Sights that surprise you!

A web on a leaf and a tiny visitor to a flower!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

A new arrival!

Anna and I talked between ourselves several times about the missing birds for the last one month, since the tall trees were trimmed in preparation for the monsoon! 

The return of a Drongo brought some cheer and hope !

Sometimes, we do many things without considering the impact it can have on others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Five years and moving on...!

This photograph taken just before we presented to the management of MOSC Medical college the journey and way marks, of the department of developmental paediatrics and child Neurology!

A poster presentation of the activities,  and the way forward!

It was a joyful and fulfilling occasion for me because the five years were significant years!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Papaya in the first year!

Sasi plucked this papaya fruit from the plant which he tended for the last one year. It is not so common that the fruits come in the first year!

Sasi has been the gardener for five years since we came to live in this cottage! His diligence and faithfulness have made life easier for us!

On this Easter day, Anna and I spend sometime recollecting all those who make our living easier. Shymala is one other person who looks after all the household responsibilities. Sasi and Shyamala are remarkable care providers!

M.C.Mathew(text and poto)

The dew of the night!

Dew is the gift of the night!

There is grace abundant given to plants in darkness! 

Darkness is essential to the rhythm of nature!

Most of us go through 'dark' periods in our lives sometime or other!

The dark period therefore is a necessary season in our lives! There are some special experiences of life which can occur only during dark seasons.  

The pain or loneliness or rejection or anger we experience make us consider that as a dark season in our lives...that is how we would feel...but they can become dew to our soul because such 'difficult' experiences have a nourishing, healing, upbuilding or transforming effect in our lives, once the initial shock and grief are behind us! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Calm and still on a windy mid day!

I watched this butterfly in our garden on a rose bush staying still even when the wind was blowing!

I have been through a turbulent season on account of having had to be associated with some organisational matters for about 18 months!

What helped me to go through the turbulent period was periods of stillness and calmness! What can one do during short periods of quietness to experience interior stillness. There are three or four transitional experiences. 

When we stay quiet thoughts crowd our minds. As we pay attention to them they seem to fade away. Then there is an in between period of interior stillness disturbed by thoughts, following which if we can converge on a word or phrase when other thoughts invade our consciousness, the in between periods of stillness would expand into longer periods of stillness. It is this experience which will draw us into solitary stillness where we are free of thoughts or wanderings of mind. This is the outcome of stillness-Rest! 

When our mind is in a state of rest, it is a preparation for communion with God of our lives! Those who practice this way of experiencing communion with God would find the process becoming easier and effortless over a period of time!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

All is not well in our attitude!

Few days before Easter, 2018 on the Salem- Coimbatore highway!  The chickens have a prolonged dying experience the way they are transported! Anna and I watched five such sights during our nine hour journey on the road !

We talk and advocate against cruelty to animals... many animals suffer silently and all those acts of unmindful behaviour escape public attention!

Humans are created with the prospect of being  kind!

I no more see this during the national Television discussions. There is harshness, cynicism, anger, accusations and verbal attacks! I see politicians , TV anchors, guest speakers, etc consider other as 'opponents' and not as collaborators for human wellness!

This needs attention! A dialogue or debate for me is to listen to revise my thinking or enhancing my understanding and for sharing my side of the story for the benefit of others!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)  

Seventy years or more!

It is rare to see fans which still function even after seventy years! We have fans in our cottage which are about forty years old, but threatening to give up! But this one is abundant with life, with no added noise of wear and tear!

I checked with the house keeper of the guest house where I noticed this to find out if it needs frequent repair! Not at all!

I am at the threshold of seventy in my life! The story of this fan was a BIG encouragement to me! 

Even temporal life can have longevity with quality of life!

I have been saved from three near death experience, three accidents, and a cardiac illness during these years! 

Life given to me is a gift...its transitoriness makes me treasure and cherish what makes life abundant in joy, gladness, gratitude and for the opportunity to serve!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The existential risks!

Two cluster of buds in the same rose bush!

In the first photo a bud is about to open and in the second, a moth has already found the bud for its feed and would be denied of it becoming a flower!

I looked at this contrasting sight with some disturbance! 

Having spent thirty-five years with children who were denied their 'full life' because of the neurodevelopment insults they suffered during their mother's pregnancy period, at birth or thereafter, I have remained with a question, 'How come this happens'! 

One person who accompanied Anna and myself for thirty years in a way that was touching and inspiring was a a person who, she wrote farewell letter to us, where she blessed us abundantly!

It is because of  such experiences in life, I have been able to rephrase my earlier question to, 'What is special about this person',  when I meet with a family who has a child with developmental needs!

As I prepare myself to retire from professional life during the course of this year,  what stays with me are the joys of life hundreds of families brought to Anna and myself during the last thirty five years!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

Summer special!

The summer has sent in early. So the temple flowers also have appeared early this year!

The fascinating thing about these flowers is that when a tree is in full bloom all the leaves would have fallen off! 

What a sight it would be to see trees without leaves, but full of blossoms! 

This is a message for those who feel the pain of loss and do not see the gain concealed in a loss!

Yesterday, I heard the story of how when a doctor lost his father when he was young! He considered that as a challenge! The list of his gains now was far too much for any ordinary person to have attained, most of which he confessed were 'given' than 'achieved' !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Easter morning!

How refreshing it is to be greeted by a flower in a rose bush, which indicated some signs of drying up in the summer heat!

It is this the two seven mile evening walkers to Emmaus experienced on the third day, after Jesus of Nazareth was crucified. They felt emotionally depleted and confused over the news they received from those who visited the tomb early morning on that day. The tomb was empty with the linen clothes, and the body of Jesus was not there. 

It is then a stranger who joined them and interpreted the Scriptures to make them aware that Jesus had to suffer, die and rise on the third day. 

At supper, the two identified the stranger as Jesus when He broke bread, blessed and gave to them. 

The strange things in our lives are the means of 'opening' our eyes to realities that remained closed to us till then!

I felt awakened by the sight of this rose flower in a bush which I had given up as s withering bush!

This is the message of Easter!

God transforms death to Life! Jesus of Nazareth is the testimony to that reality!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)