The gift of giving !

On a cloudy, windy and drizzling morning, a pair of Bulbuls perched in our Rambutan tree in the garden  was communicative. 

One of them broke forth into bird calls after looking around for a while!

A bird's gift is its bird calls!

It is through this giving, they stay connected with other avians!

The inclement weather did not restrain their giving habit!

The spontaneity in their giving spoke to me !

To be giving mindfully of others is an inherent nature, that we are blessed with!

To exercise that all the time is our calling!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The hope that sustains!

Some coconut palms in our garden and other gardens turn yellow and stop growing or yielding the fruits. This was attributed to multiple  causes such as deficiency in the soil, parasitic infestation or premature ageing process.  This is rampant in the state of Kerala, where almost every household would normally have a few count palms around their house. Most homes depended on the produce from their garden for their  cooking and to extract coconut oil, which is the favourite medium of cooking in this region. 

Following the scarcity of coconut the prices for coconut and coconut oil have gone high. It is from the adjacent state of Tamil Nadu coconuts arrive in the market to meet the domestic requirements. 

The coconut farms in the state of Kerala have gradually disappeared due to the multiple challenges to cultivate coconut palms. 

It is one among other changes in the agricultural landscape that I noticed over the last two decades.  

I hear from our neighbours how the existential compulsions have been a disturbing experience. 

The sources of income from agricultural produce are drying up! A family can no more find enough to support from the agricultural income alone ! The rice fields remain uncultivated as labourers are not available and cost of using machinery to till the land and harvest is high !

The co-operative farming has emerged as an alternative. Our neighbours pool their land and jointly cultivate which also brought more neighbour friendly attitude. 

Every crisis creates new avenue to overcome the ordeals! 

A crisis also becomes an opportunity for pursuing the less travelled path!

Anna and I planted forty hybrid coconuts in the last ten years, out of which only five have survived ! We replanted three times to replace the non-surviving ones. But we did not have an advantage. The sixty and seventy years old coconuts in our garden give us good yield that we have more than what we need for our use.  

This is a message that weather and environmental conditions have changed, which suit some plants but not some others!

I wish we would view life, living and learning through a new optic of new opportunities to adapt. We are required to accept some limitations and engage some situations to overcome some challenges!

I confess that existential challenges drain our energy and bring anxiety!

When I looked beyond in to the distant field, I saw the morning sunshine brightening the landscape !

That brought hope beyond the lamentation that occupied my attention, about the existential challenges we encounter each day!

What is this hope!

The certainty of God's sunshine upon all who inhabit the earth!

M.C.Mathew(photo and text)

One, Two ....and Many !

The flowers have a colour, fragrance and radiance, whether they exist as one or two or many!

As of yesterday, this plant above had only one flower ! However that one flower represents the plant and what it is endowed to be in the future!

I was drawn by the richness of colour and the exuberant beauty just in one flower! Some plants bring only one flower in its stalk each time as in the daisy flower above. 

In a garden of plants with two or more flowers, does the plant with a solitary flower get reduced in stature and significance? Unlikely! 

Often it is just one person who made a difference in human history. The names of Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt, Churchill, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King junior, Dr Ida Scudder, Nelson Mandela, Archbishop, Desmond Tutu, Mother Teresa, Dr Swaminathan the agricultural scientist of India whose birth centenary we celebrate this year, Dr A.K.Tharien, the founder of the Christian Fellowship Hospital,  Oddanchatram and such other names come to my mind. 

Anna and I remember some who became companions in our lives, touching our lives and turning our attention to what matters beyond the transient and the proximate. Dr Frank Garlick, Dr Hans Burki, and Giesala Jahner were among the few, who affirmed us of our vocation in life in a consistent manner.

Our lives have often been anchored by a few, who believed in us and held us close to their heart to give us companionship! 

One or two are therefore significant because of the critical and seminal influence we can receive from such people to continue amidst demands and distractions!

I realise that when children have fond memories of their parents and have joyful recollections , then they honour the parenting support they received! 

The garden of life is where, we met people who blessed us and enabled us to find our path in life!

Our lives are a tribute to those who walked the journey with us!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Knowing your child- 24

 

The Sun birds are regal visitors to our garden. 

The arrival, feeding nectar and departure to the next site have a pattern the the Sunbird follows by habit. 

It flies directly to the flowers and lifts the body with outstretched wings at end of feeding to move to the  next site. This is almost like a ritual. 

When nectar is not enough it would turn to catching the insects crawling on the branches of a tree. 

The way a Sunbird finds and swallows an insect as seen in the photos above also happen in a planned manner. 

They are learned behaviours! 

Yesterday when I listened to a family during an on line conversation, I felt enthused by what a mother does to her five year old child, who is still learning to attend to self-care needs on his own. The feeding time is difficult as the child avoids to sit and eat on his own. The mother with patience and creative planning made the feeding time a story time and singing time! This conditioning habit seemed to help !

What was evident in this engagement of the mother was to foster a comfortable way and avoid confrontation. 

This mother uses pictures of birds from children's books, while feeding to engage the child.  The child is fond of birds and their movements. 

A sunbird has a planned and orderly way! It got introduced to them. 

A child can also be introduced to an orderly way of behaviour when it is introduced intentionally to develop that into a habit and pattern! 

The early childhood education in the first five years involves effortful engagement by parents to introduce desirable behaviours to children!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

A paradox !

We recently trimmed a branch of the cashew nut tree in our garden as it was stretching in to the passage we commonly use !

Following a good season of rain there are multiple shoots springing from the branch proximate to where it was cut. 

The cashew tree lost one branch; but there are seven shoots to replace one branch!

It is a paradox that a loss brings gain!

I wonder how one views one's life experiences !

One flower has fallen off from the cluster of flowers above. What is left is a bunch of flowers. They may also fall off in due course. But the plant would not be devoid of flowers as the plant bears buds and flowers again!

The permanency of loss or loss depriving or depleting our fullness is therefore a myth ! One may prolong grieving over what was lost or loose sight of the plenty still left to make life resourceful enough. 

When I recall some recent experiences in life, I realise how the denial of certain opportunities or entitlement initially appeared to be a loss; but over time it turned out to be for a greater advantage and gain!

I ponder sometimes that a loss is a door or an entrance into unforeseen gains! 

The multiple shoots in the branch of the cashew tree, which was trimmed, announce a message of the gain hidden in a loss!

A loss is a time to wait knowing that what is ahead is something worthwhile and surprising!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Becoming for being open !

The sign of life in a garden is how each plant flourishes to be itself! The multiple buds in this rose bush is a message of what it is becoming. 

The becoming process is what makes life emerge from the inner canvas of experiences to live openly, relationally and altruistically!

The two processes in this trajectory of life are: Becoming to be ourself and becoming to be present to others!

The buds represent the first process and the bud becoming a flower and staying open during its life time, is the second part of becoming!

This dual process of becoming ourselves and becoming present to others are concurrent processes. 

The plant above became a blossom of flowers!

That sight resonated within me! How much open I am to season the lives of others! 

The buds and flowers are the ways by which a plant becomes present with nectar, fragrance and colourfulness!

The flower invites Sunbirds, Bees and Butterflies to share its nectar !

Life is such a becoming process to remain open to others for them to receive what they need !

M.C.Mathew(text and  photo)

The avian social order!

One routine that the Bulbuls follow at the feeding table is to make a few bird calls before they start feeding themselves. The way they feed attentive of the environment is worth watching!

What followed was another pair of Bulbuls arriving to be perched in the cable close by, waiting for their turn to go to the feeding table. 

This pair above also gets an opportunity to feed after the other pair left!

This is a common pattern in the feeding station. 

There is a fraternal spirit in their behaviour!

The birds return to the feeding station a few times during the day. They find enough for themselves and behave mindfully towards others. 

This fraternal behaviour turns into social feeding, where birds of different species feel comfortable with each other ! There is more of accommodative behaviour than reactive behaviour between the birds of different species!

I watched yesterday photos of children from Gaza waiting with their bowls, at the feeding station! The Israeli and Hamas conflict blocked arrival of aid, although about 2200 trucks are waiting to cross over! Yesterday, with food dropped from the air craft, the photo showed people running to gather their portion!

There is plenty of food for everyone. But what is missing is a 'heart that feels for the hunger of others' as described by a  video reporter!

I wish we see a 'neighbour friendly' attitude between people and actions! 

I find it a delight to receive such a message from our feathered friends!

M.C.Mathew (photo and text)

 

Life, Living , Learning - 18

What fascinates me each time when I watch a sunbird gathers nectar from a flower is the ease with which it does it, while perched lightly in the flower or leaves adjacent to it ! 

The economy of effort!

Receiving the nectar without any indication of stressful effort!

The time a Sunbird takes to gather nectar is short! It moves from one flower to another gating the nectar!

To me this sight is a call to learn to work easily, attentively and purposefully!

I realise from some recent experiences that it is when, one is fully present to the context, it becomes comfortable to engage in the task with a measure of ease! The effort gets compounded when one is not present, distracted or anxious!

The secret, about a Sunbird is the way it arrives and departs. It flies directly on to the flower and looks around to choose flowers to gather the nectar. After gathering it looks around before flying away to the next site! 

This observant behaviour makes the arrival and departure is worthy of attention. It uses its sensing ability to plan for the nectar gathering! It conserves its efforts and is precise and focussed!

The Ignition life rhythm is 'pray and work' !

Prayer is a habit of becoming present to oneself in order to become present to the God of our lives present with us! It is this which the Ignition spirituality refers to as 'communion'. It is this communion with God which brings awareness, sense of presence and insight! It is from this 'gain' of inner fullness one moves out to work, in which case work becomes lighter and natural. The pause one takes when a task is finished is a transition time to 'return' to the inner presence before engaging the next! 

This rhythm of arriving to work 'full' and leaving to move on to the next 'full' is what makes every work an expression of our inner being!

I have recently realised that this rhythm is a sacred experience. It is the stress of a task that reminds me of not having been made ready by the rhythm of 'pray and work'! 

The graceful arrival and darter of a Sunbird is a message if inspiration to me! 

The economy of effort !

Work from the fullness within! That resonates within me !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)