Another morning!

The Lilies , the bell fruits, the early stages of Rambutan and Cashew nuts make the front yard of our cottage look special this morning. 

To bring nature and its gifts close to us is a necessary way to grow in gratefulness! We are surrounded by gifts of sights and scenes all around us. Each gift is a story of many strands. Someone planted it, watered it, manured it, pruned it, and we get the benefit. 

Our life is an expression of the confluence of many strands of experiences from parents, members of family, neighbours, friends, communions,  mentors...! The books we read and the talks that we listen to, make another broad strand of influence.  The peek and valley  experiences we have been through constitute another strand that stand out in the tapestry of our life!

We are perpetual receivers and occasional givers!

To be regular givers is a calling in life!

  M C Mathew (text and photo)

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The story of one day!

 The four photos in this blog post represents four experiences of one day!

The first is a water Lily flower that greets all those who pass by, at the car park I use to park the car every day on arrival to the hospital. That flower is the symbol of greetings that I carry with me to pass it on to visitors and families I meet each day.

The second sight is that of a Mango tree with its fruits, visible  through the window in the room I occupy to welcome families who come with children having developmental needs. On several occasions I turn to this sight during the in between times to receive the gift of presence and promise. The mango tree is present promising ripe fruits! Its presence brings hope. 

The third photo is a sight of the sky from the porch of the college building at sunset when it was the twilight time before dusk. The dark appearance of the tree line and the bright appearance of the sky reminded me of two experiences. The day is over and it fades in to the background. The brightly lit sky is a call to return home with hope and aspiration for what would be still ahead!

On the way back home, in the well lit street light, I spotted an empty liquor bottle and the wrapper of a snack packet, beside the farm that was recently harvested! It is after this, I normally drive through the streets that have two pubs where I come across people coming in and going out of the pubs. Some of them taking their faltering steps to walk back home would be visible on either side of the road for some distance. They go back home drowning their consciousness in the effect of alcohol. They return home to bring dismay and discord to the household! They have traction towards alcohol, because they feel overwhelmed by the travails of life with little hope left for them to live aspirationally!

When I reach home, rather late these days due to the longer hours at work, I have this question upon my mind! After receiving the greetings of a flower, the gift of presence and promise of  a  mango tree, the invitation by the sky to look beyond to welcome the frontiers ahead, and the viewing the sight of swaying men walking back home burdened by the travails of life,  how am I closing the day!

The beginning and closure of the day are twilight seasons of the day. The awakening to the dawn of a day and the retreat to the silence of the night are special times of each day. The day is an invitation to be actively present outwardly and the night is an invitation to be inwardly present silently and meditatively!

I feel glad for the day and the night, together they make life wholesome and integrated!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo) 

Hidden from sight!

During the last eleven years since Anna and I started living in our cottage, the trees around it have spread out their branches that the cottage is hidden from sight from the gate. 

I view this every day when I return home. I have felt that it carries a message for my daily living. 

There are times and seasons in one's life, when living quietly and obscurely become the way of life. 

It is not withdrawing or quitting from the vocation in life, but a season of inner pilgrimage into the canvas of life to get closer to the tapestry that has evolved in seven decades of life. 

The truth of life is hidden in the biography of one's life. The cardinal calling in life which led a person into a life time journey is what would unfold, when one can stay hidden to have the privacy to be on a transactional inner journey. 

As many experiences, which were ordinary to our life fade away one by one, there is less clutter and distracting calls for feverish pursuit of more of the same. 

When more of the same is no more a pursuit, what was waiting to be born within will become the centre of one's life. 

The flowers remind us of the fruits that would emerge soon!

In the fullness of time the flowers become fruits. 

That is how life can be envisioned ! 

From the season of flowering to bearing fruits, there is a journey of waiting!

To remain hidden is a call for that to happen!

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

The time to return!

I have often noticed the sheep in our neighbourhood, waiting to return to their pen in the evening time. They cease from grazing and would be looking towards the direction of their home!

I have sometimes stayed to wait till someone one could come to gather them to return home! From the time they spot the keeper from a distance, they would start bleating and move towards the direction of the path home. 

To return to where they belong!

They belong to the pen where there are other sheep!

I have recently been thinking on this theme. 

I have been used to reading four newspapers as a habit for several years. Now although we subscribe to three, I do not get enthused to read. The news that dominate in the news papers have changed in character and content. The editorials are less value based and more of descriptions of events rather than a commentary to create sound opinions to guide human behaviour. Some news papers were moral guides for people in the past. Now even those newspapers would carry advertisement in the the first two pages. The news get displaced by the lure of commercial gain for the newspapers. There are a few newspapers which have resisted to go this way. 

The newspapers were, in my growing up years, guided people to return to the consciousness that we are a humanity of people co-existing for the common good.  

The TV channels which now function for 24 hours have regular discussions on issues. I sense that the anchors are under compulsion to take sides of a particular opinion on an issue and drive the participants to justify that position. The language of this dialogue is often insinuating, aggressive and offensive. Ther is very little that these discussions do to help us to return to the awareness of our commonness. The divided positions get further reinforced. 

The news papers and the TV channels do not help enough to be path finders for people to return to the consciousness that we are neighbours to each other. 

The longing to belong to a cohesive community and be relational, how much ever we are diverse in thought and practice, is still a passion for many!

It is that longing that keeps such people live in hope!

A home is a place of belonging. An institution where we work is the symbol of extension of our own homes, where we work relationally and mindfully of others!

Let me urge those who visit this blogspot, that we are to be  leaven to foster this longing to return to the practice of being homely towards others. 

Others are our neighbours!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

Flowers around the car park!

What greets me almost through the year at the car park every day is a garden of flowers! I meet the gardener who takes an interest in the upkeep of the plants. His cheerfulness is also an interest to me. 

It is a good way of starting the day at work. The flowers and the gardener cheering me for the day ahead!

I walk up the stairs to the first floor towards the punching place, with this thought of sharing the cheerfulness that I received by this welcome. 

When I meet some staff and medical students, I feel glad to greet them. 

Greeting others in a warn way is one of the learning lessons, that I have found as a worthwhile exercise!

Growing up to be mindful of others is a way of living worth pursuing!

M.C.Mathew (text and photo)

The fodder for animals!

Following the harvesting of the paddy, the left over is a fodder for the cattle! On either sides of the paddy field this sight is common now during this harvest season. Soon this will be transported to the cattle farms. 

A farmer's labour sustains lives of humans and cattle!

A farmer is therefore a social entrepreneur!

On 17th of March thousands of farmers would be on the streets in different parts of India, for protesting against the neglect of their plight of living in debt and loss as farming has  become unaffordable due to prohibitive cost ! The government has to do more to address their woes!

Farmers are our life line! 

M.C.Mathew(text and photo)

 

The darkness at 3 pm !

The above photo taken around 3 pm from our garden recently, was before a wind and down pour after weeks of high temperature during the day. 

The Sun was covered with dark clouds and darkness was setting in on a bright sunny day!

The cloud of darkness!

I remembered the words of the desert fathers who described the 'cloud of darkness' within human soul! When the light within has turned dark, how great that darkness can be!

In the Indian parliament, all proceedings have been suspended for three days now as both the ruling party and the opposition are in loggerheads over non issues! In the state assembly of Kerala there is a similar scene. What is common between both is hate, enmity  and confrontation! When cordiality, hospitality and mutuality are displaced by conflict generation, yes, there is cloud of darkness. 

Today doctors all over in India will protest against violence towards health professionals, by abstaining from regular work. To me it is another sign of cloud of darkness within! How can we, who make an oath at graduation,  that we will keep the interests of those who seek our help above our own interests refuse to welcome patients who come to us! There can be better form of protests, where we do not make others suffer by our inaction! Why is that doctors have not considered to fast for a day while they are at work, as a sign of protest against the violence towards doctors! In many instances doctors would have done their best, and yet the sick patient would have got worse! It is an occupational hazard! The agitated family members and their friends turn hostile and put the blame on the health care professionals! 

I wish we can restore the trust that is eroding between health care professionals and the people we profess to care for!

We need to move out of darkness to light!

M.C.Mathew( text and photo)