There about fifty nutmeg trees in our garden.
One sight I look forward to during the pre-monsoon season is to watch the shell of the nutmeg fruit split into two, while still hanging in the tree, to expose the maize which conceals the seed within it.
When this happens, it is the time to pluck the fruit unless it has already fallen off from the twig to which it is attached.
The farmers who have long years of experience with nutmeg plantations tell me that this vertical splitting of the shell is a well timed function of the tree. The seed splits when the maize is ready to be separated from the seed inside, as the maize is normally adherent to the seed. The value and price of the maize drops if the maize looses its 'flower appearance' or is discontinuous or vertically broken while separating the maize from the seed.
So this function is precise and timed, which the tree performs for all its fruits.
Ther are many things in life which can only be done only during a particular time span. If I fail to reach the check in counter in the air pot forty five minutes before the departure time of the flight, I am likely to miss the flight.
The window to do many things in life is pre-set!
An assistant professor working in medical college is given three years time to publish two articles before he or she can be promoted. It is necessary to keep that schedule to be considered eligible for promotion.
Most of us have an intuitive sense because of which we choose to do somethings at a particular time, even if it looks does not so rational, which while looking back seems to have made all the difference in life.
Anna and I were invited for a month long retreat in 1983. We responded to it although a month away from our work was a difficult thought. It was during that retreat, we were introduced to the practice of interior silence and meditation of the scripture in silence. Both Anna and I were driven people and activists with a passion. It is thirty five years since then. Inspite of the nature of work which involved listening to grieving and hurting people, we feel comforted and anchored most of the times, because of a new rhythm of living we were introduced to at that time. The emphasis was on learning and living by revising rhythms in life. The new rhythm of silence and solitude for meditation and prayer which was introduced to us became a soul refreshing experience for us. It is spirituality of this nature which keeps us going because we receive insights about our lives through the discerning experience made possible through the rhythm of silence and meditation.
Our lives were displaced from our natural rhythm to a new rhythm and orientation, at a time when we too were ready to revise some ways and practices in our lives..
Not that we live our lives soberly and contently always, but we have an inner urge to live meditatively and reflectively and return to spiritual exercises which facilitate this!
The nutmeg fruit opens itself to give away the maize and seed. This is a metaphor of 'becoming open' or 'being open' to have our interior open towards God! What is within us is an offering to God. Our lives become a means to be a blessing to others when this happens. What is in life if our interior is not open towards God!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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