"This morning outside I stood
And saw a little red-winged bird
Shining like a burning bush
Singing like a scripture verse
It made me want to bow my head
and I remember when church let out
how things have changed since then,
everything is holy now.
It used to be a world half there,
heaven's second rate hand me downs.
I'm walking with a reverent air
cause everything's holy now."
~Peter Mayer
Yesterday morning I was rushing to make my early meeting. I had thrown everything I needed for a long day into my car and thought I was mentally and physically prepared for a full day. As I rounded the corner from my house, I headed down the hill that snakes along the Mississippi River. Winding down the bluffs I looked straight ahead determined to be attentive to the road, to my driving. But out of the corner of my eye, at eye level really, sitting in a grove of leafless bushes that line the road, a cardinal called to me. The brilliant red of his feathers against the dull brown we have come accustomed to in these March days called out for attention. His beauty brought me back to reality…. mind, body, spirit….the reality of this amazing creation of which I am such a tiny part.
That's when the words of Peter Mayer's song came to me. It was almost as if the cardinal itself was singing this lovely song, reminding me of the holiness I so often miss in my daily walk. Peter's message, that once he thought of what was 'holy' as just those things that happen on Sundays, at church, by specially designated people, has changed over his lifetime. Now he has the gift of seeing the presence of the Holy in all that exists, in the tiniest creature of God, as well as the symbols and sacred sites we have created. In fact, he says, the trick is to be able to see something that 'isn't' holy.
Opening ourselves to this kind of worldview has both gifts and challenges. Suddenly, we can't take anything for granted. Even the peskiest insect, the most annoying person, the seemingly most insignificant action takes on new meaning when we choose to recognize that the Holy is in even these. Walking the world with 'sacred eyes' also allows us to celebrate each interaction, each emerging bud, every smiling face, every landscape for the gift it is.
I guess it is a life choice which we can each make. We can store up our holy thoughts, our sacred words, our prayers, our affirmations and use them on Sundays or when we go to church or wherever we worship. Or we can wake up each morning and allow the first thing we see to be the beginning of the prayer that continues without ceasing,every hour, every minute, every moment, as we dance with the Spirit through the mundane and the majesty of what the day holds.
As for me, today I'm going to try walking with a reverent air. How does that sound to you?