Yardwork Do not rush to mow the lawn, dear-- The bees are on the clover blooms; A Cabbage White drinks from a dandelion. Are they not angels too? Is their feeding not holy? And all we have to do is do nothing-- The Kingdom is at hand! Placed in motion at the onset of creation-- aren't they flying on God’s own breath? Do you think they Remember him too, my love? Do not rush to free us from the weeds, dear. Wasn't our Sin grasping tidy lies, Rather than God's wild abandon? AW, 6.14.2021
In his book Unmasking the Powers theologian and biblical scholar Walter Wink makes a very convincing case that this intuition about the inherent sacredness of creation is precisely what sacred texts are pointing toward when they speak of “angels.” An angel, Wink believed, is the inner spirit or soul of a thing. When we honor the “angel” or soul of a thing, we respects its inner spirit. And if we learn how to pay attention to the soul of things–to see the “angels” of elements, animals, the earth, water, and skies–then we can naturally work our way back through the Great Chain of Being to the final link, whom many call God. Don’t waste your time deconstructing your primitive believe about pretty, winged creatures in flowing pastel dresses. If you do so, you are seriously missing the point on what they are pointing to. We need to reconstruct, and not just continue to deconstruct. Then you will see angels everywhere.
Richard Rohr, The Universal Christ (New York: Convergent Books, 2019).
Note: The Cabbage White is a small and common butterfly that originated in Europe and Asia. Because of its plain appearance, people often mistake it for a moth. Read more good info here.
Beautiful.