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All that satisfies

Saturday, December 29, 2001

Luke 2:28-32
Simeon took Jesus in his arms and praised God, saying:

"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
may you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."


My favorite Dr. Seuss book, title forgotten...a boy puts a hook on a string, the string on a stick, finds a puddle in his own backyard to fish from. And he sits there, and he sits there, and he begins to imagine what's under the surface of that puddle.

His string lengthens, and the puddle deepens into a stream, which empties into a lake, which empties into a sea, a great sea. And the fish emerging from the puddle is finally a great whale, baleful eye staring the fisherman straight in his imagining face.

It's not always imagination. Simeon had held many babies in his time. This time, looking somehow into the inner makings of the baby Jesus, he felt the presence of his Messiah.

I'm learning to expect and enjoy second impressions when I meet people. There seems to be a moment during which, if I allow my mind to stay open and quiet, the deeper part of a person emerges. Usually I strap on my physical and psychological armor to get through the most public parts of my day; I think that's true of most of us. And it's a pleasure to remove it, mostly when I'm alone, but occasionally in the presence of another. It's best then.

A little girl named Anna once said, "The difference from a person and an angel is easy. Most of an angel is in the inside and most of a person is on the outside."* I wonder what I will find on the inside of today, and inside the people I meet. Angels, I hope.

God, let me be still and see what you see. Open my ears and eyes, and shut my mouth, Lord. Be thou my vision.

*From Mister God, This is Anna, a sweet, brilliant book by Fynn, published in 1974 and reissued in 1996.



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