The transitions of summer days!

The mid day temperature had gone ups 32 degree celsius two day ago in our garden! What surprised me was that the birds do not come to the feeding table for their feed regularly, but for their mid day bath!

We hear the birds chirp in the mornings and evenings in our garden. During the day, birds seem to look for cooler places elsewhere. 

The ants protect themselves in their nest during the summer dats. We notice similar nests in some nutmeg trees in our garden. 

There are summer blossoms in some trees. The Rambutan trees are flowering to bear fruits. 

The summer flowers bring delightful addition to the garden!

The refreshing touch all these sights bring is amidst the heat and humidity of the day! 

The garden brings harmony and wellness while they endure the heat of the day!

A call to live similarly when injustice and violence prevail during the season of war elsewhere !

 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

A home for all !

 

Two Stilt Bug nymphs on a rose flower in our garden ! They eat the flower petals and survive! When I notice the partially eaten rose petals, I searc for the insects. I noticed two of them on the same flower, which was unusual.  

The garden is a place of surprises and discoveries. 

Even such small insects have an assured habitat in a garden! What a mystery of the earth and its distributive justice! The garden has a message: a place for all! 

I felt fascinated by this sight! 

Each flower offers itself to bees, butterflies, and insects! That is the way of the plant life ! A plant exists also for its benefactor ! Each flower is an offering to others! 

It was a heartening message to begin the day! 

What is the purpose of being beyond my own interests! While buying some fruits from the market yesterday, the shop keeper gave me some tips to keep ripe banana fruits without getting damaged in the hot and humid climate. It was an unasked for advice! He went beyond his obligation!

While walking back with two bags, one each hand, a pedestrian offered to carry one to the car!

The gardener gave me instructions about transplanting a rose bush from its pot to the ground! 

Such experiences on one day, lifted my spirit and gave me renewed hope in the goodness around us!  

Such experiences help me to think beyond the stress and despair of the war in west Asia and Middle East!

We live in a global home where the order is wellness  and mindfulness of  all! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Given to receive !

The above photos from the morning walk in our garden brought an ensemble of events in the garden. All of them symbolise life, growth and formation !

The earth is bountiful ! The hymn that reminded of the blessings earth brings to us was:

' O lord my God, when I awesome wonder,

Consider all the works Thy hands have made 

I see the stars, I hear the mighty thunder,

Thy pow'r throughout the universe displayed

When through the woods and forest glades I wonder

And hear birds sing sweetly in the trees

When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur

And hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze....

Then sings my soul..."

A song of gratitude springs within when one is a witness to the provisions we receive from any garden! 

While Anna and I were attending on line, the service of the commissioning of the new director of the Christian Medical College, Vellore, Dr Biju George, a similar feeling of gratitude dawned on us. The CMC Vellore is in its 125 the year of service! 

When one is drawn by the reality of a giving God who gives to bless, another Hymn reminded me of the call to respond !

' O love that wilt not let me go,

I rest my weary soul in Thee

I give Thee back the life I owe,

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer, fuller be. 

O Light that hollowest all my way

I yield my flickering torch to Thee. 

My heart restores its borrowed ray

That in Thy sunshine's blaze its day,

May brighter, fairer be...'

The ripple effects of the war in West Asia and the Middle East countries are palpable. When I called to book a gas cylinder yesterday, the message was to wait for 24 hours for the confirmation of the booking, unlike the regular response of confirming the date of delivery! It is a small inconvenience to us. But the what people face in the countries where the warfare is active, is devastation and grief! 

The earth is a place for all to dwell in unity and harmony!

It is that prayer that resonates in most human hearts at such a time of intense turmoil and turbulence! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

 

A hurt can bring growth!

 

The Christmas tree in our garden has a story beginning from 1997. This tree was in a pot, when it was given to us at Christmas time in 1997 when colleagues at Developmental Paediatrics Unit at CMC Vellore visited us at home. I remember the resident in the Unit Dr Mathula Thangaraj,  who chose this gift for us, wishing us that our time at CMC Vellore be a flourishing experience, as it was only a few months since we relocated from Chennai.  

The tree grew in a pot till 2012. When we began living in our cottage, we planted it in our front garden, which grew into a sixty feet tall tree leaning on to the cottage. This made it necessary to prune the tree to reduce its height.

For the last three years there were only sprouts in the pruned stem.  During the recent months, two shoots grew parallel to each other to continue its upward growth, which is what is in the second photo taken today. 

The tree was hurt by pruning and took a while to recover from the arrest of its award growth.

The touching aspect of this experience is that there are two shoots growing up now, from the earlier one stem !

The tree with one stem below shall now grow up with two stems above!

There is growth beyond any hurt and grief !

That is what this tree stands to announce to us in  our garden! 

I pause and reflect over this. A hurt can stunt the growth for a short time! But new life takes over to continue with even more vigour! 

I had memories of some hurts returning to me, while pondering on this theme of life ! The latter seasons after hurtful experiences became doors of opportunities to live with a new consciousness of acceptance and gratitude! 

The twin shoots of stem growing vigorously from where it was hurt, is a wake up call,  to process hurts patiently and wait for the good hidden which shall become manifest!   

Life is a journey of discoveries, healing and new growth experiences! 

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The dissimilar looking buds, flowers and fruits!

 

The buds, Flowers and fruits in the photos above do not have a uniform appearance. They are different in size, height, or colour! The plant life is such an expression of differences and similarities, while some common features are consistent! 

The political order in the nations of the world are different in their ideology, governance structure and economic structure. We have democratic, autocratic and theocratic countries. We have free press, regulated press or state controlled press and media. The social order in the countries differ with practices of  communism, socialism or capitalism. Some countries are are on the top of the economic ladder and others in different rungs of that ladder. 

Some countries lead by examples. Some countries in Europe are known for their welfare centric approach where health,  education, employment, and social security are provided by the state. The country that is leading the global war currently, is a country of capitalist orientation where the wealthy get additional benefits whereas, the less privileged in that country do not even get medical aid. That country invaded Vietnam, Iraq, Venezuela and now Iran with its military power and domination.   

What is disturbing is, it is that country that is deciding the global affairs of economic, technological and industrial policies and not the United Nations Organisation. Its partisan view to approve atrocities of the Israeli government on the Palestinians and approving the one nation theory of Israel to take away the right of the Palestinians to have their territory and national identity are alarming  signals of authoritarian world order! We rested hopefully for distributive justice and global cohesive relationships after the second world war. But that is still a dream!

The followers of two major religions,  Christians and  Muslims are currently in a lenten season or fasting season. This season is a time of penitence, confession and recollection of their faith journey in God. 

It is during this season a country, who affirms in their national currency that 'In God we trust', is leading the war and engaged in harming human lives and destroying facilities built for human benefits. When I see photos of people waiting in long queue in some places in India, to collect cooking gas cylinder, I feel even more disturbed by the suffering that this world order imposes on citizens globally ! 

 

I feel disturbed by the paradox in the ethical outlook of the president of the country that leads the war cry! That president in his campaign for presidency spoke heavily against abortion and gained sympathy for his position! It is the same president who is now using words like, 'eliminate' 'decimate' while referring to the political regime in Iran! If the reports are correct in the media, a few thousands of people have already  died in Iran  war since the beginning of war. I suspect that it is an ethics of convenience and compromise!

The nations of the world are diverse culturally, anthropologically, religiously, politically and socially! A globalised world will remain diverse and different and not uniform or ideologically identical.

The differences in size, height and colour of the buds, flowers and fruits in the above pictures, give me a message that the togetherness and cohesiveness amidst the differences is the order in the plant kingdom. 

It is towards that reality I long for within in a globalised world!

We live in a divided and wounded world! The voice of pope Leo of the Catholic Church to stop war and seek for peace is a refreshing voice of reason ! To me it symbolised the act of the Good Samaritan in the parable of Jesus of Nazareth !  

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Leaves and flowers !

 

The garden around our cottage has an adorable look with leaves and flowers celebrating the springtime of this year! 

The world is in turmoil with war and suffering ! People live in fear, loss  and grief! 

This sight of colour and jubilation with which the plants begin their new life in spring time had an effect on me to see the current affairs through the optic of hope and transition! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

Learning to feel enlarged!

A caterpillar, spider and an ant happened to be captured in the photos, during my morning visit to the garden! I noticed them only when I downloaded the photos! 

That made me realise how the colourful flowers by their brightness and radiance would hide the presence of the insects! 

One can get carried by what is obvious and loose sight of what remains hidden!

In an exercise I did during a group activity recently, the details of  a picture were captured only by two out of ten in the group in one minute. The eight who missed more than fifty percent of the details stayed looking on what was obvious or prominent. The obvious being catchy held their attention and blinded their eyes to the smaller details in the picture. 

This bias in seeing or hearing is blind spot most of us carry with us. We can have a tendency to listen in a conversation to what seems interesting and miss the rest! This can be one reason for divided opinions when we interact with each other in a group. Instead, if we can be attentive to all opinions during a discussion it is more likely to be representative of the truth or facts. 

The technician who came to attend to the air conditioner yesterday had a check list to guide him to inspect all the different functional components. He was guided by the check list lest he missed anything that was not obvious.

This is the role of recollection and reflection! It was when I revisited the flowers in the photographs I noticed the caterpillar, spider and an ant. 

I know of few people who take about five to seven minutes three to four times in a day to be quiet to reflect and recall! It is a practice of both debriefing and revisiting. It is an exercise which can bring cohesion and integration of thoughts. We become objective, recollected and refreshed through such a practice! It is one way of becoming connected with details that escaped attention initially. I know of occasions during a discussions,  someone having listened to the conversations patiently, brought an opinion that gave a new direction to pursue! 

This is one aspect of self-directed learning! We listen to ourselves inwardly, in order to feel more complete and to go beyond the initial impressions!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)