Small in appearance, but larger in meaning!

The five sights that spoke to me on Sunday morning:

I. I was on a walk towards our well, in between the rain fall. I noticed this mushroom, orange in colour, peeping through the pavement stones, about three centimetres in height from the ground. I found out from the Google search that it is an uncommon mushroom, Cryptogram asprata, commonly known as Golden scruffy collybia. This was first described from Ceylon, in 1847 and is spotted in tropical climate. It was the first time, I saw a mushroom in orange colour.  To be seventy-fifth  year and yet spotting some sights for the first time in life! 

It is a symbolic of how much more one can have first time experiences in life of all sorts, by being open and enquiring to see, hear, feel and know. I feel challenged to stay as a knowledge seeker!

2. The second sight was that of a fly approaching a Chinese Ground Orchid flower where ants had already arrived in search of nectar on a rainy day. I was not ready with a macro lens at that time to have a larger view of the fly. What surprised me was the ability of a small fly to locate its source of nectar. It must have an enormous ability to sense the odour, nectar gives away to locate a flower!

A small fly has sufficient skills to survive amidst multiple adverse situations. In human language it is resilience. What else it is! A small fly can find its needs.

I tend to reduce the potential of the the small resources and overlook the significance of what is provided. Instead of living with contentment and making use of what is available, there were instances when I undervalued the scope of small resources.  

An incident which happened in 1983 came back to revive the largeness of small resources. When Anna and I were leaving the Christian Fellowship Hospital to attempt setting up a Child Development Centre in Chennai, late Mr K.M.Cherian of the hospital gave us one hundred rupees as a gift. He said, 'let me give you what I have. I pray that God would provide for your needs'. That is what happened for 14 years when the income from our services looked after only half of our needs. The rest came as small gifts from friends. That small gift form Mr Cherian symbolised many small gifts that were to come along the way!

In a time and society where big things matter more, I felt encouraged by the story of this small fly. In real life, the small events and experiences can be good enough to keep moving forward! For me, in the seventy fifth year, when my abilities and resources would be less than when I was younger, I have enough reason to rejoice in the the small things, thanks to the little fly! 

3. The third sight, the rose bud below was the only sign of flowering in that rose bush which had just one short stem with  few leaves. The plant did not look well enough to produce such a rich bud, which in the next few days would be a fragrant flower, all being well. The potential of that plant inspite of its look was beyond its ugly appearance.

In my association with thousands of children with developmental challenges, I have had several experiences of how with limited abilities amidst the limitations, children have brought surprises by their readiness to overcome their limitations. 

A young lady with a chronic illness, diagnosed at the age of about three years have lived through three decades of her life with cheer and hope. When she sent me greetings on my birthday last week, my memories went back to years of association with her in helping her to exercise her abilities. She is the one who designs, types and produces the weekly news letter for her church. She has a photographic memory and keeps in touch with friends. She writes, composes poems and quotes verses from the Scripture to bring cheer to others. Although she has several limitations in her body, she is living an abundant live and is inspirational to say the least.  

The abundance springs from theinteriror of our lives and is not conditioned by the physical,  temporal and material. Our life is fashioned by our belief system, transcendental hope and rootedness in God of our lives, who works out His purposes that would meet our need and the needs of others..  

4. The Fourth sight was that of two Dragon flies in our garden adjacent to our courtyard. They were different in colour, but similar in the deatails of their body. 

I noticed them perched in the stems they were positioned without much movement. Occasionally they repositioned themselves or flew away to a short distance only to return to take the same position. 

The Dragon flies are known to have such long pauses of stillness in their favourite perches. What captured may attention is the habit of resting or whatever else they night be physiologically doing! It is ritual which is their second nature!

I revisited my rituals in my daily life. I confess that the routines and rituals which have been integral to my daily rhythm have been recently disturbed! 

What would be the value of some routines and rituals in one's life! It has been a practice for me for several years to contact three people in a week, mainly people living in remote places. Sometimes that telephone call or mail or a message arrived at a time when they needed an encouragement. It is this habit which escaped my attention after the COVID season. It is a habit that I want to restore as part of my routine!

I got a sense of this while watching the dragonflies. They are beholden to their habit. It is their second nature. 

I wish I can stay practising the earlier good habits and develop new ones, which would bring others in to my orbit and optic!  

5. The fifth sight was that of  a small pink flower in our garden, withstanding the rain and wind which was rather strong in the the last few days. I am amazed that a small flower remained intact in such an inclement weather. It probably has its strength in its roots, stalk and petals. 

I looked back to the last ten years while Anna and I lived in our cottage here. We had the first  experience of working in a new place, as both of us were trained in other parts of India and worked in hospitals elsewhere. The cultural and traditional practices of the places and the habits of  people in this new place were different than what we were used  to when we arrived here. It called for adaptation to a new way of living and working. Anna and I wondered whether we would cope with the challenges and changes that we were exposed to.

There were times when we got disturbed by the compulsions in the work place and relationships in the neighbourhood.

During such times when we were swayed by circumstances, what carried us was the strength of relationships that we were blessed with. We had friends and well-wishers who supported us and helped us to stay steadfast in our efforts to go on the learning curve to adapt to different situations. 

It is one time when the strength of relationships meant a lot to us. We had friends visiting us and enquiring of us and our well being. The sense of being carried and remembered is an uplifting experience. 

During one of the recent difficult times, we felt surrounded by some who cared and reached out to help us in our adjustment.  The foster family of student friends has been another source of much encouragement. Some of them who have moved to other places for post graduate training keep in touch and bring cheer to us. 

 A walk is a time for recollection! 

This walk which led me to spot these sights during the Sunday morning was an experience of getting more ready for the seventy fifth year!

M.C.Mathew ( text and photo)