March 1 on a South Texas Country Road

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March 1 on a South Texas Country Road

Winter palette fades.

Painted over by Springing.

Weary gray tinges green.

 

Bare branch silhouette

 Softens, hazed in chartreuse fog.

Baby leaves split tight coats.

 

Shiny buds unfold

Clover, dandelion, moss

Each green different

 

 Why call it Red Bud?

It’s lilac, pink, violet.

Purple vetch vines, twines.

 

 Blue wood violet,

Saffron puffs of sweet Huisache

Fill air with fragrance.

 

Indian Paintbrush

                                             Tiny torches start to blaze,

scatter scarlet flames.

 

Not yet showing bloom,

  Bluebonnets, Crimson Clover

soon add to Spring’s song.

 

 Bleak chill of winter

Gives way to resurrection,

melody of Life.

Ash Wednesday

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In a journal from three years ago, I found thoughts about Ash Wednesday that are much the same I would write today.  “Lent, Day 1.  We are adding readings from Psalms to the few minutes we have before Joe leaves for work in the mornings.  In all my Protestant years growing up, Lent was little recognized most of the time.  I have grown in need and appreciation of these set apart days approaching Easter and in all my observation of the liturgical year.  I crave the structure, need the framework for deepening spiritual sensitivity and awareness.  So begins arranging days and heart and home in new awareness of Eastering.”

Crosses of ashes,

sign of beginning journey,

mark Lenten promise.

Sing a Song, Tell a Story

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I am deeply touched this morning as I read a blog I follow:  www.allenlevi.wordpress.com.  Often I find that God brings story and song to my attention like a friend coming alongside me to remind me what matters.  This video is from a previous post of Allen’s during a time in which he has been caring for his terminally ill brother, Gary.

                                                               Sing a Song, Tell a Story

Greening in the Rain

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Right now we have a large dove population in our back yard. I know this because when I walk outside, I often startle a pair or two on the walkways or fence. I love finding their nests. This one is on the top of arches where a climbing antique rose grows. I can stand underneath it, which is where this photo was taken.

Greening in the Rain

Peaceful garden, greening in the rain
Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti on the flagstone
Hyacinth thrusting up a sweet purple bouquet
Doves building twig nests in twining vines.

Roses blooming, shattering, scattering confetti?
Shaken by startled darting wings –
Doves, building twig nests in twining vines
Petaled path inviting passage.

Shaken by startled darting wings,
I am stilled as I see their nest,
Petaled path inviting passage
Peaceful garden, greening in the rain.

Thriving

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Two weeks ago today we were preparing for a return to the hospital for Joe so that he could have the surgery I posted about last week. There have been many surgeries, four of them in the last five months. We are grateful to report the surgeon successfully put new knee replacement parts back in (the third set!) and although Joe has pain and a huge amount of work as his muscles regain strength and healing begins, he is walking, bearing weight on that leg for the first time in a long long time! He is smiling, holding his head higher, talking about going back to work and a trip this Spring. He is thriving.

You may be asking what my seedling photo can possibly have to do with this journey for us. Just this – two weeks ago today, I sowed a package of my favorite heirloom tomato seeds in pots which I set inside my kitchen. When we left on the morning of surgery (3 days), there was not a tiny speck of green anywhere that indicated anything was happening with my seeds. Each morning before I left for the hospital, I misted them, keeping the soil moist but not soggy. On the 5th day, I smiled as I told Joe we had "babies" when I got to his hospital room. Joe came home at the end of the week, and agreed with me that the seedlings were "looking for light" as they stretched their spindly stalks toward the window. The bit of sunlight they got in their spot just wasn't enough. I hooked up a couple of grow lights and this is the result! Now the stems are getting stronger, and if you look closely, you are able to see the secondary leaves just beginning to appear. My Cherokee Purple tomatoes are thriving!

Two weeks can make such a difference. I am thinking I just might have some help harvesting tomatoes this summer.

Hope

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 Daily work goes on. It goes into the ground, into crops, into children’s bellies and their bright eyes. … the very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope.–Barbara Kingsolver

During this long season of waiting during Joe’s surgeries and setbacks, of longing for relief for his pain and a return to health and wellness for him, it is true that daily work goes on, and that the most I can do is to live, dwell, abide in hope.   But as for the least I can do being the figuring out what I hope for, I have a different word choice.  Hoping for the best for my husband?  Well, yes, as in optimism and outlook.  However, I am learning that hoping in, rather than for is more important.  And I don’t have to figure out what that hope is, I already know.  Reading Scott Cairn’s little book The End of Suffering, I echo his words, ” In those trials in our life that we do not choose but pass through  – a stillness, a calm, and a hope become available to us.”

This week Joe had another surgery.  We want this one to be the last one, for awhile at least.  Whatever happens, our hope is in a God of grace who sustains us.

 

Music

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One Christmas over 25 years ago, a friend who enjoyed calligraphy sent me a calendar with quotations which she had skillfully penned.  I could not bear to discard them at the end of the next year, so I saved the art and eventually had four of them framed.  They still hang in our living room where they are reminders of friendship and generosity, but also of the way music is experienced and valued in our home and hearts.  Thank you, Nancy. 

Growing

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“When gardeners garden, it is not just plants that grow, but the gardeners themselves”. ~ Ken Druse

Texas Gulf Coast Winters are frequently mild, but so far this year has been strangely so. After the summer’s dreadful prolonged heat and drought, we welcomed Fall and cooler temperatures.  After earlier than usual temperature dips into slightly below freezing, we have had only a couple of freeze warnings and unusually warm days which are tricking the garden into thinking Spring.  The Peggy Martin roses on our arbor are throwing out new growth and bursting into a riot of color. Undoubtedly we will have some nips when temperatures drop again.

How can I learn and grow from tending this garden? 

I will remember that my circumstance is not always what it seems.

I will avoid jumping to conclusions based on unfinished results.

I will practice patience even when I want to demand “now.”

I will remember my Gardener knows the forecast.

 

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The Rain Chain

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This string of bronze bell shaped objects is hanging right now from one of the arches in our rose arbor by the fish pond.  It is pretty, and if breezes get brisk, it sounds like a clattery windchime.  It is OK as this ornament.  But it is not functioning in the way it was designed.  These “bells” are supposed to be cups.  The cluster is intended to hang in one long string to replace a traditional gutter downspout.  It is called a rain chain and is supposed to be a beautiful and functional alternative to a plain downspout.  This was my gift to my husband one year when I read that the cups would visibly guide rainwater from the roof to the ground and transform our gutter into a pleasing water feature. 

I did not realize that because our gutters are tied via the downspouts into a French drain system, we would not be able to hang the rain chain instead.  So we do not hear the soft tinkle of individual rain drops or a soothing rush of water.  The upside down cups clink and will never collect raindrops. 

Is there a purpose for which I am intended that is blocked by any upside down choices I make?   

Beginnings

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At the beginning of a new year, I am not so much making resolutions as I am considering how I spent myself and a year’s worth of time in the year just past.  That leads to choices about spending time and personal resource in the present.  What do I need to keep or change in order for me to honor God, delight in His presence, and show my love to others in ever growing ways? 

 As I mulled these thoughts while packing away Christmas lights and garland, clearing table tops and starting the cleaning tasks which accompany taking down decorations, I saw the disappointing results of a gardening project I began around Thanksgiving.  Every year, I enjoy placing Paperwhite Narcissus bulbs into containers with stones and water.  They put down roots, send up green shoots, and always delight us with fragrant white blooms before Christmas.  Most of the bulbs offered beginning shoots of green. Some grew a few inches.  But none of them bloomed by Christmas, and in general failed to thrive.  Now, only one bulb appears to have the small swelling at the base of its leaves that tells me a flower may eventually unfurl.  I decided to remove the bulbs.  That is when I discovered that they never grew any roots.  Only the ones with more than an inch or two of leaf had grown the plump white roots which could reach down into the water for necessary nutrients. Beginning was all they did; then lacking roots and healthy growth they began to decay.

 That was an epiphany moment for me.  No matter how full I am of possibility and fresh starts, I can never grow if I am not rooted and absorbing the nourishment necessary to flourish. “Feeding myself” is never on a daily to do list.  But I realize I have little to offer others if I don’t choose healthy foods and activity for my body as well as take the time to begin my days with quiet time which feeds and grows my soul.  I love listening to a John Michael Talbot album called “Come to the Quiet” each morning.  As I listen and worship, I am fed.  My roots spread and deepen. I stretch and grow.  I can bloom!