Tear in the Shade
Have you had the experience of only being able to see the bad things in life and not being able to see all the good and wonderful things? That seems to be a common human experience. It’s as though life is a tapestry and all we see is the misswoven tread in the corner rather than the wonderful design that life is. Poets sometimes say it best, and Jessica Powers, who was a Carmelite Sister who died in 1988, has a poem entitiled: The Tear in the Shade.
“I tore the new pale window shade with slightly
more than a half-inch tear.
I knew the Lady would be shocked to see
what I had done with such finality.
I went outside to lose my worry there.
Later when I came back into the room
it seemed that nothing but the tear was there.
There had been furniture, a rug, and pictures,
and on the table flowers in purple bloom.
It was amazing how they dwindled, dwindled,
and how the tear grew until it filled the room.”
When that happens to us of course, we don’t see the good things, the wonderful things, and hence we do not have grateful hearts. How can we see the purple bloom in the vase on the table if all we see is the tear in the shade? It’s all a matter of focus, focusing on the big picture and cultivating a grateful heart.
