God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. -Genesis 1:31

One of my all-time favorite poems is William Carlos Williams’ “The Red Wheelbarrow”:

so much depends

upon

a red wheel

barrow

glazed with rain

water

beside the white

chickens

My high school students in Houston had no idea why I would like such an odd little poem. This was my attempt at an explanation:

Not very often, but every now and then, a person gets a moment of epiphany, a moment when every little tiny thing in the world seems just right and nothing, nothing seems out of place. The thing about those moments is that they usually occur at the most ordinary times. Reading this poem, I imagine Williams sitting on a porch somewhere in the country with a cup of coffee, a pencil and a blank sheet of paper beside him. In my imagination Williams has had writer’s block for several days and is frustrated and angry about his complete lack of creativity. Then all of a sudden, for just a moment, while looking across the yard at the wheelbarrow and the chickens, he felt completely and utterly happy. The moment passed-but nothing was ever the same again.

Years ago, during the time I was teaching high school in Dallas, I wrote the following in my prayer journal:

I woke up on Saturday, showered, dressed and was pouring a cup of coffee in my travel mug, preparing to drive to a wrestling meet when the thought came to me, “I could do this for a long, long time.” The “this” in that statement was not only high school teaching but also Dallas, this community, this wrestling chaplaincy, this coffee mug- everything.

Although that moment occurred over eight years ago, I still remember every detail of it. I remember the grogginess in my head, the smell of the strong New Orleans coffee, the comforting feel of the twenty-year-old “Jesuit” sweatshirt I was wearing. And, like Williams, I remember feeling completely happy.

A few years later I had to leave high school teaching for four years of graduate school in Boston. But throughout this time, I kept remembering that moment with the sweatshirt and the coffee mug. And when asked by my superiors what I might like to do after grad school, my answer came easily. “I’d like to go back to high school work,” I said. And today, here I am, plowing through American Literature with all of you. And I am perfectly happy.

And it was all because of that moment.

so much depends

upon

the weather-beaten

sweatshirt

beside the white plastic

coffee mug

SUGGESTED SCRIPTURE PASSAGES

GENESIS 1-2: The creation stories

Јов 42:10-17: The Lord restores Job’s prosperity

PSALM 116: What return shall I make for the good he has done for me?

DANIEL 3:52-90: All things bless the Lord

MATTHEW 5:1-12: The beatitudes

MATTHEW 6:25-34: Consider the lilies

LUKE 10:38-42: Martha, Martha, you are anxious about many things

PHILIPPIANS 4:4-13: I have learned to cope in every circumstance

PRAYER POINTERS

Ignatius speaks of an experience he calls “consolation without previous cause.” He says that at times God will grant me the experience of complete peace and contentedness. By “without previous cause” he means that this peace and joy may come despite the fact that there are still many problems in my life and despite the fact that nothing extraordinarily wonderful is going on at the time. Despite all of this, I feel cockeyed with joy! Ignatius says that this is one of the most grace-filled experiences one will have in this life and that one should not analyze or scrutinize it, but rather one should simply bask in its warmth and comfort. In my prayer then, I should not try to figure out why it is that I’m so happy right now. Instead, I simply sing God’s praises and enjoy the gift of happiness.

I should take advantage of this joyous moment by responding in generosity to God’s goodness. I ask myself, “What return shall I make for all the good that God has done for me?” I might come up with two or three concrete commitments that I reasonably can make at this time.

Awe, Content, Evening, Grateful, Joyful, Proud, Quiet

WORDS TO TAKE WITH YOU

Fear less, hope more, eat less, chew more, whine less, breathe more, talk less, say more, hate less, love more, and all good things will be yours. -Swedish Proverb

God is the great humorist. It’s just that He has a slow audience to work with. -Garrison Keillor