Great souls pay much attention to little things.”
I love the story about St. Francis de Sales who while looking upon a beautiful rose cried out: “Stop shouting at me!” The beauty of God was so evident, so tangible, so manifest in the beauty of a rose.
A saint looks upon beauty with the eyes of his soul. Keeping this in mind, after having a discussion about it just yesterday, Sr. John-Mark and I went out to walk the dogs. And the Lord was wooing us with with the beauty of His creation. Thankfully, He gave us eyes to see and a voice to say “thanks”.
The first thing we noticed was our slightly bent but utterly lovely flowering pear tree. Just seeing this tree still so skinny and fragile, filled with buds, was a beautiful manifestation of how – in our weakness – He adorns us with His beauty. Examining the buds closer, we saw this little hummingbird posing for a picture. STOP SHOUTING AT ME!
Traveling a few steps further we came to our flowering apricot tree. Now, folks, we have had a few hard freezes this year, and this tree was already struggling to survive his first year. We had begun to despair for this little guy, when low and behold…the stick blossomed, beautiful lovely pink and white blossoms. 
What an awesome reminder that we must never despair! We must always have HOPE! STOP SHOUTING AT ME.
What Sister and I both marveled at as we made our way back to the house was how easy it would have been to just walk right past those two marvels and miss those moments of grace, those moments of beauty.
Our days may not be filled with ‘super-size’ graces (for instance: being knocked off our horse, as was St Paul, and hearing the voice of our Lord calling us to repentance!).
But if we look upon the beauty that is before us, noticing the wee little ways that God speaks to us in that still small voice, then before long He will be SHOUTING to us from something as simple as a blossoming tree, as a smile from a friend, as the smell of rain in the desert. Our days will be filled with moments of grace and union.
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“Stop shouting at me!”
There is much beauty in the world if one cares to look Sr. as you have pointed out, but sadly as many of us grow older the joys and exuberance of youth begin to taper away, and the world and its many trappings, thorns entangle the heart. When Jesus took it upon himself a crown of thorns did he not bear the weight of such things.
“I love the story about St. Francis de Sales who while looking upon a beautiful rose cried out: “Stop shouting at me!” The beauty of God was so evident, so tangible, so manifest in the beauty of a rose”
I came across this blog.. or was brought here by good grace, seeking spiritual inspiration. To find a better heart that blossom. I write poetry in my spare time, some of it spiritual in nature and in light of this particular article I would like to share this piece with you called The Crooked Rose, if I may.
“Great souls pay much attention to little things.”
The crooked rose the nettles do despise
and weeds choke and poke your beautiful arise.
To grab the earth in life and son soak;
that crooked rose, insignificant yet a glimmer of hope.
The wind comes to play; gracefully you dance;
a bee in trance; perfume & romance.
Your little petals grace the ground
and yet this day you may decay
your seeds will see another day;
In breath to take away;
come in bloom; your darling buds of May
broke my arm and found this very uplifting…..thanks so much. I have surgery tomorrow-please pray
Sue, know of our prayers for a successful surgery and quick recovery!