Skip to footer

Green pastures

The past year has been marked by pandemic-related hardship and tragedy, but also by the resilience, hope, and light that have shone through in so many ways. “Whatever uptick or downturn, surge / or dark day,” our divine Shepherd is here to impart peace, safety, rest – that’s the promise this poem highlights, inspired by the “green pastures” imagery of the Bible’s 23rd Psalm.

  • By Elizabeth Mata

Christian Science Perspective audio edition
Loading the player...

It looks perfectly sheared, this
tender grass that stretches out
before me beginning to clothe
the earth, yet, in winter. Not even
frosty nights can stop it. Basking
in this fledgling green field, I felt
suddenly an unspent freshness
– a thriving this scene hints at –
sweep over me.

Soft urging of divine Love, gracious
Shepherd, God, leads me to lie down
in green pastures of spiritual reality
– to feel our God-given peace and
safety and rest. Leads me, leads all
of us, every moment – not coercively
but because of what we are: the exact
expression of Love’s boundless good.

Whatever uptick or downturn, surge
or dark day, our Shepherd’s care brims
with all that satisfies and tucks us into
Love’s pasture.

Reflecting on the “green pastures” of Psalm 23.

Some more great ideas! To hear a podcast discussion about the blessings of praying about world issues, please click through to the latest edition of Sentinel Watch on www.JSH-Online.com. There is no paywall for this podcast.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
Subscribe
QR Code to Green pastures
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2021/0311/Green-pastures
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe