The Excesses of Grace

The Excesses of Grace

(“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4)

The scent of delight is close but so much
brighter than
the waft from the candy shop; the taffy and fudge
that capture
your senses. Inhalation excites a dozen
memories
for each unassuming boardwalker; a dozen
unique memories for each; a dozen people,
over 100 memories; and all are private, captured
within the treasure chest where time has stashed each
best reverie away.

My nose leads me in, my eyes take in each striped
candy pulled to perfection; bonbons and truffles
hand-rolled like miniature museum pieces under glass.
I hear the twirl of children with the best view of the
finest pieces at their eye-level. Licorice ropes and
all-day suckers bigger than the faces of toddlers making
handprints on the display-case windows. I cannot choose,
but age and weight conspire against gluttony; I chose three,
(dozen) of my favorites (I shall not return for some months
to come).

The scent of heaven, the glory of faith-and-love’s sweet glacé,
is brighter than the light invented before suns and stars
lit the stage of creation. The delight of Father-love consumes
my passions, abides within and without my senses and
satisfies more deeply,
gratifies completely the cravings of every memory and later,
celebration and failure so I cannot consume too often
the excesses of grace. Here I am again hungry; without money,
fascinated by the free dessert offered my undeserving soul.