New year Flowers !

This bunch of flowers at the entrance to our cottage fascinate me. The flowers appear two or three times in year. Usually one such season is January.

It is good to begin the year receiving a message form the flower! It is bright and rich in colour.

Every time we pass by these flowers , they call to carry with us its message- be open to others !

I keep thinking about the place we offer to others in our lives.

Yesterday I spent about two hours with some teachers in school dialoguing about ways of supporting children who struggle with their learning.  I found them ready to find new ways of helping them.

At the end of the meeting the chairman of the board of the school mentioned to me that he was most surprised by the warm response of the teachers because it involves spending extra time. He knew that for many it can be demanding as they have their own responsibilities at home !

To stay open to others means being available!

I had a telephone call form  a dear friend late in the evening that his score in the NEET entrance test for post graduate training was not good enough!

Those around us carry unspoken needs! It is a calling to be open to sense and respond !

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Dancing leaf!

I watched this dry leaf floating in the air at a distance. As it remained suspended, I guessed that it was resting on the strand of a web left behind by a spider.  For the next half hour while I waited for the bird arrivals of the evening, I watched this leaf dancing to the movement created by the wind! The wind gave life to this leaf which otherwise would have joined the rest of the dry leaves fallen underneath the tree. 

We are people who are carried!

It is a consciousness that might be present within us only faintly most of the times. As we are 'driven' people by our choices and plans, we do not contemplate on this dimension of 'being carried'!

Yesterday, a family with tier five months old baby visited us. The baby felt comforted when his mother carried him. The mother held him close to her chest and stroked him and called out his name. That was good enough for his comfort and for his return to his charming mood. 

This is an outstanding example what happens when we feel carried. To let go into the carrying arms is the sure way to feel secure. 

To let go would mean an apparent loss of control. When a lad gave away his five loaves and two fish to Jesus of Nazareth, he did loose control over his food. But what append was multiplied food for five thousand and more! 

The leaf was suspended in the air, although looking precarious, when it allows d to be carried by a strand of web. The fragility of the strand is what might initially frighten us. The One who carries us is Emmanuel, upon whose shoulders rest all authority, even though the means He uses might appear fragile! 

So I look forward to 2019, and the experiences of letting go to be carried! Every time I fail to do so, there would be another opportunity! 

The dancing leaf is a symbol of how we can live lighter because we care carried!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)