The Peace of Wild Things

"When despair grows in me and I wake in the middle of the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with fore thought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting for their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free".

~Wendell Berry~


Wendell Berry has been significant source of encouragement for me in recent years. He's a poet, a prophet and a philosopher. Most of all, I find in him in a kindred spirit. The stress of last week brought to mind this simple poem. It's reminiscent of Jesus' teachings on the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. I was reminded that there is a "grace of the world" crafted in creation. If only we have eyes to see and the hunger to embrace it.