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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.

 


God Is Seen In Creation - 25 Mar 2006
By Mary T. Hoffman

Reading the following poem by William Wordsworth brings to mind Romans 1:20:

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.

(New American Standard Bible)

Lines Written in Early Spring By William Wordsworth (Composed and published in 1798)

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ‘tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure: –
But the least motion which they made,
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

True Christianity should open one’s eyes and touch the soul in much the same way as Wordsworth was affected by God’s creation. I don’t know about his faith, but I think Wordsworth had (and still has), through his poems, a lot to teach those who profess to be Christian, but who continue to cause pain and suffering to God’s creatures. Surely they, of all people, are “without excuse.”

In this poem, Wordsworth’s Lines in the second stanza,

“And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man”

and his closing lines,

“Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?”

say it all!  

Go on to: God's Cathedral - 26 Mar 2006
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