This time of year, when spring arrives, I like to sit in our front yard amidst the blooming trees and the early sprouts of new life coming to our garden.  As I sit in the warmth of the sun, I like to read. 

This morning, I was reading through my daughter’s book of poems, When We Become Trees.  The poem is a collection of twenty-five years of poetry writing.  I was reading about her experience in Yelapa, Mexico. The poem is titled “Saying Grace & Gracias.” It is a poem about blessing everything in our lives, leaving nothing out from the impact of our blessings.

Bless the man hammering behind you. 

Bless the hammer and the hand.

Bless all who build.

Bless all who tear down,

        that they know the joy of shelter.

Bless the trees that give themselves to stand

        in new shapes: palapas, casas, and tiendas.

Bless the coconuts and bananas and those

        who harvest them.

Bless the mouths that taste and the stomachs that digest.

Bless your own mouth that it speak life.

Bless the dog with mange panting in the sun,

        the bird with a broken wing, the dead bee

        carried off by ants.

Bless the dead and the living.

Bless the sailors at anchor and those sailors at sea.

Bless the sea that carries you safely home.

Bless the fish and the ships, the rocks and the salt.

Bless the hands that pull ropes to docks

        and lift you from swaying ferries.

Bless those hands that return like recurring dreams.

Bless them as they’re holding, helping, building,

        feeding, steering, shaping. 

Bless all the hands and all the good they’ve yet to do.”

As I sat in the warmth of the sun while reading this poem, I was reminded to look more deeply into this life to see the things and people I need to bless that my casual, shallow first glance might overlook. Those blessings go beyond the surface warmth of the sun. That kind of warmth comes from our hearts when we see this life with the eyes of God.

One line from Anna’s poem seemed to sum it up: “Bless your own mouth that it speak life.” May our mouths speak life and blessing to those things that seem less important and less noticed in the hurried moments of life. When we become a person who blesses the little things, we will be transformed by the Lord to see what’s important to Him.