Love Makes

Love is all that makes the cool, disinterested earth sing
Her lurid flame goes out and draws us all the same;
A humming, warming fire that puts weakness in our knees
and wakens us into life as it burns us to our feet.

Materiality

I might take it as a compliment if someone called me a "spiritual" person. I used to think the epitome of spirituality and holiness looked something like St. Francis of Assisi sitting for days on a rooftop, contemplating the nature of existence and starving himself.

Over the past few years, I've started to lose respect for that kind of demonstration of faith. Inner spirituality has a place, but it is only a small part of Christianity.

When I think about it, I'm surprised at the degree to which the material helps me connect to God. It's like a necessary refractor for revelation. When I look at a mountain, feel a breeze, hear a song, or look into a child's eyes, I see God; I feel God; I know God more intimately. The beautiful things of this world, whether they were made by divine or human hands, all exist materially, and we must interact with them materially in order for that inner, spiritual experience of God.

When the metaphysical and physical work together, the one facilitates the potency of the other over human experience. That's why I think, for me, I need to pay more attention and take better care of material things. They are conduits of divine expression, and are therefore, sacred in themselves.

So...I think I might go clean my room.