My  friend John tells of a sign over one old English door that warns “Mind Your Head.”  He says it reminds him of much more than avoiding a bump!  Today, more than ever before, we are called to pay attention to what we believe, and live it.  Minding and tending our heads and our hearts must be intentional.  Dallas Willard says much the same.

“Theology is just what you really think about God, and if you’re going to do that, you’d better use your mind and not just let it be a receptacle – a catch-all for whatever beliefs happen to be passing by.”     ~Dallas Willard

The posts for this blog through the first part of 2011 are  available in print at the Blurb Bookstore.  All profits go to Foundation Fighting Blindness.  You can preview here:

http://www.blurb.com/books/2056423

This is not some exotic water lily.  What began as a ball of leaves dropped into the glass tea pot began its change as I poured boiling water over it.  Suddenly, graceful petals unfurled and blushed, coloring the liquid amber gold.  Named flowering tea,  it shows me that what seems to be a dried up, useless thing can become beautiful and delicious.  A gift of surprise!

Do you like surprises?  I hear people say that they don’t, but I think they are saying they don’t appreciate being startled unexpectedly.  However, I believe it is just these unexpected, sometimes unwelcome moments that come into our lives that give us glimpses of Grace we would never otherwise experience.  And that this is a life lesson in understanding that we who want so much to plan and project and barrel ahead on our own steam really do see only a part of the larger, eternal picture. 

“Nearly everything that has happened to me has happened by surprise. All the important things have happened by surprise. And whatever has been happening usually has already happened before I have had time to expect it. The world doesn’t stop because you are in love or in mourning or in need of time to think. And so when I thought I was in my story or in charge of it, I really have been only on the edge of it, carried along. Is this because we are in an eternal story that is happening partly in time?” ~ Wendell Berry – from the novel “Jayber Crow”

The words below are taped by the coffeepot where I can read them each morning.  Just as when repeated in wedding vows, “I will” involves determination, but must be followed by trust that God will enable.  For 40 years, in 10 different homes around the world, the resolutions remain changeless, the love of God unfailing.

                                                                  A Morning Resolution

All this day I will realize that I am a child of God. His love is round about me, underneath are the everlasting arms. I will be honest and true in everything I say and do. I believe that all things work together for good for those who love God. I will try to replace all bitterness, hatred, resentment, over-anxiety, and fear with the spirit of understanding, tolerance, love, patience, and trust.  behind all that comes, God’s love and wisdom will be present to strengthen and sustain.

I have been reminded a number of times recently of the truth in C.S. Lewis’ words:

“What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.” 
from The Magician’s Nephew

In my garden, this sundial is not only a visual reminder of the passing hours each day, but of time past, time present, time future.  If I stand looking back too long I see only that which is no longer mine to use.  If I look only forward, waiting for tomorrow, I fail to see that when it comes, it will be today.  Standing in the present, I take joy in now.  Where I stand really does change what I see and celebrate.

In our garden there are two pomegranate trees sagging with fruit..I remember the first pomegranate I ate – how much fun it was to dig the seeds out, how sweet the tiny pop of juice from each one.  Now I love cutting the tough rouged skin and plunging the halves into a bowl of water to separate the seeds.  Watching the whole process from the leafing of the tree, waiting for each scarlet blossom to open and begin the nubbins which grow to the fruit we are ready to harvest is a joy.  I understand that the pomegranate is a symbol of rebirth, of resurrection.  I read that it has been used throughout history and in almost every religion as a symbol of humanity’s most fundamental beliefs and desires.  Almost every part has come to symbolize something . . . its shape, color, seeds, juice.  

I am glad we planted the pomegranate trees.  I am thankful for the bounty they provide this year.

Blessed be the Lord for the beauty of summer and spring, for the air, the water, the verdure, and the song of birds.” – Carl von Linnaeus

All summer long I have used a lovely screen saver on my computer, a painting of a grape vine spreading across a terra-cotta wall that has the above words at the bottom. This morning it suddenly came to me that recently I have been doing what many in South Texas are doing – lamenting the drought and heat and enduring summer with little grace.  I have not exactly been blessing the summer and the air even though the verdure and birdsong and water are most certainly noticed everyday with gratitude.  I read the words slowly again, and wondered as I often do when absorbing an artwork of words, about the person who wrote them.

Thinking he must certainly be a poet, I Googled Carl von Linnaeus and to my surprise found that he is credited with originating our system of classifying and naming living things  – a man of organization and systems who recognized beauty in the work of Creation. He was the son of a Lutheran pastor who is described as “an intelligent gardener.”  I smile as I recognize a touch of Genesis here, thinking of the “garden of Sweden and a man who was named Carl but took up Adam’s work of naming.

I am thankful for the reminder.  And on this day, one more of triple digit heat, longing for rain in the worst drought in South Texas history, I bless the air and the birds and the beauty of summer. Fresh breeze blows over my soul.  Verdure.