Littlest Flowers of God

The poem is a mere six lines long. At a glance, it seems like a silly little thing. A poem that might be as easily overlooked as the little flower that inspired the poem.

Flower in the crannied wall,
I pluck you out of the crannies,
I hold you here, root and all, in my hand,
Little flower-but if I could understand
What you are, root and all, and all in all,
I should know what God and man is.

It's Tennyson at is his finest. At least that's what I think. Scholars might not agree. But I believe the poem expresses an important truth - several truths really. There is a God. He created all that we see, and all that we cannot see. We are seeking and sometimes finding.

But it is in the tiniest of life that we see the Hand of God most clearly - if we are willing to look closely. Consider the baby in the womb. This child is a clue. That God exists. That He creates. That there is great wonder and mystery in all life, because all life is God-breathed.

But if we "pluck" that life "out of the crannies" and toss it into a trash can, we will not see. We will not understand. We will not have the epiphany that the poet has had. We will never know the truth of "God and Man" and we might even continue to think that the whole question is "above our pay grade" when really, even poets like Tennyson know that it isn't above their pay grade to ponder the Hand of God in the creation of even a little flower. It is, perhaps, the most important question we ask ourselves. Who made me? When does life begin? Where does it come from? These are the questions we must ask. These are the questions that God will answer. If we really take a close look at that little life.

St. Therese, Little Flower of God, pray for us - and for the most vulnerable among us.

Littlest Flowers of God