The garden around our cottage is a place of finding messages that nourish the soul.
Each bud, whether alone or in a cluster of few or many is ready to blossom to bring its gift of presence in the garden. The flowers whether single or few or many give their life to the garden!
The garden gives itself in many ways. The trees give their branches for birds to perch.
The plants and trees live their vocation of giving!
Anna and I visited a former colleague at our work place, whose husband after a road traffic accident is fully bedridden for two years now, with considerable cognitive compromise.
What touched us was the way she is in a giving attitude towards her three children, others in the family and the friend circle. While her sorrow is a cloud in her life, her self giving is uninhibited.
It was during that visit we felt drawn towards the reality deep within each person. We felt that this senior professor has her life, lived to bring friendship and care to others. She was on a trek recently to the Himalayas with her undergraduate friends to stay connected and relational! She will be taking long journey shortly to visit her three children during Christmas time to bring herself near to them and their life experiences, as they still grieve about the fullness of life denied to their father at an early age. She becomes a father and mother to her children and their families.
It occurred to me that loss and grief bring a new plane of being and relationships to those, who take time to process the experience to find the larger meaning and purpose of life beyond the valley of sorrow.
When I watch lilies, I notice that there are flowers yet to open in its stalk. There is something more waiting for us as we go through each day. The present is for now and the future is yet another reality hidden in hope.
I remember receiving from a seven year old child a rose flower from their garden, when I visited them years ago. That was the only flower in the garden from what I could make out. When I suggested to him that, it was the only flower in the garden and he could give it to his parents, his response was: ' Look there are more buds in the plant. My parents can have all of them'!
To transcend a loss is a personal journey of reconciliation. To live sharing fullness even amidst the loss is a gift of insight!
That was what Anna and I received from our visit to our friend yesterday! Giving as the way of being!
M.C.Mathew( text and photo)
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