Dearly Beloved,
Grace and Peace to you.
In the woods, the smallest fingers of green
emerge from within.
What has seemed dead wood exults.
The little greenings are incarnations
of an eternal force, divine presence,
angels of a mighty heaven hidden within all things.
God is not some guy out there pulling strings to make things happen. God is the force of life within you, welling up to blossom and bear fruit. God does not coerce, control or punish, or “judge” from some high throne. God lives in you and gives life, like the power that lives in the grass and trees that are turning green.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) made up a word for it: viriditas, or “greening power.” It is God’s life-giving, creating energy, evident in all creation. She says, “The Word is all verdant greening, all creativity.” We are “showered with greening refreshment, the vitality to bear fruit.” When we are “shriveled and wilted” Christ brings “lush greenness” to us. “Greening love hastens to the aid of all. With the passion of heavenly yearning, people who breathe of this dew produce rich fruit.”
Let God give you life: rising, strengthening, increasing in grace and beauty. Be still, and sense this Spring rising in you, this power of divine grace transforming all things, this almighty, eternal, indomitable life swelling, promising, blossoming, bearing fruit within you. Let God green in you.
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve
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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
unfoldinglight(at)hotmail.com