Soulful living!

The garden around our cottage had a festive look yesterday after the rain fall early in the morning. The flowers and fruits looked ornamental with water drops decorating them. 

For a few days the garden had only few avian visitors. The bird calls were infrequent. 

The Magpie robin celebrated the festivity with its tuneful and long bird calls. It turned in different directions while calling. 

When I walked in our garden, I felt the cool of the morning, The ground was wet. The grass looked smeared with water drops. Water drops were dripping from leaves. 

It was after three weeks of dry, hot and humid weather condition, the rain brought a respite, which gave a refreshing look all around in the garden. 

I turned inward during this walk. The three weeks of the dry spell was also a time of inner disturbances. There was an alarm caused by an unusual finding in the tests I had to do as part of the annual medical check up. This got clarified as normal later. I found the wedding ring misplaced from where I had kept, when I removed it for an X-ray of the palms. It was trapped in a pouch in the bag, which I found after searching for long time. Daphne needed attention with a swelling on her body. Our domestic helper lost her sister to a sudden illness. 

Although I felt the traction to dwell on the above matters, I felt revived by some experiences that brought cheer and hope. Anna is in the completing stage of the annual accounts of ASHIRVAD, which she would have normally finalised only by July or August. It was difficult in the previous years to irrigate the property in the summer months due to shortage of water. But we had copious water supply from the well this year. The domestic helper who was struggling with his alcohol dependency is moving out of his habit, although he is yet to be dry! We have had good news from our children and their families. Anna and I have had a steady and meaningful transition after our retirement from our professional work. We find our involvements inspiring enough to look forward to the coming years. 

I walked back from the garden with a renewed view of our lives and circumstances. I felt that the sight of plants, flowers and fruits soaked in the rain refreshed me enough that I was guided to experience the goodness flooding our lives. 

Life is a journey through the maize of events to experience the contentment that fills our soul, when we turn inward! The soulful living is an experience of finding the light within,  which shall illumine the optic, to view all experiences as formative.

Andrew, who received five loaves and two fish from a boy, brought them to Jesus of Nazareth, to feed the five thousand, who had gathered to listen to Jesus. Andrew saw that food sufficient enough, while giving to Jesus, who multiplied and provided enough to feed the people, They gathered the left over in twelve baskets. That optic of Andrew is a surprising orientation. Andrew was content with what he could find and saw in it a possibility beyond the ordinary!

We can live strivingly wanting more, not being content with what we have been given or live restfully, content with what is given!

The plants, flowers and fruits received the rain for a short while and looked refreshed! I pondered over this phenomenon. 

What is given is plenty and overflowing. To receive those experiences gratefully is a way to live in the plane of contentment!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Preparing for a loss!

There are different stages in the jasmine flowers.  Some bunches showed indications of having lived their life time and ready to fall off soon and integrate into the soil, from which it received its nurture. The fading flowers return to the soil to give life to more plants. 

This cycle of life is an experience to live with. 

With declining health of Daphne, now 12 years old, we needed help from the vetenary doctor, whom we visited yesterday. The doctor indicated that she might have a malignancy which is spreading! Anna and I too sensed that recently and we were getting ready to offer her palliative care. She would have a surgery this week end to remove a tumour that can be resected from her leg. 

Daphne was like the jasmine flowers in our garden, refreshing us with her presence, aliveness, friendliness, and responsive behaviour. She demanded no attention; every caring attempt from our part made her even more responsive and interactive. Now she is still the same temperamentally, although we feel that she might be in pain sometimes. Her agility is on the decline. 

We sense how Dulcie is also sorrowful, seeing Daphne not wanting to  play as before. 

What fills our thoughts and memories of the last 12 years, when Daphne gave us an experience of fidelity and communicative behaviour, is gratefulness. A dog, who grew to be expressive and responsive took us on a journey to learn more about canine habits and needs. Every time we had to give her an injection or give medicine orally, we noticed how she responded trustingly. 

We moved her yesterday, from her kennel and yard to the back portion of our cottage where we can observe her more. She did not look comfortable with that as she had her kennel and an enclosed yard to move around for the last 12 years. 

I felt comforted while walking in the garden and noticing the jasmine blossoms, most of which had flowers that turned brown, ready to fall off! 

There were many flowers which were still fresh and alive! They were bringing fragrances and abundance to the garden. The loss is real, but what is still left can bring fullness and refreshment. 

To be able to view life beyond losses, and grow in contentment with what can bring fullness is an optic formed by faith and hope!

 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

Relational mutuality!

The summer months are harsh on the vegetation. But the flowers and fruits appear to overcome the day time scorching heat. The garden is  green and homely!

It was while watching the above sights, I noticed the Magpie robin arriving at the water birth. One robin, who came first to sip the water from the bowl, made several bird calls, to which another robin responded . Although other birds did not turn up, I watched this robin in its chorus of bird calls for a while!

This is mindfulness to say the least!

In human language it is altruism. 

No wonder, that the ecosystem around us thrives because, there is a practice of the ecological ethics of mutuality!

In spite of considerable pressure on Israel, to withdraw from hostile approach to the Palestinians, that country seems to have no heart for those who are forced to live in extreme deprived situations. The government of Israel appears heartless! The government of Israel is hostile to its neighbour. 

It was therefore refreshing to see the Magpie robin's effort to announce about the bird bath!

The parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus of Nazareth spoke in  response to a question, 'Who is my neighbour' came to my mind, when the Magpie robin was engaged in its incessant bird calls. 

The Magpie robin was a messenger of the instinct to care. The domestic helper who lost his sister-in-law yesterday, narrated to me of many memorable experiences of her kindness towards his family. When his house was being built, it was his sister-in-law who carried stones from the road to the construction site. 

I felt moved by that recollection, of how much she was mindful of others, even when she was failing in her health in the recent weeks. 

There is another way of living- living mindfully of others!

A garden is a silent witness to the practice of relational mutuality!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The sunken garden !

 

Between the atrium in the college building and the chapel at the Christian Medical College campus at Bagayam, is located the historic Sunken garden. The chapel remained as the meeting place for the community for its Sunday chapel service and Friday fellowship during the time of Dr Ida Scudder. The Sunken garden was the open air space where the important functions such as graduation ceremony, was held.   

It was after five years I had an opportunity to visit this historic place last week. 

The recently installed plaques in the atrium caught my attention. They point to some historic events from 1932. 

Although chapel is not regularly used now, as the chapel service is held  in the Scudder auditorium, to accommodate a larger number than what the the chapel can host, the chapel remains as a sacred, and serene place and as the spiritual symbol of the college. 

In the quietness of the chapel, I went back the memory lane to 1980, when I first attended a chapel service there. Since then, being at the chapel during the time Anna and I lived in the college campus, offered us a sense of belonging to the history, heritage and ethos of the college. Anna as an alumnus of the college has close association even now with batches of students who were her contemporaries. As we now join the on-line for the Sunday evening chapel services, we feel connected with the vocation of the Christian Medical College. 

For Anna and myself, the Christian Medical College is a historic place in our lives, because it was where our daughter, Anita was born and moved on from our midst, leaving us perplexed and yet leaving a message about our professional vocation, which led us to spend our forty years since then, in being involved with children, who have had neuro-developmental challenges. When we closed our years of regular professional service in June 2023, we felt moved by the experience of having been shown a professional path, while Anna and I were at CMC Vellore between 1980 and1982. 

Every visit to the CMC Vellore, is an occasion for us to recall memories and experiences of forty years of my professional journey !

The Sunken Garden with its pond located in the centre, with the chapel on one side, women's hostel on the other side and the college building beside it, is a historic place that connects generations of students, alumni and faculty to the heritage and ethos of the healing vocation of the Christian Medical College, Vellore. 

I felt grateful to the team working in the archives of the institution, to have placed the above plaques, in the atrium to make the chapel historically linked to  the story of the earlier years from 1932. The chapel, which is a hallowed sanctuary to many, is an inspirational place, because one returns feeling visited and uplifted from the quiet time spent in silence! 

It is a place, which has left lasting memories in the lives of the students, faculty, visitors and alumni!

It is a place we return to, to receive motivation to continue living the motto of the institution, borrowed from the stated vocation of Jesus of Nazareth, 'not to be served unto, but to serve'!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo) 

The inner garden !

I visited a garden a few days back and stood at its entrance wondering which of the paths I could take. I took the one above and found a garden area that looked to thrive in summer with with lavish display of exuberant colours. 

After the walk in to different parts of the garden, I noticed a long corridor with avenue trees on both sides of another path with no end in view. The distant view of the path from where I stood, gave me no indication of what was ahead. 

 

That moment became an occasion of an inner consciousness of my own life journey in the last seven and half decades. I walked through the inner garden of my life feeling protected from both sides with the tall trees and the shade they offered to the path. Instead of rushing to walk to see what was at the end of the path, I decided to take a slow walk, recalling memories of different seasons of life. Half way through that half an hour walk, I was interrupted by a friend, who came for a conversation. 

I felt having been in a  pilgrim resort at the end of the visit to a garden. What was significant was the opportunity it gave me for a short inner pilgrimage. 

Two thoughts stayed with me at the end of that interrupted inner journey. Most of the events till marriage were events which appeared to occur in a random way at that time, but now, I find them as having been essential to the formative experience in my life. The second was a sense of gratefulness towards some I met during those years, whom became companions for many years, a few even into the recent years of life.

A good blend of inner consciousness of the formative process and memories of people who showed the way beyond!

I suspect that the inner garden in our life, is likely to be even more colourful than some of the gardens we might visit. 

The journey to the inner garden is a way to endear life and its vocation. A short walk alone is not enough. A long walk,  taken for chronicling the meaning of life experiences,  as they are seen now, is a redeeming experience. The interpretations of some experiences would have been arrived at earlier with short sight, but with more insight and foresight, those experiences would bring a new or revised meaning now. 

In that sense, our past is dynamic and ever changing because of our revised perceptions. I felt that some experiences which I thought to be disappointments at that time, were turning points to lead me into a different path in life ! 

Th visit to our inner garden is one way to revise our impressions  and optic! What was a trauma then is now a healed wound, what was a failure then is now an enriching experience; what was then a stress is now an essential stretching needed to grow in resilience!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo) 

The provision !

 

I felt an urge to visit the garden adjacent to our cottage, during the early afternoon time, when the summer sun was shining on the trees and plants. That is the time when the fruits and flowers can look different from the fresh look they offer in the twilight. 

I wanted to capture the natural look of the garden in the bright day light and turned the camera to the automatic mode. 

The colours of the fruits and flowers were blurred and the foliage looked bleached. 

Amidst the scorching heat of the day, the fruits and flowers bore the heat and waited for the evening and night to fall to feel the respite of the dry and hot day. Often the twilight look of these fruits and flowers after the cool night is refreshing to behold!

The Fruits and flowers offer themselves for others, weathering all climate and soil conditions.

As I was returning, when I was no more able to bear the heat, I noticed the Lily above, with its flower and buds, protected by the shady plants on all of its side. 

It was a message to my soul! One would be called to endure all circumstances, but there is protection and provision. The buds reminded me that life has also the dimension of tomorrow and the day after, when more would emerge for others to receive!

The image that stayed with me for the rest of the day was the family of fruits above, each in different stage of formation to be a fruit!

I took time to reflect on this as this happened on a day after I completed some medical check ups, when I became aware of giving more attention to live in an orderly fashion! To grow into fullness of life, amidst the disturbing circumstances, one needs steadfastness of hope and purpose!

That was what this Heron reminded me of! A water bird displaced from its normal environment, found water in a pond in a garden! In the summer month, there was a pond that sustained a Heron. This photo I took earlier, while visiting another garden. brought a message to lift my eyes above the circumstances. The provision of water for a water bird!

The flowers, fruits, and Heron live protected and provided for!

This is a mystery! Such mystical sights bring greater awareness of God consciousness within! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The silent ministering presence!

The above three flowering plants are located in one corner of our garden.

The first plant Plumeria blossoms regularly and their blossoms last even a month. The Jasmine flowers might last up to a week. The third flowers, Ruellia, have age of less than a week. 

Every time I notice these flowers, their morphology strikes me. The Ruellia flowers are fragile and their petals feel like tissue paper when felt. But the designs on the petals are remarkably striking. The central long line reaches to the tip of the petals and the smaller ones either side of it reach till the middle of the petals. These lines are connected with intertwining lines some of which look like hexagons. The serrated margins of the petals form a pattern with symmetry on both sides of the central line. The five petals are fused at the bottom to form a hollow with a tendril in the centre for bees to find their nectar. 

Often the Plumeria and the jasmine flowers get noticed. The Plumeria flower offer an elegant and conspicuous look and they are tall plants and stand out n a garden. 

The Jasmine flowers receive attention because of their fragrance. They draw attention naturally.

The Ruellia plant is at the ground level and is likely to be missed especially when the blossoms of  Plumeria and jasmines are in plenty. 

This happened to me the other day. I was admiring the Jasmine and Plumeria blossoms. 

I felt a message of arousal of attention, when I suddenly noticed the Ruellia flowers, as a bee flew into the blossom. Those flowers have so much of aesthetic and decorative richness and yet they did not get noticed initially. 

I suppose it was a call to grow even more in being present to oneself and to what is around me! 

Becoming present to oneself is a progressive experience. From sleep walking, one gets oriented to see, hear, sense and feel and reflect on them. It is a journey thereafter to find meaning in what one experiences. From finding meaning, there is a consciousness within which makes the inner ambience resonate with fullness. It is towards this state of being, Jesus of Nazareth drew people's attention by saying that 'I have come that you may have life and have it abundantly' ! It was a call to feel enlarged! 

To be able to see and receive what is around us with a meaning with which we can connect ourselves to, is the beginning of this journey into growing in inner consciousness. God, who is the light, is in the centre of our being. 

The flowers can speak and awaken us. That was what happened to me!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)