Matthew 5:8 reads “You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”

How to we get our insides right? With this kind of forced monasticism and with the many social issues coming to a head, for certain we are being given a chance to examine our hearts and minds. What this beatitude teaches us is that the inside and the outside become nearly seamless as we become able to see the sacred within and without.

The poem I read is an epitaph in the book The Body of God, by Sallie McFague. It was transcribed from the mouth of a four-and-a-half year old named Danu Baxter.

Goodnight God
I hope that you are having
a good time in the world.
I like the world very much.
I’m glad yo made the plants
and trees survive with the
rain and summers.
When summer is nearly near
the leaves begin to fall.
I hope you have a good time
being the world.
I like how God feels around everyone in the world.
God, I am very happy that
I live on you.
Your arms clasp around the world.
I like you and your friends.
Every time I open my eyes
I see the gleaming sun.
I like the animals—the deer,
and us creatures of the world,
the mammals.
I love my dear friends.

Thanks for joining us—we’ll “see” you Sunday.