Unwrap the Gifts

Unwrap the Gifts

The gloom of the world

is but a shadow.

Behind it, yet within reach,

is joy.

There is radiance and glory

in the darkness,

could we but see,

and to see,

we have only to look.

I beseech you to look.

Life is so generous a giver,

but we,

judging its gifts by their covering,

cast them away as ugly,

or heavy, or hard.

Remove the covering,

and you will find beneath it

a living splendor,

woven of love,

by wisdom,

with power...

Everything we call a trial,

a sorrow or a duty,

believe me...

the gift is there,

and all the wonder

of an overshadowing presence.

Our joys too:

be not content with them

as joys.

They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

~Fra Giovanni

1513 A.D.