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    A photograph by Alisa Anton of a bunch of sunflowers, a mug of coffee, and some brownies on a wooden table.

    Poem: The Kinship of Ordinary Things

    By Todd Outcalt

    January 19, 2017
    3 Comments
    3 Comments
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    • Catherine L.Peterson

      What an insightful poem!

    • Larry Wayman

      Such a wonderfully "ordinary" poem. It says in so few words, the many words I will be using in my sermon tomorrow and during the days to come in my "ordinary times." Thank you!

    • Erna Albertz, Plough.com

      Outcalt writes, "God grants his favor in another’s face." When and where have you experienced this working of God in your life through another?

    One day you will be at home
    Reading a book perhaps
    Or sorting laundry at midnight
    When a friend may call with a dilemma
    Or ask your advice with a problem

    And one word will lead to another
    There in the kinship of ordinary things
    In the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee
    Or the sweetness of freshly-folded towels
    Where love meets at these intersections

    This is of course the true course
    From which all of life springs
    And from which our sadnesses gift
    The world with inexpressible joy
    And into which we are baptized

    Only let us seek them out as one
    Prepared for the inevitable grace
    Of quiet walks or the mirror image
    Of our solitary talks through which
    God grants his favor in another’s face

     

     

     

     

     

    brownies, coffee and sunflowers
    3 Comments
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