No heaven can come to us
unless our hearts find rest
in today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden
in this present little instant.
Take peace!
The gloom of the world
is but a shadow.
Behind it,
yet within our reach
is joy.
There is radiance and glory
in the darkness
could we but see -
and to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!
Life is so generous a giver,
but we, judging its gifts
by the covering,
cast them away as ugly,
or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering
and you will find beneath it
a living splendor,
woven of
love,
by wisdom, with power.
Welcome it, grasp it,
touch the angel's hand
that
brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial,
a
sorrow, or a duty, believe me,
that angel's hand
is there,
the gift is there, and the wonder
of an
overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not
content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal
diviner gifts.
Life is so full
of meaning and purpose,
so full of
beauty
- beneath its covering -
that you will find
earth
but cloaks your heaven.
Courage, then, to claim it,
that is all.
But courage
you have,
and the knowledge that
we are all pilgrims
together,
wending through
unknown country, home.
And so, at this time,
I greet you.
Not quite as the
world
sends greetings,
but with profound esteem
and with the prayer
that for you
now and forever,
the day breaks,
and the shadows flee away.