Artist: Ermenegildo Antonio Donadini
I discovered the works of Langston Hughes when I was quite young - early teens, I'd say. I was moved, inspired, challenged and comforted by his verse. Hughes is the one who wrote "What happens to a dream deferred?" and "My soul has grown deep like the rivers," and "Let America be America again." Stirring stuff.
But today I found something of his I had not come across before:
Every thing there is but lovin' leaves a rust on your old soul.
It reminds me of those wonderful words of John of the Cross:
In the evening of life we shall be judged on love.
Love.
Love.
Let's not forget this great truth.
~~~
I try to put my two pence into the offering plate of love from time to time. The two pence do at times it seems weigh more heavily for the positive side of my soul than do the gold coins I tend to throw away on lesser things or even than the love I have withheld out of anger or spite weigh on the negative. It doesn't always feel that way, especially in the midst of the feeling of anger or spite. Yet, because I believe it is so, I have hope that it indeed is so. I suppose it to be somewhat like just continuing to put one foot in front of the other when thinking about the next step is too much to bear. I say this knowing full well that my small travails thus far pale in comparison to others who put much more in the plate of love than do I. But I believe God isn't about comparisons. And in that belief also I find hope.
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