A Sunday morning in our garden!

I look forward to the sights each morning in our garden. I was surprised by the colourful sights around our cottage yesterday. 

All these flowers would last only for a few days. But during the time they remain open and are fresh, bees, insects and birds visit them for nectar. 

They are present to whoever comes to them. They are available and hospitable to all the visitors. They do not choose or categorise!

During some of our conversations, there is a tendency to speak of others based on our likes and choices and not based on the attitude of universal hospitality!

I feel grieved how in the recent years the political ideology has been used to categorise people as those who are acceptable or not acceptable. There is a language of hate and confrontation. In the state where Anna and I live was known for friendliness between politicians of all hues of ideology. Now friendships get confined to people of similar in ideology or party affiliation. 

I wonder whether we can affirm our humanity and belonging and transcend our differences! 

Each flower in this blog is unique and yet they together make the garden. 

I carry this message to my heart seeking to revive me in my attitude towards others. The people around us are those who in some way or other make our lives comfortable. I long to see each of them beyond the colour of their skin, beliefs, traditions, life style...!

A least likeable person was Zaccheus (Luck.19: 1-10) because he was a tax collector and a government official known to extract money from people. But Jesus of Nazareth befriended him and offered to visit his home. Jesus pronounced blessing on him and his family at the end of his visit to his home. What an encounter! Zaccheus since then lived with a vocation mindful of others and distributing his wealth to those who needed his support. 

Our society is the garden of humans of all hues. The less or least likeable also need a space for their presence and expression. Our voyage in life is to befriend those who feel suffocated by their habitual patterns and indulgences. 

The hospitable flowers became symbol for me to work on expanding my consciousness of hospitality!

M.C.Mathew(text and phot)