Seeds - More Small Things
Plus an additional moment on a cold morning
Just a quick reminder that Ordinary BenchMarks is now available! I am so grateful that this book of reflections on finding meaning in the everyday is now out in the world! You can find out more about it and links to purcahse by clicking here. Onto seeds and small things…
I’m not sure where the Spirit/universe/etc is leading right now but there definitely has been a theme in a lot recently about seeds, little things, etc. The latest came yesterday morning before worship. As usual, Scout and I were out but I was SO tempted to show up late for things at church because of what I knew was about 15-20 minutes away.
This was what I was seeing as we were getting back to the car. I knew I needed to get home so I could change and get to our 9a group on time. As I looked at the sky and the color starting to emerge, I knew what was on the way. It was going to be one of those sunrises that just lights up the sky. I could see the glints of pink starting to emerge. I so wanted to stay but that was not the place I could stay. So we hopped back in the car and headed back to the house.
As we went down the hill about 2 blocks from our house, I saw what was starting to emerge in the sky. (and yes, I pulled over for this photo)
And then about 10 minutes later, when I looked out the window at home, the clouds were all lit up in pink and red. My initial reaction, looking out our kitchen windows to the east, was to think of what that sunrise would have looked like reflecting off the snow of the lake and how unique that moment would have been. I was disappointed to be honest.
But it was not my sunrise to receive. Sometimes we just get to see the seeds being planted and we don’t see the fullness of the growth.
Moses, after all that takes place in the Torah, doesn’t get to enter the Promised Land - he simply gets to see it from a distance but not to enter in. That was for the generations after him, including his successor Joshua.
Martin Luther King Jr’s message on the night before he was assassinated was a similar experience. He said, “Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life; longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land! So I'm happy tonight, I'm not worried about anything! I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!” Like Moses, he had planted the seeds, he had done the work, but he knew that he wasn’t going to see the fullness of what would be. (and we still haven’t seen it)
In the musical Hamilton, one of the most significant lines for me comes in the 2nd to last song, The World Was Wide Enough when, just before he dies, Hamilton says, “Legacy. What is a legacy? It’s planting seeds in a garden you never get to see.”
There is something that is stirring in me right now about seeds being planted. When I wrote about legos and ewoks a few weeks ago, it was there. Throughout my book, looking for meaning in the everyday, it was there. Seeds.
My sister sent me a text a few days ago with a question from her page-a-day calendar asking “If you were chosen as the president, what change would you make in the country?” In the quick messages between us that followed, we came up with eight things to change that we would want to see done right now. But all but two of the things we shared were not things that could change immediately even if either of us did become president. But we can plant seeds and keep planting them and keep watering them and keep nurturing them.
In the Jesus stories, there is a beautiful parable known as The Parable of the Sower where a sower just scatters seeds far and wide on every kind of surface without a care for where it lands, but instead just a generous desire to scatter the seeds. I used to center on the story as one about whether I was “good soil” for God to grow in me but the more I reflect on it now, the more I feel it is about us sowing and planting and trusting in how they will grow.
So my job is to sow seeds even if I am only able to see at a distance (or in my imagination) of what it will grow to be one day.
A Moment on a Cold Morning
In addition to all of this was a moment last Thursday morning. One of those moments when really ordinary things combined to give a beautiful moment. The temperature was really cold and the building I was walking into had venting from the furnace coming from the side as I walked in. The steam, combined with the morning light and the posts around the porch gave a beautiful breath-giving moment. Enjoy.
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
Above, you wrote the phrase, "egos and Ewoks a few weeks ago." Read it a few times and pay attention to how it feels in your mouth. E's and W's are prominent. That is more poetic than you may realize. It deserves your attention. A sermon? A poem? Both?
When I was first diagnosed with arthritis and fibromyalgia, it was very difficult for me to bend over. At the time, I was taking college classes and I decided to pick up any penny I found walking on campus. Whenever I saw a coin, I would bend down, pick it up, and say, "Thank you, Jesus." It was the beginning/planting of seeds of saying "thank you" for chronic pain and finding the humor in it. I just hung up on my first Chronic Pain Zoom meeting with the Arthritis Foundation. It was wonderful hearing from about 16 other people of all ages and gender. I realized how lucky I am to still have a sense of humor and be able to move through my days with some sense of Joy. It's interesting that I was the oldest person there, too. Maybe I have more seeds to throw and grow.