The World is Full of Magic Things

Posted March 28, 2023

“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” —W.B. Yeats

Perhaps it was being immersed in the wisdom of Celtic spirituality after two sessions of our Beyond Thin Places Series or it was the beauty of spring, but I felt a deep sense of connection or resonance when I read the quote above by Irish poet W. B. Yeats.

And after learning about the devastation from tornadoes last week and another horrific shooting yesterday, it feels like a lifeline to hope and joy-filled possibilities.

While we can’t control the weather or people around us, we can seek to enhance our inner and physical senses to find the magic each day. I am reminded of another beloved quote:

“Alice laughed. ‘There’s no use trying,’ she said. ‘One can’t believe impossible things.’ ‘I daresay you haven’t had much practice,’ said the Queen. ‘When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.'”

—Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

What senses can you use or what impossible things might you consider today to experience some magic things? And how might this discovery of God’s magic enhance your ability to offer comfort and support to those suffering?May the world delight in you and you in the world today, as you open to the magic all around you.

Boy dressed as a super hero in a park on a sunny day

Imagination

“Imagination is the true magic carpet.”
—Norman Vincent Peale

The Magic of Your Foot

“Think of the magic of that foot, comparatively small, upon which your whole weight rests. It’s a miracle, and the dance is a celebration of that miracle.”
–Martha Graham

Morning Poem

Every morning
the world
is created.
Under the orange

sticks of the sun
the heaped
ashes of the night
turn into leaves again

and fasten themselves to the high branches—
and the ponds appear
like black cloth
on which are painted islands

of summer lilies.
If it is your nature
to be happy
you will swim away along the soft trails

for hours, your imagination
alighting everywhere.
And if your spirit
carries within it

the thorn
that is heavier than lead—
if it’s all you can do
to keep on trudging—

there is still
somewhere deep within you
a beast shouting that the earth
is exactly what it wanted—

each pond with its blazing lilies
is a prayer heard and answered
lavishly,
every morning,

whether or not
you have ever dared to be happy,
whether or not
you have ever dared to pray.

—Mary Oliver, New and Selected Poems, Beacon Press