After sitting with today’s readings, I sat back and exclaimed, “Wow!”  God has and continues to shower us with so many gifts.  Gifts that I so often disregard or take for granted such as my family or gorgeous sunsets or sand hill cranes.  I just get so caught up in my life and work, I forget to look up and marvel at a spiral of birds drifting over my head.  Or to thank God for my health which makes it possible for me to enjoy my family along with giving me the strength to follow my passion.

Unfortunately, I suspect that I am not alone in missing many of the wonders in my life and in our world.  And yet, God keeps on giving to us even though today’s Psalms says: “For God knows how we are formed….and remembers we are dust.”  Such generosity for “dust”! 

Maybe today’s readings are trying to remind me that my life will be brief even though I mostly overlook that reality.  St. Gertrude the Great wrote:

“Even when I was leading my unproductive, peaceless life, You were thinking thoughts of peace towards me and not of pain.  You were lifting me up with your countless generous gifts, as though I were better than any other mortal, and my life on earth were one of angelic innocence.  What am I, my God, love of my heart? I’m not like you. I’m just a tiny drop of your goodness, while You’re an ocean of gentleness.”

This passage brought me back to the first reading about what God gave us as humans:  “...power over all things…counsel…an inventive heart… knowledge of the spirit…” plus filled our hearts with wisdom.  Pretty extravagant, especially for “dust”.

So, going back to St. Gertrude, what am I going to do as a “tiny drop of God’s goodness”?  How can I live my life cognizant of God’s unstinting gifts to me?  What choices can I make that demonstrate God’s unfailing goodness to me?   These questions made me remember the second reading where Jesus states:  “..whoever does not accept the Kingdom of God like a child will not enter it.”    Children can so exuberant, spontaneously sharing what they have and their delight in the smallest details.  I remember sitting down on the sidewalk with my daughter as she squatted by an anthill and watched in fascination all their goings on.  Children are not weighted down by the baggage of adult life and can more easily see the marvels in the world around them. 

For the next few minutes, think about unleashing your gratefulness about God’s great love for you.  Maybe that could inspire all of us “tiny drops of God’s goodness” to join together and become a tsumani that used our individual gifts to diminish the suffering and misery we see.  Think of all the peace and joy our united “tiny drops” could generate in our struggling world.  Plus it could help us become like children again…seeing the wonders of our amazing world and delighting in our ability to share God’s goodness and mercy to those who so desperately need it.