Growing Things

Mile Log: 510

"Fair fresh leaves and buds - and buds - tiny at first but swelling and working Magic until they burst and uncurled into cups of scent delicately spilling themselves over their brims and filling the garden air. Colin saw it all, watching each change as it took place... He would lie on the grass 'watching things growing,' he said. If you watched long enough, he declared, you could see buds unsheath themselves..." 

Today Hannah was working in the garden. Yes, we now have a garden. Well, we have a garden-in-process - plants, flowers, and trees, aaand a bird bath. So Hannah was digging and planting today, and I wanted to somehow be a part of it. I've been reading The Secret Garden with much delight and nostalgia lately, and it makes me want to be outside in the fresh air and the smells of and colors of growing things. I love Colin and Mary and Dickon and the robin, and I love how Colin gets to enjoy the garden in a special way, sitting and laying and watching and smelling and listening so intently. So Hannah helped me out of my chair and onto a picnic blanket on the grass, and I spent a glorious afternoon surrounded by the intoxicating perfume of gardenias and lilacs and newly cut grass and rich moist earth, and basking in the feel of warm sunshine and the sound of birds singing and bees buzzing, and gazing at the blue of the sky, the green of the grass, and the splashes of marvelous color poking out of the ground at eye-level with me. It was beautiful... I breathed deeply, big gulps of air so that the springtime would fill my being. I felt strong, alive, full of beauty and magic... And like Colin, this spring I will watch things growing.

The Holy and The Common

"They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean." - Ezekiel 44:23

 

What colors pop in a landscape of grey and brown?

A yellow flower, a red bird, a blue butterfly

What catches your eye in a dull and drab scene?

A shiny penny, a sparkling diamond, a ruby slipper

What stands out in a room full of mediocrity?

A framed picture, a whistled song, a child's giggle

What is true among the false?

Jesus, the Savior and the Messiah 

What is eternal among the fading?

God's love, faithfulness and mercy

What is beauty among the ashes?

The hope of glory, found only in Him

What is clean among the unclean?

One who is rescued and forgiven and made new by Christ

What is alive among the dead?

One who finds joy and courage and power in Christ

What is holy among the common?

One who is chosen and set apart and devoted to the will of Christ 

~C.L.Chandler