Many thanks to Carol Varsalona for hosting today, and for offering the prompt of "Blossoming on the Spiritual Journey." Let's all keep Carol in our hearts as she has had a significant loss. She shared this poignant quote: "A world of grief and pain, flowers bloom—even then." --Kobayashi Issa
Following her prompt of blossoming, here are some spring photos from New Jersey:
I posted the following poem when I first started my blog, back in 2019, and today I decided to share it again. This is by John Neihardt, a Nebraska poet. I heard him recite this poem when he visited the college I attended way back in the day. The poem is so effusive, and when I see spring in New Jersey I see that same effusiveness in nature. It is titled "April Theology" but -- I hope you will agree that it works for May.
April Theology
O to be breathing and hearing and feeling and seeing!
O the ineffably glorious privilege of being!
All of the World’s lovely girlhood, unfleshed and made spirit,
Broods out in the sunlight this morning — I see it, I hear it!
So read me no text, O my Brothers, and preach me no creeds;
I am busy beholding the glory of God in His deeds!
Greetings! My garden has called me and I've already planted lettuce, salad turnips and sugar snap pea pods. All have germinated, but not at well as I would like, so yesterday I put in a few more seeds.
Growing a garden is a new experience every year. Some plants flourish, some are eaten by rabbits. Some perennials thrive, some are flooded out. It's always a challenge, and always carries some reward.
Two plants I'm pleased with just now are below. The pulmonaria at top, also called lungwort, pleases me every spring with its beautiful spotted leaves and purple flowers. This year I wrote a praise poem about it.
This poem is a form called kwansaba. It is a praise poem with 7 lines, 7 words per line, and 7 or fewer letters per word. The 7 letters per word was tricky and I had to adopt new words, or split words, as I did the word "lungwort."
The photo below is of my peperomia, which originally was given to me by my future husband a few months before we were married. It has had ups and downs over these 52 years, but this year it is glorious and I love it!
Gardening teaches patience and perseverance. It reminds me that life can be messy, and it forces me to get down on my knees. As I pull weeds and water my plants, I witness many blessings of the earth, and I marvel at the power of nature and the webs of interconnection. Gardening promotes respect for the earth, the importance of work and gratitude for each edible morsel. It helps me to appreciate beauty and accept its ephemerality. Each plant has its own family, habit of growth, weaknesses, and needs for flourishing. Keeping track of the names of plants both challenges and fascinates me. Gardens are full of surprises. Two years ago a tiny deep blue liatris showed up under my peony! I have put liatris in pots in the past, but hadn't seen one in some years. What a joy! Gardens and growing things are continual blessings, and upon consideration, I believe lessons from the garden are endless.
The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God's heart in a garden,
Than anywhere else on earth.
These words are from the poem "God's Garden" by Dorothy Frances Gurney, born in 1858.
I can't leave without a song or two, since SONG is my OLW for 2024. Here's a cute one I just found, perfect for a little one.
And here's one I learned years ago. There are many videos of this song, but I chose Pete Seeger's because his words are a little different, like a personal prayer.
Thanks to Jone Rush MacCulloch for the prompt this month, and for hosting the Spiritual Journey Thursday group. Find Jone and links to others in the group HERE.
I turn 75 next month. Three quarters of a century! At times it feels like crazy talk, but of course it is true. I have the documentation. (Tiny chuckle inserted here.)
Life is slowing. I was reminded this summer when I overdid getting some chores done and felt several subsequent repercussions. I had to slow down and rest. Just rest. Time to be still and trust. Be still and listen. Be still and know...
What came of it? A lesson in patience. These are a constant need for me. A lesson in gratitude when I began to feel better, when I found some helpful hints on how to go forward. Gratitude for the ability to search and to learn. Gratitude for a body ready to go again. And a lesson in paying attention to my physical self and taking time to take care. Another constant need.
For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven... Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8
No matter the speed, grace continues to offer the best surprises. In the middle of CostCo recently, a little girl shrieked and I looked up. Our eyes met and she gave me the most knowing and beautiful smile that a tiny child could give. Yes! You got my attention. And for that moment of time, we shared a bit of humor that brightened my day.
Seasons come and seasons go. Each day is a chance to identify works of grace (in our church we call them God sightings), to celebrate, explore, find beauty, share laughter, give thanks.
Here are some images of beauty and grace in my world.
Delicious beefsteak tomatoes from my garden
I'm trying a couple of fall crops this year... a hopeful venture.
Spider flowers/cleome reseed year after year. Summer ends "in the pink!"
While walking I found this blossom in the midst of wreckage
Peperomia at summer's end.
My peperomia looks so healthy now after breathing in the summer's air and light. I'll bring it in for the winter and it will bring me beauty and joy all winter long.
Thanks to Patricia Franz for this prompt and for hosting this month.
Thanks to Dave Roller for hosting our Spiritual Journey this month. Find his post and links to other Spiritual Journey posts HERE.
In a spurt of energy, with the beauty and renewal of spring as my prompt, I stepped into a number of activities that have required a lot of energy. I borrowed an historical exhibit for our town that ended up being way bigger than I realized. I added a little to my garden. I joined a weekly prayer group. Tomorrow a big landscaping job will begin in our front yard. And I agreed to plan and lead the craft sessions at our Vacation Bible School.
What on earth was I thinking? I could write of optimism, but I think there's a better word: Hope. I hoped I could do these things. Age and stage make a mark, but hope keeps me going, and hope is a beautiful thing.
My garden whispers hope every day...
In choir we sing: My hope is in the Lord, who gave himself for me...
And then I came upon this poem by Lisel Mueller:
Hope
It hovers in dark corners
before the lights are turned on,
it shakes sleep from its eyes
and drops from mushroom gills,
it explodes in the starry heads
of dandelions turned sages,
it sticks to the wings of green angels
that sail from the tops of maples.
***
It is the singular gift
we cannot destroy in ourselves,
the argument that refutes death,
the genius that invents the future,
all we know of God.
Read the entire poem and enjoy Tom Petty's beautiful music HERE.
During Covid, someone left this gift on my doorstep...
Romans 5:5
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
I am thankful for the hope and the energy that has stood me in good stead. Hope is a thing of beauty. I hope you find its beauty also.
Life has been a whirlwind lately, so this is my first post of 2023, writing with my Spiritual Journey writing group. Thanks to Margaret Simon for organizing our group, and for providing this lovely new logo:
Our group tradition has been to choose One Little Word as our spiritual companion for the year. I've decided on "beauty" as my word for 2023. I've been interested in the concept of beauty for some years, and it finally came to me that perhaps beauty has a spiritual component. Beauty comes in many forms, and it fascinates me how our concept has changed over time, and also that we each have an individual sense of it. I hope I can find a way to tie the concept of beauty to my spiritual practice.
One of my loves is young children, and I find great beauty in their innocence and joy. I hope you can indulge me as I share just a few of my friends and family.
I remember a story, I think from Madeline L'Engle: A young child, maybe 3 or 4 years old, wanted to be left alone with the new baby in the family. Her parents were nervous, afraid the older sibling might be jealous of the new baby, and might do harm. When the parents finally allowed the older child to be alone with the baby, they watched as she sat with the new one, studying the newborn. Later the parents asked why she had needed to be alone with the baby. "I was forgetting what God was like."
To see the beauty of God in a child is just one of many ways we experience beauty. We feel the beauty of spirit when we noticecourage, love, patience, self-control, kindness and more.
1 Peter 3:4 encourages us:
Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in.
Of course we also see beauty in the world, in music, in art, and in many unexpected places.
So, I hope to continue sharing my year with beauty, and I hope that each of you will share your responses and sources of beauty as we go along.
"One is constantly reminded of the lavishness and fertility of nature..." - John Muir
Thanksgiving on the Farm
O, the farm was bright,
Thanksgiving morn
With its stacks of hay and
shocks of corn,
Its pumpkin heaps in the rambling shed,
And its apples brown and green and red;
And in the cellar, the winter store,
In bins that were filled and running o’er
With all the things that a farm could
keep /
In barrel and bin and goodly heap,
Hung to the rafters and hid away—
O the farm was a pleasant place to stay!
And here and there was the Jersey stock,
The sheep and horses,
old Prince and Jock—
The turkeys and geese and awkward calf
And the goat that made
the children laugh,
A pair of mules that a friend had sent
Out to the farm for experiment,
Pigeons and fowls and a guinea pig,
Dogs that were small and
dogs that were big,
Chickens that were white and black
and gray—
O the farm was a jolly sight that day.
-- shared from Bernardsville News Nov 23,1922 p 3
Wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.
It is a special Thanksgiving Poetry Friday, thanks to our host, Jama Rattigan. She serves up some wonderful Thanksgiving food photos and one hilarious Thanksgiving poem. Be sure to click HERE!
