A Prayer in Spring

Nikolai Astrup, "Apple Trees in Bloom"

A Prayer in Spring

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers to-day;

And give us not to think so far away

As the uncertain harvest; keep us here

All simply in the springing of the year.

Oh, give us pleasure in the orchard white,

Like nothing else by day, like ghosts by night;

And make us happy in the happy bees,

The swarm dilating round the perfect trees.

And make us happy in the darting bird

That suddenly above the bees is heard,

The meteor that thrusts in with needle bill,

And off a blossom in mid air stands still.

For this is love and nothing else is love,

The which it is reserved for God above

To sanctify to what far ends He will,

But which it only needs that we fulfil.

Robert Frost

There are too many worries crowding in. What's going to happen? What can I do about this problem? And what if  that happens? My head is spinning. And yet there's nothing I can do. I can't make anything better by worrying. All I can do is surrender it up, and pray, and move forward into the day and the things and events and people in it. In fact, I might as well enjoy what there is to enjoy right here in front of me. "Keep us here." Yes, please, here, where the leaves are greening, the garden is filling in, here, now.