Volunteer Missionary Movement (VMM-USA)    |     home

                           05.30.06  Tuesdays Reflection

JOY

Let the hills and the plains tremble,

Let the silent sky be shattered

With my cry!

Let the hot stones stir

Beneath my feet

And the startled lizard

Lie transfixed-attentive and amazed-

At the sound of my call.

Let the black desert beetle

Scuttle and hide in new-discovered fear!

Let the mountain birds swoop

Into the darkened crevice of the rocks

As my lonely voice

Breaks and shatters the desert's solitude.

Cry-cry-aloud my voice!

Before it let the mountains crumble,

Let the heavy desert heat be swallowed up

In the breath of the child that cries

Aloud to the God of heaven!

Cry, cry my voice!

Conquer and master the dry, lonely desert.

Drink the solitude, absorb the silence,

And look upon your God.

Hush-be still-

Let the voice fall and be swallowed

In the hot white sands.

For God speaks-

The voice of God unfolds

Like a gentle mantle

On the desert plains-

The voice of God

Strokes the mighty mountains,

Embraces-envelops

The child-alone and wandering

On the great plain.

The voice of God

Penetrates the sun-red rocks

And reaches to the roots

Of the brave desert flower.

Then the child-

Mighty crier,

Bows and falls before her God.

And the voice-now a whisper-

Gasps before the Wondrous Presence;

The heavens are silenced,

The vast desert listens-suspended,

The desert creatures hide and crouch

Beneath their rocks.

And the voice-the tiny voice

Of the child

Fades

Before the all-absorbing glory,

And the gentle stroke

Of a mighty, mighty God.

Psalms of a Laywoman

Edwina Gateley