The Seed or the Sunrise?

First off, a few programming notes… MaryAnn and I had a great conversation the other day about the big themes of the Lord of the Rings stories and we have one more in our “Trilogy” of LOTR conversations. Here’s this week’s conversation and our next is at 1pm ET next Tuesday afternoon. So onto “The Seed or the Sunrise?”

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Ok so its still nasty cold here. Gotta love those negative-degree wind chills especially when one has a dog who won’t “do her business” just going out in the yard. So, walks, even in these temperatures, are a necessity. Not as long of walks for sure, but walks nonetheless. Tuesday morning, Scout and I went out for sunrise at the lake and it was an absolutely glorious array of clouds painted with oranges and yellows and some smatterings of purple. In smoother places on the frozen lake, the colors were reflected on the glassy surface. The line of clouds was so distinct it was almost as if someone had used a ruler to paint it in the sky. It was glorious.

But that’s not what I have kept thinking about from that walk. What I have kept thinking about is this.

Along the snow covered path where mine were the first footprints, there were a scattering of these winged seeds that had fallen onto the deep snow, likely from ash trees in the area. The sunrise was glorious but the seed has stayed with me...probably because I’m reading a book about seeds.

One of the books I’m reading is called Everything Is a Story by Kaitlin Curtice . She is an indigenous Potawatomi author who I have continued to follow since I read her first book several years ago called Glory Happening. Each of her successive books (Native and Living Resistance) continued with her deep wisdom and insights. All three were beautiful, poetic, wise, and challenging. Everything is a Story is about the life-cycle and power of story and she uses the analogy of an oak tree as the frame for the book - starting from the seed (acorn) and continuing as it takes root, begins to grow and eventually mature. I haven’t finished the book as yet so there’s more of course to the cycle.

Towards the beginning of the book, Curtice shares this poem...¹

The Story Is Born 
It does not matter where they
	began—in the heat-winded 
	desert, 
in the thick mists of a rainforest, 
	in a quiet suburban home, 
in the depths of a city, beside 
	roaring waters, in the wild 
	fold of a mountain. 
Somewhere, somehow, Story
	is born. 

They are given breath 
	and life, and begin so small, 
so small like an acorn. 
You can hold them in your 
	hand. 
They are tiny, fragile, ready to 
	grow into someone 
quite mighty, and everyone 
	around them knows it.

Curtice shares so beautifully not only of the life cycle of trees but of course even more so of the life cycle of stories in our lives. Like trees help to keep the soil strong and healthy as well as converting CO2 into oxygen (among so much else), stories can be that which filters our lives. They help us to see the cycles that have been present in history and they help remind us of the courage and resilience of our ancestors as encouragements to us today. As well, they bring us rest and renewal in the same way that sitting in the shade of a tree on a hot day or taking shelter in heavy rain.

So, seeds and trees are on my mind right now so that’s probably why I was drawn to these few winged ash tree seeds that had fallen on the surface of the snow. I don’t know what will happen to them. This one, if it isn’t blown somewhere else, is unfortunately going to fall onto a concrete path or get blown into the lake. But who knows what will happen to it. It may surprise.

It reminds me of one of Jesus’ parables - the parable of the sower. In the teaching-story, Jesus shares about a sower who throws seed onto a path, onto rocky ground, among thorns, and on good soil. While the parable can be interpreted (and is by Jesus) as being about the soil, I also love to think about the seeds. I love to think about the not-good-soil-seeds such as those that manage to take root in the midst of rocky soil and begin to flourish. Or how a seed finds its way into a tiny crack on a path and begins to sprout. And there’s those plants that somehow manage to flourish even while surrounded by weeds. In each of these, including the good soil, the seed (the story) finds its way in, begins to sprout, and begins to grow and flourish.

That is something I am holding to today. I am holding to those who are continuing to sow seeds widely and generously like the sower in this parable. These kinds of sowers aren’t just looking for one type of soil but they are sowing generously, widely, radically, and even a bit crazily. I don’t always do it well, but that’s the kind of sower I want to be - sowing the seeds of love, justice, welcome, empathy, and care.

Here’s a link to Kaitlin Curtice’s book Everything Is a Story and her Substack page - The Liminality Journal.

And I also found this reflection to be a powerful encouragement (and has some connection to this sowing of stories) - Field Notes for Cracking an Empire - Jackie Summers

But since I did mention the sunrise... and also some other photos from our recent snow...

And Scout after snooting in the snow…

Grace, Peace, Love, Hope, and Joy,
Ed

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1. Curtice, Kaitlin B.. Everything Is a Story: Reclaiming the Power of Stories to Heal and Shape Our Lives (Discover Which Narratives Serve You and Which Hold You Back) (p. 6). Kindle Edition.