The utter joy of seeing sweet pea tendrils arching up out of the soil and climbing a neighbouring tree is unsurpassable. It is beautiful every time, a new birth, not a rebirth.
I wonder if we think sufficiently on how blessed we are to live where we live, our corners of earth where we can witness spring and life returning in such visible ways. After the most recent spell of rain, I landed in Dimapur and went round my sister’s garden, marvelling at all the signs of green life pushing their way upward. In addition to the teeming vegetable life, there was an additional grandchild, a eight-day old mini human being, helplessly clinging to his mother for dear life. How different they were: the baby plants who were making their way into the world unaided, except incidentally by air and rain and sunshine, and the baby human who would not survive beyond a day without its mother’s care. How perfect they all were. My sister’s grandchild was delicately formed and a carbon copy miniature of his parents. His tiny fingers and toes were all in place and the veins beating on them showed through his translucent skin. I am still awed at how tiny we are when we begin.
And in a marvellous kind of way, they all share something, the new baby and the new plants. They are so fresh you can smell heaven on the downy leaves and the down of baby’s cheek. Surely even the hardest heart would be melted by the sight of a baby in its mother’s arms. It is as though a holy circle has been drawn around them, they are life in its purest forms and make sacred all around them. No wonder the shepherds and the wise men fell to their knees in humble adoration. Newly birthing life repeats the gospel that it is sacred.
And in addition, there is a gift we can all give to young children, whether we live in a dusty and crowded town or in a tucked away village. We can help them experience life like this. We can show them growing plants, especially at this season of dry earth where every growth is like a small miracle. We can bring them close to the divine in helping them witness life sprouting from the dead earth, and we can also encourage them to bring forth life by planting seeds and watering them until they sprout. This would not just be a botanical lesson, there is something spiritual and pure about a child’s first seed planting. That child will learn respect for the different seasons of the planet Earth, he will experience first -hand how a plant comes to life, and how the simple action of giving it a little water every day helps it to thrive, something he can easily do.
Helping little children connect to the soil and to life on earth is a gift money cannot buy. When we help them to experience plant growth and understand how it happens, we are introducing to them the miracle of life and that is a lesson that will stay with them all their life, hopefully implanting in them, a love for this planet and a desire to take care of it. Mother Earth needs all the friends she can get. Life needs all the care it can get. It is infinitely precious.
Rose
Every time I see a rose
I know there is a God
A rose holds heaven within its folds
Only a fool could behold
That beauty formed by the divine
And not trust that there is a God
Behind that folded perfection.
