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.