“Morning Has Broken”

The day dawns, wet from three days of rain and still a bit cloudy.  The squirrels can be seen from my study window, burying their winter food in the lawn and flowerbeds.  The spiderwebs on the shrubbery glisten with raindrops.  Yes, and the crickets sing in the garage.  A new day is born!

For some folk, elsewhere on this globe, it is still dark and morning has not yet come.  For still others this day has already been experienced and evening is close at hand.    We live on the same earth, but in different time zones.  My brother and sister (and spouses) are in Italy for a week or two—it is already mid-afternoon there.  Our friends on the West Coast sleep.  What a fascinating earth—different time zones, different languages, different climates, different in so many ways—and yet this day will dawn for all in its time.

I wonder if on some distant planet, someone, just like me or maybe quite different, is looking out a window and watching squirrels bury their winter horde or enjoying the glistening spiderwebs?  We live on earth, but we are a part of a universe, and, who knows, there may be others out there in this vast unknown expanse of planets, stars, and galaxies.

This wonder causes me to wonder.  Who came up with the word “Uni-verse” to describe this vast expanse?  “Uni” means “One,” or “Unity.” Why wasn’t it called a “Multi-verse” instead?  “Multi” meaning “many?”  We use the word “diversity” these days to denote the “many” or the “differences” (either in a reproachful way or in a positive way) in our society and our world.  Why not change our word “Uni-verse” to “Di-verse?”

Could it be that the whole of creation is really a “Uni-verse,” because from the smallest atom to the farthest galaxy one will, one mind, one spirit holds everything together.  Is Love at the heart of all things?  I don’t know.  All I know is “Morning Has Broken” for me—and I know it will break open for all people (wherever they may be)  in its appointed time.