Blog - Joyful Curmudgeon - Blog
A Mary T. Hoffman Commentary from All-Creatures.org

 

"Joyful Curmudgeon" An oxymoron?
No! I see all the beauty of God's creation and I'm joyful.  At the same time, I see all the suffering and corruption going on in the world, and feel called to help expose and end it so that we may have true peace and compassion.

 

---

Nature – 14 April 2007
By Mary T. Hoffman

This poem, “To a Daisy” by Alice Meynell, along with other poems about nature, brings to mind two Bible passages: 1 Corinthians 13:12-13 and Romans 1:20. (See below)

TO A DAISY By Alice Meynell (1847-1922)

Slight as thou art, thou art enough to hide Like all created things, secrets from me, And stand a barrier to eternity, And I, how can I praise thee well and wide

From where I dwell – upon the hither side? Thou little veil for so great mystery, When shall I penetrate all things and thee, And then look back? For this I must abide,

Till thou shalt grow and fold and be unfurled Literally between me and the world. Then shall I drink from in beneath a spring,

And from a poet’s side shall read his book. O daisy mine, what will it be to look From God’s side even of such a simple thing?

The poet’s question “O daisy mine, what will it be to look From God’s side even of such a simple thing?” made me think of 1 Corinthians 12-13, where the Apostle Paul reminds us that as long as we are in this imperfect world, we are limited in how much we can understand. He tells us that the time will come when we will “know fully.”

12. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.

13. But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

In Romans 1:20 Paul tells us that God makes Himself known by His creation; therefore, there is no excuse for unrighteousness, including the causing of pain and suffering.

20. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

See also:
http://www.all-creatures.org/poetrydir.html

Go on to: Spring Snow – 15 April 2007
Return to: Friday the Thirteenth – 13 April 2007
Return to: Blog - Main Page
Return to: Archive - By Date
Return to: Archive - By Subject

See Readers Comments