View From Inner Space
I had looked at it as over as I drifted to old age,
But that did not factor Bondar and the turning of her page;
She went on a routine mission whirled a few times round the earth,
What she viewed outside her window gave to her a second birth.One cannot forget a journey on the Shuttle for a ride,
For it gives a view of homeland from a new and distant side;
So it is for us in aging as we cross that middle point,
There’s a vision that’s awaiting which will destinies anoint.We can’t really see it coming as we wander down life’s road,
We have need of open mindset not too clustered with a load
Of our memories, trophies, failures, views from others on our path –
So the grace of God can carry us to second birth at last.I saw change of tense in poem ’bout “Eight Hours In A Day”
To spend photographing people – scenes of work and time to play –
But the problem “was not grasping with a firmness that’s required
All the beauty that surrounds us” ’specially since I am now retired.So, O Lord, I need your vision as I look around my world;
And I need a new perspective, not from when my life was whirled;
I could use a ride like Bondar several times around the globe,
Then perhaps I’d have perspective which could carry photo-load.Maybe it’s already happened and I missed Your view for me;
Maybe I was just so busy I did not look out and see
Many miles below our spacecraft as we whirled across the sky,
Simple beauty as I looked out never asking things like, “Why?”Lord, please open up my vision to Your message meant for me;
Help me be alert to changes in a world I cannot see;
Open up my view of others let me come into their lives;
And then open up my sensing of the worlds where they reside.Maybe that’s the place to start out on this journey of eight hours:
Being open to the heartache and the joyousness that’s ours;
Help me give a moment’s focus to the people in my life,
Most especially my children, and grandchildren, and my wife.navigation