Glistening object out in the distance
Why did I feel I had to go to you
So out of place in this deep forest
Not placed there coincidentally
Prayer broke down the reluctance
Required to escape the physical
Opening a gap that slipped inside
As knowledge streamed wonder
What seemed large, so far away
just a simple droplet magnified
A smile formed within the visit
As I unwrapped the jewel inside
All alone the drop still sparkled
God’s love kept the hope alive
Why would I see this lonely soul
Attracted like a bug to the light
Grace magnificent in everything
Truth visible to the naked eye
When love is within our grasp
We must go to it when it calls
Sometimes a need outside reach
Simply waits to evaporate
To disappear into nothingness
Unless we touch before it does
I found myself in deep prayer while walking on a familiar straight-as-an-arrow trail. Far off in the distance, I saw this sparkling glistening object. I completely lost my concentration, thinking some inconsiderate person had left a soda can hanging on a branch. As the distance closed, the object kept getting smaller and smaller. Just a few feet away I realized it was a tiny drop of water.
Somehow all the right conditions had materialized to have that drop of water be magnified a great distance away. When I got right up to it, the sun hit just right and it appeared to me as a magnificent jewel, colors reflecting and sparkling in all directions. I did not want to disturb it but could not resist the urge to touch it. When I did, it spilled perfectly into the palm of my hand, still a tiny drop. I carried it carefully in my open palm while I continued my walk.
As I felt it be absorbed, it hit me how powerful a metaphor I had just participated in. Right in front of me, distances sometimes great and sometimes short, God’s grace is in action. Its beauty is staggering to the point of attracting us like bugs to a light if we allow it. From experience, I now understand that Christ’s love inside means I must touch, embrace and amplify it.
For further reflection: 2 Corinthians 8