Sunday's End, with Carolina Wren

Toward the last of this plein air Sunday in late September,
twilight washes sky, clouds, trees, and earth nearer night;
thus end of day, said to be good, very good, dawn to dusk.
Close to the darkening house, just beyond a still-open door,
a Carolina wren flutters the hydrangea, watercolors the air
with brief song, with after-tones of first palette and wet paper.

Stuff as Miracle

Compare Joshua 5:10-12. In this brief passage is recounted the cessation of the provision of manna to the people of Israel after they crossed the Jordan and celebrated the passover on the plains of Jericho. From that point on they ate the ordinary produce of the land.

The real miracle is the mundane stuff of existence -- indeed, existence itself. Things of the ordinary are God's "supernatural" provision for us -- daily given, without spectacle. Any other act of God in, through, and for creation -- in, through, and for us -- is simply miracle upon what is already miracle.