A Summer Psalm

If you haven't guessed by now, I love Edward Hays' whimsical poetry prayers. Here's one that fits today... from p. 117 of Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual (Forest of Peace Books Inc. 1989. ISBN 0939516-10-1).

A Psalm of the Prophet Summer

O Sacred Creator of heaven and earth,
     like a loving parent with a choice Christmas gift,
     you keep your present of paradise
     hidden away from my sight.

Your son Jesus said that eye has not seen nor ear heard
     what you have dreamed up for us
     when we finally come home to you.
But I wonder: are there seasons in heaven
     just as there are on earth?

Or have you chosen one of earth's four as your favourite,
     one unending, changeless season of bliss
     for those who love you?
If so, I'd bet that you selected summer,
     with its picnics and leisurely pace,
     with its fun and play and whole-hearted zest.

I'd lay odds that you set apart summer,
     the season of vacations --
     children's favourite free time,
     when both young and old
     drink in the enjoyment of life --
     to be the work-free environment
     of your heavenly paradise.
May I, by your grace, taste your eternal sabbath
     in the warm pleasures of this summer day,
     and slowly savor the flavor of your reward
     in the nectar of this summer night.
+AMEN.

A Spring Psalm

We had a lovely spring walk this morning. 

It reminded me of Edward Hays' Spring Psalms.

I don't think he would mind if I shared one here.

O Spirit of Life, 

not that long ago the trees around me

looked like upside down roots

dangling in the wind.

Today it looks like great green clouds have come

to nest in their longing limbs.

The spring breeze that plays in the branches

is full of the song of birds, recently returned.

As flowers lure bees and insects 

by their beauty and perfume,

so I am drawn out of doors

to smell and feel your presence.

What cathedral made by human hands

could contain the awesome majesty 

of your springtime splendor?

And Bach or Handel would be humbled 

by the music of this season's sounds

blended in harmony by your baton.

O You who delight in children at play,

may I not be ashamed to bow in wonder

as I offer, this day, my prayer and adoration

in your sacred springtime shrine.

--"A Psalm of the Shrine of Spring" by Edward Hays in 

Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim: A Personal Manual for Prayer and Ritual

(Forest of Peace Books (Kansas) 1989, ISBN 0-939516-10-1) p.111)

A Winter Psalm on a Sunday

It started to snow yesterday afternoon, a bit earlier than forecasted, and this morning the world is a different place. But I don't mind -- the garden has been put to bed and the produce put away, and I'm ready for some quieter winter evenings ahead, when I can actually read some books!

Today I remembered one of my favourite prayer books by Edward Hays, called Prayers for a Planetary Pilgrim (1989, Forest of Peace Books) and looked into it for its winter psalms. Here are some tidbits from "A Winter Wonderland Psalm" (p. 124) for your enjoyment. I'm going to be praying some other winter psalms this week, I think...

...Be still, my soul, like a winter landscape
     which is wrapped in the white prayer shawl
     of silent snow fringed with icy threads....
Be still, my gypsy mind,
     from your whirling like a perpetual gyroscope,
     constantly restless, ever on the move....
Be still, my being,
     so that, like Lewis Carroll's Alice,
     you may, with grace, find the tiny, hidden doorway
     that leads to Wonderland.
Be still so that you can discover slowly, day by day,
     that God and you are one,
     to know in that Wonder-of-Wonderlands
     who you really are.