An outlaw got lost in the desert and was very glad to find shelter in a hermit’s cave. The hermit welcomed him, gave him his bed to sleep on, and the next day invited the outlaw to stay with him.
“How can you cope living here all your life? Don’t you get bored?” asked the outlaw.
“Yes, I do in difficult moments, but then I go and look out that window. Go and look yourself and tell me what you see.” The window was a small hole in the roof of the cave.
“I can see nothing,” answered the outlaw dryly as he arched his head up towards this small ‘window’.
“How is it, nothing?!” asserted the hermit.
“Nothing, I tell you! The only thing I can see is a fragment of the sky.”
“That is all! That fragment of the sky is enough for me.”
Because in that fragment of sky lives the Beloved. And so life becomes a love-adventure. And a love-adventure is never stuffy!
Simple logic!
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Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. Especially if the beholder is a lover…
During her last illness, Sister Therese of the Child Jesus was in the garden looking at a hen who was scratching up insects for her chicks. At once Therese’s mind was turned toward the tender love of God, and she started reciting under her breath the Our Father.
Suddenly she started sobbing!
“What’s wrong, Sister? Are you in pain?” asked her companion.
“No, but I was looking at the chicken and I was reminded of Psalm 17 which says, ‘Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings.’ Is it not beautiful to know that we are under the shadow of His wings? Similarly Psalm 57 says, ‘Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in your my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.'”
An interesting plan for life …. to live in the shadow of His wings.
Exciting, no?!
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On the eve of the profession of her vows, Therese told Jesus that she wished to have a white mantle on the ground. She loved snow and she wished that on the day of her wedding with Jesus it would snow in Lisieux. Before the ceremony began in Church, she looked out the window. There were dark clouds but no snow. When the ceremony was over she looked out again – she was sure that Jesus would grant her wish. And so it was, the garden of the convent was covered in newly fallen snow.
God grants the wishes of His beloved.
Because He cherishes them. Faced with a world which constantly preaches that man cannot exist without money, power, and sex, it is important that people exist who show in their very flesh that the only one, man cannot live without is God!