I gathered these four flowers from one stem in a rose bush, which is only six months old, since Anna transplanted it in our garden from a pot. It had a misty look from the condensed water particles due to the fall of temperature at night. Although winter is mild this year, on certain days the temperature does drop to get the grass, leaves and flowers wet.
These four brilliant flowers captured my attention as four flowers at the same time in a branch is not so common at least in our garden. As I placed then in the vase, Anna's first response was, 'O what a collection'!
We are into the year 2022 ! All of us have different outlook to the year ahead. What these flowers brought to mind is a sign of consolation and hope.
The first person I met yesterday while alighting from the car in the hospital was a colleague who came to greet me on the new year. When we walked into the department, I noticed that the central table in the meeting hall was lit with a candle and a bunch of flowers and an indoor plant placed on either side of it. What a sight of abundance it was! Sitting around the table as a group to sing and read from Psalm 23 in a solemn atmosphere was more than moving. Then the attention turned to remember who were actively involved with us in our work by visiting them and greeting with a piece of cake! At the end of the day, my colleagues had reached out to about 12 departments! This to me was the climax of the day! To feel thankful alone is not enough; to express it warmly is the way we can make gratitude relational.
The anti-climax of the day was when the supervisors from the maintenance department who visited us to inspect the place to make the railings along the steps child proof, decided to do some modifications but not enough to secure it fully to protect children. These steps leading to the arrival hall, where children wait before they are welcomed for different services have railings on both sides and also on the side of the exit wall. The gap between the vertical rods in the railings is wide enough for a child to slip through them and fall into the steps or outside of the building. I wish the supervisors were more open to sense our feelings of concern and anguish for the safety of children! It is now six months since we began to use this welcome hall as a waiting area for children! During this period my colleagues in the department blocked the railings with cardboard sheets and covered them with pictures to make them visually friendly for children! Inspite of that, there were a few near miss accidents as the approach to the stair case is still open! The NABH team who came for inspection recently noticed this innovative way of making the railings safe by turning it into a display board of pleasant sights of pictures for children.
Two experiences on the first day of 2022! One of cheer and and the other of anguish!
At the end of the day few of us from the department met for tea to close the day and what occupied the ambience of our conversation was the hope and possibilities which this year shall bring to us in 2022. The mood with which we closed the day was similar to the hope the bunch of four flowers brought to our attention at home when Anna and I received the flowers as a symbol of abundance with which we shall be blessed!
It is important to remember that these flowers spring from a thorny rose bush. There shall be some difficulties and adverse situations along the way, but the hope that even those situations would culminate in purposeful direction ought to refresh us!
On my way back home, I watched about fifty waterbirds flocking in a paddy field made ready for sowing! They conveyed to me yet another sign of how they are provided for with their feed in a marshy and messy field.
It is necessary to keep remembering the sight of flowers and not just thorns in the rose bush! That is the way we are called to live!
I feel how vulnerable I am when I have to make this choice! How I felt deflated and miserable at the end of the conversation with the supervisors from the maintenance department! It took a while before I could compose myself to resume the on-line consultation, as I felt exasperated by the resistance I experienced while pursuing to uphold the safety of children! I wish I was more patient and forbearing even in such situation! It became a timely reminder to me that when tested, if one can be more tolerant and steadfast it is more noble!
The flowers are gracefully present to spread its fragrance and colourfulness!
That shall become a direction to pursue in 2022!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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