies idle
That once flew so fast;
Then the sun peeps abroad
On the work that is done;
And he smiles: "I'll unravel
It all just for fun!"

(What is it?)....(I'll tell you at the end of the reflection). Poetry is a gift in this world. I have spent many years of my life not really understanding poetry, but liking it nonetheless. The art of poetry is playfulness: a playing with words until they carry forth the tone and tenor desired, the image and idea one has. Playing with phrasing and structure and rhythm and rhyme.

In many ways it's the same thing with life - life is a gift. Looked at a certain way and one can see that life can hold a playful quality to it as we strive to bring forth the tone and tenor we desire. Life requires a certain amount of rhythm and rhyme...True, we don't always understand life - sometimes it seems more like a riddle as we try to figure out the purpose of our lives. But our lives do have a purpose. At the very least this purpose asks that we feel a sense of gratitude for our lives and that we share that gratitude with others. Scripture describes this as loving God, loving self, and loving our neighbor. Today give thanks for life.

oh, and the riddle is describing snow....