This is an excerpt from my favorite poem, about a glorious day in June, freely given for all to enjoy, just like God gives Himself to us freely:
“And what is so rare as a day in June?
Then, if ever, come perfect days...
“Now is the high-tide of the year,
And whatever of life hath ebbed away
Comes flooding back with a ripply cheer,
Into every bare inlet and creek and bay;
Now the heart is so full that a drop overfills it,
We are happy now because God wills it....
"Joy comes, grief goes, we know not how;
Everything is happy now,
Everything is upward striving;
'Tis as easy now for the heart to be true
As for grass to be green or skies to be blue,
'Tis for the natural way of living….”
James Russell Lowell
(Excerpted from “What Is So Rare as a Day in June,” from The Vision of Sir Launfal, by J.R. Lowell, Houghton, Mifflin and Co., 1896).
I love the imagery in the poem, and it is special to me because I first came to know God on a perfect June day, and the sky really did seem bluer and the grass greener, and it really was so easy to be happy. It was like the light of heaven was shining in me and it made everything on earth more beautiful to me. I didn’t even know what to call the wonderful, light feeling I had, but I found out it was the Holy Spirit filling me. James Russell Lowell’s poem brings me back to that same sense of joy and lightness, and I am reminded that the Holy Spirit is always within, the joy of eternity within, like a bit of perfect June day even in the most challenging times. Here is my own poem to God, in thanks for the gift of His life, realized on that perfect day in June:
You are so lovely!
Your gift is so free!
You come to me
Like a perfect June day
Like the sea filling up
Every inlet and bay.
You are my high tide
You fill up my life!
And every empty, lonely
And barren place
Is full of Your presence,
Your joy and Your grace.
You’re free like the fresh air
Like the dew on the grass
You make my world brighter
By just being in it
The grass greener, sky bluer
Life is bursting each minute.
With You all is joyful
And sorrow is gone
Life in Your Spirit
Is so easy and light
I love this new life with You
So sweet, fresh and bright!
“His Spirit already confirms within us the present evidence of eternity.”
2 Corinthians 5:5 (MIRROR)