Magic Moments

Have you had a moment when out of the blue, you suddenly feel an overwhelming sense of well being … a warm tingling glow that washes through you and you feel invincible; you feel how wonderful it is to be alive; that you were meant to be who you are, at this very moment in time – you know that you have a purpose; that you are loved. Then it disappears, and you look around and think what on earth was that about?  But the memory remains with you for a time and nothing seems a problem for just a little while.  It has been many years since I have felt that.

 Strangely it has happened twice when I have been surrounded by school work, or planning lessons and just when I’ve felt the ‘hopelessness’ of it all (based on a feeling of inadequacy and fear of not being ‘quite good enough’ as a teacher), suddenly this wonderful feeling has come over me.  The lessons were planned easily after that! Perhaps it was the 'universe' saying … “don’t give up ... you are doing the very best you can, at this time in your life.” A wee lift in spirits when there is no one else to turn to … from deep inside yourself comes that bit of encouragement and love.

(more thoughts ...)

Magic moments. It is a bit like when you fall in love. The world is your oyster ... you feel you can do anything with this feeling of unconditonal love charging all your senses. Everything becomes sharper and more beautiful ... colours are so much brighter. Every lyric on the radio seems to sing and speak to you.  It reminds me of when I discovered I needed glasses ... I had no idea that what I was seeing, was not what others could see. Until I put on my new glasses. It was like magic. The sense of wonder those lenses brought to my vision - I could see faces across the street. I could read the small print on signs.  It brought life back into focus.  Perhaps that is what unconditional love does for you ... it opens your eyes to a little bit of magic, that you hadn't realised existed. Even the 'ordinary' things of life can be seen in a different light, if you are willing to look.

 I read a poem by Joy Cowley the other day.  She is one of my favourite writers for children here in New Zealand. I hadn’t discovered her poetry until now, and this one was in an anthology of spiritual poems by New Zealanders, “Spirit in a Strange Land: a selection of New Zealand spiritual verse,” edited by Paul Morris, Harry Ricketts & Mike Grimshaw.

 JOY COWLEY

Nativity

Look now! It is happening again! Love like a high spring
tide is swelling to fullness and overflowing the banksof our small concerns.

And here again is the star, that white flame of truth blazing
the way for us through a desert of tired ways.

Once more comes the music, angel song that lifts
our hearts and tunes our ears to the harmony of the universe,making us wonder how we ever could have forgotten.

And now the magi within us gathers up gifts of goldand myrrh, while that other part of ourselves, the impulsive,reckless shepherd, runs helter skelter with armsoutstretched to embrace the wonder of it all.

We have no words to contain our praise. We ache withawe, we tremble with miracle, as once again, in the smallrough stable of our lives, Christ is born.


I love this poem also which so beautifully expresses those 'magic moments.'

Dora Hagmeyer
Ecstasy


To-day I could move mountains with my joy!
Could drink the golden liquid of the sun
Or stride the sky, or wilder means employ
To shout to heaven my gladness as I run.
I am stretched out to endless space and time,
There is no distance where I cannot be;
The stars behind the starry fields sublime
Are but the marrow and the flesh of me.
There is no measure made for me to-day -
 A universe has opened in my soul!
I feel me not a part of worlds at play
But strangely and convincingly the whole.
Who knows but some bright shaft fro God's hand given
Has split my mind and poured it full of heaven?