'The great Chain of being' !

The above collection of photos of flowers from our garden, during a morning walk, reminded me of the quiet presence of a life cycle that goes on in nature. The bees, butterflies, sunbirds, squirrels and insects would visit them and feed on nectar. They are flowers not so suitable for flower vases. They do not get picked to make indoor decoration. These and all the flowers offer colour, aroma and nectar.

There are fruits of various types, papaya, custard apple, pine apple, lime and nutmeg in different parts of the garden. The birds and squirrels have access to them. We get to pluck them and relish them.

There are saplings, new shoots, sprouting seeds and new shoots in trees recently pruned. During the cooler months as it is now, the morning dew on the leaves and on the lawn grass add a rich look to the garden. 

There are birds and squirrels during most part of the day in the garden, engaged in their routines and rituals. There are birds that nest in the garden. 

The cats in the neighbourhood are regular visitors to the garden. 

There are trees in the garden which look stressed. The wood peckers come to the hollow in the aracnut tree searching for insects. The tree looks stressed with the leaves showing signs of withering. The coconut palms also show signs of stress probably due to nutritional stress or pests.

The sky above showed the cloud formation and a cloudy day or rainy day ahead!

 

It was while arranging  the phots in the folders of the computer, I got a sense of the silent events and normal cycle in the garden. Most of what we in the photos above are not conditioned by any active human effort.  They follow a rhythm and pattern aligned with their nature and growth. 

The author Richard Rohr, in his book, The Universal Christ-how a forgotten reality can change everything we see, hope for and believe offered a subtitle in the chapter Original Goodness (p54), The great Chain of Being. In this section, he wrote: 'The natural world is its own good and sufficient story, if we can learn to see it with humility and love. That takes contemplative practice, stopping our  busy and superficial minds long enough to see the beauty, allow the truth, and protect the inherent goodness of what it is- whether it profits me, pleases me or not. Every gift of food and water, every act of simple kindness, every ray of sunshine, every mammal caring for her young, all of it emerged from this original and intrinsically good creation...As described in Genesis, the creation unfolds over six days, implying developmental understanding of growth....The divine pattern is set: Doing must be balanced by not doing...All contemplation reflects a seven-day choice and experience, relying on grace instead of effort' (p58-59).

It was while reading the above section and the rest of the chapter, I felt that God is at work in His creation. To feel that God is present and is at work in our garden, where Anna and I live brought an added sense of reverence and respect to act we are surrounded with in our garden. 

The wood cutter who came to fell a coconut tree struck by lightning, sat quietly near the trunk of the tree for a short period in stillness before he started sawing the trunk.  After the work was done, I asked the meaning of that silent gesture before cutting the tree. He mentioned, 'I am bout cut a tree that gave coconuts to feed us for about sixty years. I am about to cut what was the fruit of other's labour. All creation belong to God...'! I was moved to hear such a respectful acknowledgement of  the great chain of being, which gives a sense of  regard, we ought to have towards all that is around us. We are keepers of God's creation. 

Moses seeing the burning bush, which was not consumed in the fire took off his sandals (Exodus 3:1-9).

'Earth's crammed with heaven,

And every common bush afire with God;

But only he who sees takes off his shoes...'

( Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Aurora Leigh )

Yesterday while watering the plants, our domestic worker noticed that the rose bush above, was looking too droopy and wondered whether it is on account of any disease! 

She watered it well and lo, and behold, this morning the bush is back to its full life with all the buds looking healthy!

This is the story of events we come across all around us. It is unto us to allow them to refresh us and bless us with hope that all the events around us carry a divine dimension beyond all that is material and temporal!

It is this sense of wonder and reverence, which shall bless us for soulful living!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A distressing bird call!

I heard a harsh prolonged and repetitive bird call in our garden on morning last week. When I got out, I noticed a Little egret, most likely an adult, perched on a banana tree. It looked in all directions and continued its harsh bird calls like an alarm, as if it was in distress, for about five minutes it was perched there. 

It was after a long time I noticed a Little egret in our garden. There are other water birds who are now regular visitors in the garden. I notice regular Pond herons, Egrets and Cormorants in our garden. 

For a few days, I noticed a Little egret in our garden at other sites, which made me wonder whether a few of them are around during their migratory journey!

As they have a few preferred flight locations and are often noticed in the morning and evening, it is easier to spot them. 

I have limited skills in understanding the bird habitats and behaviour. One aspect that comes to light as I look out for birds is the regularity of their behaviour. There is a predictability about their  movement patterns.

The above book by a former British High Commissioner who lived in New Delhi from 1957 to 1959, has a rich collection of bird vivid descriptions of habitat and behaviour. Malcom in an impressive  literary style  brought a vivid scenes of the birds in our mind. It was while reading that book, I got an introduction to the ways to observe for bird behaviour. Let me quote what he wrote about Spotted Owlets who were resident his garden after they became familiar to him:

'After the first few weeks of our acquaintance they became used to me, and rarely treated me to the demonstrations of disapproval. Nevertheless whenever, I bobbed my head up and down at them they at once returned the compliment by bobbing theirs up and down at me. But they no longer accompanied this action with vocal protests. The gestures seemed to be just a friendly exchange of diplomatic courtesies' (p10).

There can develop a natural communication between us and our avian visitors. It is one way of offering them hospitality and a non- threatening environment. 

The disturbing thing about photographing birds is when something goes wrong with the camera. The charger of the battery that I use for the camera stopped functioning. It was five years old. When I asked for a replacement from a local dealer he told me that I replace the camera as it was already five years old and spares are unlikely to be easy to find. It took him five days to locate a battery charger. When I went to fetch it, the camera dealer told me that there were two generations of advanced camera since I updated my camera five years ago. I sensed a gentle pressure from him to upgrade mine to reduce the risk of being stranded. His argument was that the normal life of camera for its best performance is five years. The buy back offer gives only about thirty percent of the cost of a new camera. The camera world has shrunk since the mobile phones come with excellent camera lenses. The high end cameras are alone in demand for profession use. 

The bird world is an enthusing experience. It helps me to be drawn by the life the birds live bringing sounds and songs in our garden through the day! They bring comfort and lessen the feeling of  stress we carry with us! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A moving Bird and a fleeing baby !

A Tailorbird is one bird, who is on the move with ultrashort period of stay in any one place, except when it is immersed in bird its calls.

I have got used to this pattern that,  many photographs of a tailor bird can be out of focus, as it is faster to move before I can press the shutter button on time. 

Their instinct is movement. 

For a new born baby, resting beside the mother in the warmth and comfort of her proximity is the norm. 

It was this which was disturbed when baby Jesus had to be carried in the night, when Joseph and Mary had to 'flee' for fear of being found and destroyed by Herod (Matt 2:13).

Later when Herod was ono more, Joseph was guided to move back to Bethlehem, but because of his discernment, about the harm that Archelaus can do to the child, if they were to come to Judea, the family journeyed towards the Galilean region with is family and settled in Nazareth (Matt 2:22-23). 

There are some legends surrounding the flight of Joseph and family to Egypt. A legend is a combination of facts and fiction. I quote the three legends below from the first volume of the Bible commentary on Matthew's Gospel by Willian Barclay.  

One legend was  that Bethlehem being a small place, there might have been only about 20-30 or children of two years or below. If so it was easier  for King Herod to find Jesus rather than kill so many children in all of Judea. The legend suggests that 'Herod was a past master in the art of assassination'.  He eliminated the Sanhedrin, the supreme court of Jews and slaughtered three hundred law officers of the land. Later he murdered his wife Marianne, her brother Alexandra, his eldest son Antipater, two other sons, Alexander and Aristobulus. At the time of his death, he had arranged for the murder of noble men of Jerusalem so that people would mourn for them in which he too would be remembered. But that did not happen. With such a type of psychopathic behaviour, it was but natural that Herod chose to kill children and rather than look for Jesus alone to harm Him.  

Another legend was about the penitent thief, Dismas, hanging on the cross along with Jesus at Golgotha, and seeking forgiveness and blessing from Jesus. Dismas was in the group of robbers who waylaid Joseph and Mary while they were on  the journey to Egypt. When the robbers thought of murdering the family, it was Dismas who helped the family  to escape, although their belongings were taken away. He looked at baby Jesus and said, 'O most blessed of children, if ever there come a time for having mercy on me, then remember me, and forget not this hour'. It was the same thief Dismas who met Jesus while hanging beside Him on the cross and sought pardon. It is indeed a legend that tells a story of a thief who lived unrepentant through life but used a last opportunity during his dying moments to seek pardon. He received pardon and promise of being in the paradise with Jesus.

The third legend is like a story that we would like to tell a child. When Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus were on tier way to Egypt, they sought refuge in a cave in the evening. It was cold and the sound was white hoar frost. A spider saw baby Jesus and wanted to protect the baby from the cold night. The spider weaved its web across the mouth of the cave, to make a curtain of protection. Along the path came  detachment of Herod's soldiers, seeking for children to kill according to Herod's decree. Seeing the mouth of the cave covered in a web with white hoar frost, the captain of the soldiers assumed that no one would have entered the cave as the web was unbroken and passed by. It is this legend that is still remembered when tinsel is put on a Christmas tree to recall the white frost on the mouth of the cave, that saved Joseph and family from being found by Herod' soldiers. 

William Barclay is a historian and a Bible commentator, who through the above three legends unfold the story of the risky journey that Joseph, Mary and Jesus undertook on their flight to Egypt. The fact Jesus had to spend the early years of his childhood, far away from the familiar environment of his parents, remind us of the limitations and deprivations that Jesus suffered from. 

In the book, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eye-cultural studies in the Gospels, by Kenneth E. Bailey, he described, Herod, 'Being radically Arab, religiously Jewish, culturally Greek and politically Roman, Herod was a complex man'. He was noble to begin with, 'But with years Herod gradually disintegrated. In all, he married ten women. Sons for him were often seen as potential political rivals...Herod was brilliant and brutal. Towards the end of his life Herod grew seriously ill with number of painful diseases. In his very last days he arrested the crown prince and imprisoned him in the dungeon of his palace. Herod tried to take his own life when he was old' (p 56, 57).

Jesus of Nazareth escaped the plot of such a complex King, Herod. It was Joseph, who discerned his dreams and took the lead to flee to Egypt. 

I began with the natural instinct of Tailorbirds to be moving between places. 

What a new born baby needed was a stable and comfortable environment. Jesus was denied that, but was exposed to all the unusual experiences of stress and strain from early childhood. 

Is it not therefore a big tribute to the healthy parenting support of Joseph and Mary that they could have their son schooled in the Scripture by 12 years (Luke2:42) that he could be 'sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions' in the temple at Jerusalem (v47). He was so absorbed in this that when his parents came to look for him after not finding Him in the caravan after three days, His response to them was, 'Why is that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in my Father's house' (Luke 2:41-52). I feel moved and amazed as I discover the sense of calling, Jesus already discovered before his teen age years, because He was nurtured in his home for His personal formation. That made Him to keep 'increasing in wisdom and stature and in favour with God and men'. 

Jesus of Nazareth is a 'legendary' story for many in modern times, and want to acknowledge Him as the 'guru' of the Christians. A political party, is now reaching out to the Christian community in India to get their favour with the national elections only four months away. The gestures of visiting the leaders of the Christian community and offering them hospitality is now in the news. When the ethnic conflict in Manipur has caused devastation and displacement to hundreds of families, the political leadership of the same party has been silent for nine months. 

So the Christ of the Christmas can be used to seek favour or Christ of Bethlehem can become a personal experience of faith, love and peace! 

In either case we live in a complex time. The Gaza invasion and thousands displaced and killed take place in the land where Jesus was born,  lived, served, was crucified and rose again on the third day. I wonder whether the followers of Jesus, even during the time of remembering His birth, actively campaigned enough for cease-fire in Gaza! 

Jesus of Nazareth, the person and message beckon me to ponder on these matters!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Looking to find!

The Bulbuls are regular visitors to the pepper plant in our front garden. They look for red berries. After a diligent search, if they do not find a red berry, they fly away to the next pepper plant in the garden. They go through the routine of visiting all the pepper plants till they find the feed. 

I feel surprised by this habit. Not to give up is their way! They search till they find. Food is their existential need. So they have a reason to be perseverant. 

Finding why we do what we do is a vocational question!

Most people look for fulfilment through doing work assigned to them. Some people look for building relationship while working, which involves giving oneself to listen and taking interest in the needs of others. 

I was with a senior friend on one occasion, when someone dropped in to ask him for a help. He listened to the visitor earnestly and patiently. At the end that the visitor said, 'Thank you for listening to me. I know that you might not be able to help me regarding the stress at work. But I was looking for someone to listen to me. You listened to me without interrupting or probing. You helped me by showing interest to know my situation'!

All of us need those, who listen to what we say and feel with us as we share!

That is one way we would feel supported when we negotiate difficult situations in our lives. We need listeners and not advisors, or intruders.

Listening to another person is a gift of love we offer. He or she is looking for a listening heart! Most people feel comforted when listened to! 

We need to seek for such people till we find! When we find such faithful listeners, they affirm us to find our path in our way! They give us no opinion but help us to discover our inner voice of reason and clarity. 

When we have such listeners, we feel secure to share our inner story and feel received!

M.C.Mathew(Text and photo)

Finding the lost!

On a cloudy day, the garden without the usual flight movements of birds, was without its usual flair f the morning. As I looked at the tall trees to find any bird, I noticed a sunbird perched on the summit of a tree. The bird calls were not forthcoming. 

I noticed the dried leaves and bare stem and the  branches on the top of the nutmeg tree. A tree too has its symbol of being alive and flourishing. It resides in the central stem. Any further growth is arrested when the central stem is dry. Some trees over a period of time would give shoots from below the dried stem to continue its growth. But usually such a tree lives reduced of its normal growth momentum, till it is attended to and the new shoots emerge. 

A day before we formally remember the birth of Jesus according to the Christian Calendar and  attend services of worship and Eucharist, I  wondered whether we have lost something cardinal, while pursuing the peripheral matters related to the celebration of Christmas! 

I was observing a newspaper that I was used to reading from my childhood. This news paper during my childhood, used to have a series of articles, reflections, stories of families and children remembering Christmas or news about activities in the community on sharing and caring during the Christmas season. Fifty years later, this news paper for a month now had regular supplements and front page advertisements about consumer items, vehicles, festivities in hotels and restaurants, reduction sales in super market, and  news about sales of crib, Christmas tree, costumes for Christmas father, cakes and Christmas cheer. I wondered how the story of birth of Jesus and the message He brought through His birth and life, got marginalised and reduced of its significance. It is subsumed in the existential and commercial flavour associated with Christmas. 

The tree above is still alive but its life is at stake with the withering of its growing stem and its branches on the top. 

All the commercial festivities associated with Christmas are thriving, but the seminal and cardinal truth about the person of Jesus of Nazareth has got buried in all the peripheral events associated with Christmas. 

We, amidst all the other pleasantries associated with Christmas, by default or oversight can miss the person and message of Christmas. 

What does the dried stem represent metaphorically! The life of the tree is threatened by the dying stem!

When the person and His message, central to the occasion of Christmas is inapparent or concealed or marginalised, then it is a sign of losing what ought to have been a treasure!

Love, Peace and goodwill for all mankind, represent the heart of Christmas. This Christmas message is getting displaced by all the glamour associated with the commercial manifestations of the Christmas season. 

A community of few families not far from us, decided to visit one family each day to sing carols and share the happy occasion in an informal way. The families whom they chose to visit were people in difficult circumstances. I was moved how adults and children made an effort to bring love, peace and goodwill to some people in their neighbourhood. 

When the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt, Nehemiah told his people, 'Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him, who has nothing prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength' (Nehemiah.8:10).

The Christmas season is such an occasion, when the joy Jesus brought at His birth, is shared with others to bring hope!

We had a visit from two friends yesterday, and that was a gift of love and hope to us. Yesterday, I sent messages of greetings to many people whom I normally do not include in the greeting list. I was surprised to receive instant responses of delight. I thought of some senior citizens with whom I did not have regular contact. One of them telephoned back to recall the earlier days of regular contact. What a joyful occasion to remember each other and long years of association. 

It is in giving, we are expressive of the message of Christmas.

In a parable of Jesus of Nazareth, a woman who lost one coin out of ten searched in her house till she found it. What is lost can be found when we feel moved to restore it. 

The shepherds had a long  journey toke to find Jesus, when He was born. The good news of Jesus is for all mankind! Those waiting for the good news are our neighbours and others waiting to tell their story. 

The mechanic who came to mend our water pump, told me his story of illness,  loss of his regular job, recent heart surgery, family events and his experience of association with my parents for about 20 years. At the end of it, he told me, 'It is a long time since I recollected all that happened to me for the last thirty years. I feel lighter now'! I felt good that I was his companion for that two hours to help him recall his story and feel lighter. It is rather strange that this happened on the Christmas Day. I lent my time to listen while he repaired the pump. A good experience of giving and receiving!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Six months into retirement !

The late morning walk into our garden about six weeks ago, was to be just another walk to visit some plants and feel greeted by them. But the sights of a pond Heron, dew drops still staying on the leaves and the pink orchid swinging in the gentle breeze, converged on me to arouse some unusual feelings. One feeling that grew within me was a question about my well being! 

I had a disturbed nights with dreams,  one of which had been repeated a few times in one month. When I saw the well composed Heron resting on fragile leaves, new shoots appearing in the rose bush and the orchid looking elegant and colourful, I felt that I did not carry such a sense of aliveness within me for a while. 

After I retired in June, 2023, in a week I returned to a regular rhythm of attending to my writing schedule, editing and resuming my travels. It was almost like a continuation of a full day work as before, excepting for not having to welcome children and families for consultation. 

Following an outstation visit of two weeks, I returned physically tired and emotionally disturbed. It was from then the nights also became more interrupted with dreams. One dream that occurred a few times was a pan of milk boiling in the fire, but not overflowing. 

I exercised to interpret the dream with the seven questions that I am used to asking, while approaching to find the message, encouragement and warning from a dream. As one dream recurred, in spite of my initial attempt to get into the heart of the dream, I knew there was more to it than I got out of it. 

When I returned after the walk and sat at my table, I felt a question within me, 'How well am I'! 

That question was the key to open a closed inner space, where I had contained several thoughts associated with the experiences that I had not revisited actively for a while. Some events had a history of six years. I had a difficult time while associating with an organisation, ending up with broken relationships. At my work place, there was resistance to allow the child development service to develop in a way that was envisioned. There were instances of strained relationships. I felt used and let down. 

Following the retirement, it would have been natural to take time to process these experiences and turn them to be a learning curve for soulful living. For fear of having to feel the pain of the hurts and wounds, I pushed them aside and carried on with my schedule. 

I knew therefore that the question, 'How well am I' was a pointer to take time to attend to the inner events and attend to them rather than make them  appear as dreams by default!  

The pan of boiling milk became a metaphor of my soul, which was  churning within with mixed events and memories. Milk is nourishing and upbuilding for the body. The unresolved questions around the past events, disappointments associated with some losses, grief about strained relationships and a sense of distance from people whom I knew well, were in the melting pot of my soul. 

The imagery of the alchemy practiced about 400 years ago, came upon me to lead me further into this exploration of the mystery, hidden in my inward being. When the raw materials, prima materia were put into the boiling glass jar, the alchemists experienced  change of colour, texture, aroma, with some materials forming into a mass to settle at the bottom to become a refined material. More than the physical and chemical discoveries the alchemists made through this prolonged process of watching the changes in the elixir for several days, it was an opportunity for the alchemists to dwell on the events in their lives and draw out meaning and message from them. This process was a way of finding the aqua permanens, the eternal water, to nourish their troubled soul. 

The recurring dream of a pan of milk boiling helped me to pursue my alchemic exercise. For the last one month, I took time to watch the milk boiling, before I made the morning coffee and symbolically put my disturbed thoughts, hurting feelings and reactive attitudes into the pan of milk. It was that milk that was used to make coffee. With all those hurting experiences resident in my inner being, having been poured out into the pot of milk symbolically each morning, and using  the boiled milk that absorbed my inner world of pain to give nourishment through the coffee I drank, I was recovering incrementally through  this alchemic process.  I felt in the recent weeks that the dreams were only occasional. The inner ambience within is less cloudy and more forgiving. 

It was while I was in this alchemic exercise I revisited the writing of Thomas Moore, in his book, A Life at Work. I read through the underlined portion in the second page of the first chapter on Opus: 

'A opus is a lifelong process of getting life together and becoming a real person, and it is no coincidence that the same word is also used for musical composition or an artist's total production. You are also a work of art- alchemists usually referred to the opus as the Work, but they also called it the Art. You are the artistic designer of your own life, and it is the most important work you will ever do. You will produce things that will make you proud- happy children, a good home, a well-functioning society, and may be even some decent art. You will become a unique person. Nothing is more beautiful or more valuable. But if that potential goes unrealised, you may despair about life in general'. 

Apart from the above passage, one another passage that helped me to be at work at a deeper level of consciousness to journey further into forgiving and experiencing healing was this: 'The point is not merely to succeed but to become deeper, more complex, more mature person though your struggle. You allow the alchemy of your challenging journey to etch itself into your character, making you into a rich personality. Then whatever work you do will have the quality of your experience and your capacity to be ripened by it'(p10).

I feel lighter for having been able to take a month in this  process of identifying the messy ambience in my soul, find the strands of thoughts and feelings which constrained my wellness. Life ferries us to new levels of maturity, when we can pay attention to the fractured experiences we go through. 

In the encounter experience that Jesus of Nazareth had with Zaccheus, the turning point was when Jesus looked up to the tree which Zaccheus  climbed to see Jesus, who was passing by (Luke 19:1-10). Jesus called him by his name and offered to go with him to his home. Zaccheus being a tax collector, had a baggage of confessions to make about his acts of commission and omission. He lived twisted and torn inside and was waiting for freedom and a new beginning. That was what Jesus offered to him by pronouncing His blessing upon him and his family. That was the beginning of bringing coherence and composure to his troubled soul, which made him feel disgraced and humiliated in public. 

It was the quiet and composed posture of the Heron, perched on the fragile leaves, that moved me to go on a searching journey on renewing my inner experience. The Heron rested lightly on those leaves. Our relationships are usually fragile and tentative. To loose them is a loss more than we can afford for our own wellness. 

To see some good in any relationship and be comfortable to receive them in the way  they are offered, is what would make a person an alchemist. The alchemic processes, integrates and receives the aqua permanens, that a relationship can offer. So we live receiving what is offered and stay content. It is not our expectation that is the bench mark, but our openers to be gracious and not demanding!

I now know that I needed a break from the routine, for a month to process some events which settled into my subconscious level, because I did not care enough to attend to them. So they had to interrupt my sleep and speak to me through the dreams. Dreams are timely messengers from our soul. The care of our soul begins with getting familiar with the voice, signals and symptoms of soul sickness!

Our readiness to befriend the deeper level of our being, evolves through regular attentiveness to the language and mood of our soul. 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Shoots, Bud, Flower !

The winter months bring a new feature to the garden. Although the signs of autumn are not obvious, the pre-winter months are often a time of stagnation for most plants. There is some sign of growth in the late winter with shoots, buds and flowers. The winter is only for a month or two in this part. The sign of winter is when the dew covers the leaves a flowers at night!

The bare look of the garden during this season is in contrast to how the garden is buzzing with honey bees, butterflies and other bugs during the other seasons. They come for nectar and living on the flower petals. 

It was when the gardener mentioned to me yesterday, I remembered that the aroma in the air in our front garden with the jasmines in full blossom is missing. 

A garden offers a place for plants to grow and express themselves. A seed or a cutting do not tell the story of a plant in full. It is when they sprout and take roots,  their fullness is bought into being. 

In the garden of life, a home is central. It is in a home a child   grows up to become himself or herself. During the different season of a child, the home offers the nurturing soil and affirming ambience. 

A survey recently done among school going children, only thirty percent had at lest one hobby at the age of ten years. That is a disturbing news. Does it now suggest that our children are less challenged or exposed to opportunities. Have we made children conditioned to the visual media that other instincts are suppressed!

I noticed a family with their two children walking along the canal below our property. Each one had a carry bag of cloth. I noticed children and parents looking to the ground and the wall along the path and picking up something. I drew near them and watched them picking up stones, drift wood, flowers, and watching dragon flies. I felt curious and enquired about their activity. 

They take a family walk of about two kilometres every week along the village roads during, which time each person picks up something of interest or observes something and have a conversation about what each person gathered or observed, on reaching home. The parents do this to increase awareness about the environment in their children who are in the middle school now. They have a weekly outing to places of interest, like science museum, beach, public garden, children's park, or climb a hill, visit a senior citizen's home and engage in activities good for children.  They are now looking forward to the Cochin flower show about to start today. 

The children have a dedicated corner at home where they store their collections, which is developing into a mini museum. A feather they picked up from the wayside was the beginning of their interest to spot birds in their garden. Each time they spot a bird, children draw it in their drawing book. Both children have no traction towards the visual media. As a family they watch few programmes, the weekly time spent for that being about four hours. 

I found that these two parents have planned well to make their home a place of stimulus and opportunity for children to grow up exploring a wide range of interests. The outcome is both children read on their own, books of interests. Both parents take interest in reading to children at bed time. 

A a home is a garden of life for children! Parents offer the formative structure for their development!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)