Transcript for March 14, 2010 by Mary Ackerson

I watched a boy dance this week – a “big” boy, a street-toughened,
watching-out-for-my-little-sister kind of boy, dirt-smudged in tattered hand-me-down clothes and the wrong-sized shoes – a boy whose hazel eyes betray a life of hidden grown-up secret worry

I watched this boy dance…this big boy …On a sun-kissed day when jackets are tossed
aside, he spotted a flower – no, the promise of a flower – pale green daffodil
leaves stretching toward the sun – he spotted a promise…and he danced.

I watched this boy dance – freckled cheeks plumped by smile, eyes crinkled in innocent
delight, he danced and he ran…he leapt, he explored – like a butterfly, he skipped
from sprout to sprout, uninhibited and childlike, he yelled, “Come see! Come see what I found!”

I watched this boy dance this week, I watched him dance, and I cried…

For what a wonder is life…what a miracle, hope…we live on a rock, a giant rock
twirling through space, buffered by a mere blanket of air, warmed by nuclear rays
from a ball of fire, we live on a rock, it seems impossible, ridiculous, yet
we survive, we live, we die, we weep,
we laugh, we dance, we thrive…

Resilient and fragile, fleeting and infinite, clinging like lichen on alpine rocks, we move
forward, propelled by what? By hope, by love? By passion, by touch?

Divine breath, life force, gifts us with everyday miracles – a needed smile from a
stranger, a brilliant red cardinal feeding his mate, a string of sunshiny days, a
Skyped baby wave from a distant grandchild, gnarled hands on a
crocheting grandmother, Spring Break laughter time with college
youth, the persistent emergence of new green leaves, the dance of a boy.

And so this day as we gather here sheltered from wind-whipped gray moist air, may we be embraced,
as a thawing, softening earth welcomes snowmelt and supports fledgling
greens, may we be encouraged,
as life wrestles with earthquake and war, fear and need, may we be emboldened,
as we rush through life’s daily tasks may we be surprised by joy

May we breathe, may we dance…