he and i

It's been an amazing few weeks for seeing the beauty and creativity and love of God everywhere. I wanted to share this passage from He and I, a book of prayers of Gabrielle Bossis, a French woman who lived from 1874-1950. The cool thing about this book is that it's a record not so much of Gabrielle's prayers, but of God's responses to her. This excerpt is from October 4, 1948.

Today you will contemplate My beauty. Already this morning you saw that deep flush of color arrowing the eastern horizon, and as you passed under the trees you stopped to admire the long October spider webs festooned from branch to branch and spangled with drops of dew like rows of pearls in open necklaces. Then as the sun rose, the crickets that had been vocal all night long in your cherry tree suddenly ceased their singing; the Loire mirrored one hue after another in a rich medley of unearthly colors. And the herons passed over, streaking the violet sky.

If you have eyes to see, every hour of the day holds its splendor. It comes from Me, from a fragment of Me. For you, of course -- so that you may learn the lure of praise, the joy of adoration, the love of Love. And I vary my spectacles every morning to rejuvenate your hearts.

Have you anyone else so ingenious in his ways of pleasing you? You have someone to carve the clouds into the shapes you love, haven't you? And an engineer to swell the tide so that the water reaches the wall of your terrace? What tradesman placed the birds in your trees and so many butterflies around your flowers? And this morning, was it a dealter in tulle who unfolded that chiffon scarf of mist right across your island, turning it into to storeys?

Whose hand plucks the yellow leaves of your linden trees with such grace while your strawberry plants offer you their long rest for the fruit of future years?

Open your eyes wide and look at Love. It is He who is passing by.