What I Can't See

A Reflection on the First Reading for June 16th, 2019:
The Solemnity of The Most Holy Trinity

Proverbs 8:22-31​

Thus says the Wisdom of God:

The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
    the first of his acts of long ago.

Ages ago I was set up
   at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

When there were no depths I was brought forth,
   when there were no springs abounding with water.
 
Before the mountains had been shaped,
   before the hills, I was brought forth--

when he had not yet made earth and fields,
   or the world’s first bits of soil.

When he established the heavens, I was there,
   when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
 
when he made firm the skies above,
   when he established the fountains of the deep,

 when he assigned to the sea its limit,
     so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
   then I was beside him, like a master worker;
       
        and I was daily his delight,
        rejoicing before him always,
        rejoicing in his inhabited world
        and delighting in the human race.

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I find myself here, in the midst of a maelstrom of activity this week, having a moment alone with You and a watched pot.  If I want the lobster pot to come to a boil sometime soon, I should stop watching it.  So I lean against the cedar shakes of the backside of a garage in Indian Harbour and look up….

Slices of the Atlantic Ocean peaking through the spruce shrub. 
One gnarled spruce reaching high into a wide bright blue sky.
He’s almost grabbing the half moon as she reflects the light of the sun, showing her craters as soft blue patches — a seemingly transparent natural orb as she reveals half her face. 

And I realize something as I see this.  There is so much I can’t see.  

As I stare at this patch of sky, this small portion of the dome above me in the washout of the light from the sun hiding on the other side of the garage, how many stars am I actually staring straight at right now?  Between me and the edge of the universe, how many other moons am I facing?  How many other planets am I looking at right now, but just can’t see.  How much do I miss that is hiding in plain sight?  But You, my Father, You see it all.  You made it all.  And when you made it, You weren’t alone.

"The Wisdom of God... Alongside and creating all of this — the slight part I can see,
​and the staggering amount I can’t.​"

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The Wisdom of God.  There at the beginning.  The Breath of God, the Wind of God, the Spirit of God, hovering over the waters.
Alongside and creating all of this — the slight part I can see, and the staggering amount I can’t.

Your Son calls Him the Spirit of Truth who will teach us everything.  He calls Him the alongside One.  Paraclete. The Wisdom of God. You were never alone.  Because You are Three.  Always and forever.  

And the delight!  The Father delighting in the Wisdom, the Wisdom rejoicing in the Father, the Son full of joy with the Spirit and praising the Father.  (Luke 10:21)  The Wisdom delighting in the people they made in Their image.  We’re meant to be in this together.  Alongside.  A circle.  A dance.

Help me to be a delight to You.  To daily be your delight.

O my Lord, my Wisdom.  You’re going to have to help me here, because I am essentially clueless.  I look at a patch sky, and I can’t even see what’s really there. And that’s just the stuff that has atoms and molecules, photons and waves of energy.  Only the tip of the iceberg of my ignorance.  There’s an entire unseen spiritual existence that I brush right by moment by moment without noticing.  You’ll have to show me what am I looking at that’s right in front of me.  I can’t even see what’s behind the eyes of the people that stand in front of me in the ins and outs of my day…

Apparently, I can’t even see that the pot has indeed started to boil, and to boil over — lobster water cascading onto the patio stones at my feet.  

Noreen Smith

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