New Growth in the Midst of Decay

The pasqueflower pictured here is one of the first of the mountain wildflowers to blossom. These photos were taken April 8th, the flowers opening more than a month earlier than last season.

They remind me of new birth and renewal. I think of new birth as new eyes opening, new insights, new ways of seeing both ourselves and others. Renewal--maybe that too is seeing old things in new ways.

The thing that struck me most while photographing the flowers and later budding trees and bushes at nearby Walden Ponds was the new beauty coming in the midst of decay from previous seasons. That is hopeful. Past mistakes, rotten attitudes, or plain old years past don't portend today's ways or preclude today's blossoming.

Reading the Psalm for today (51), I was struck by two lines that weren't as familiar as most of this Psalm--"You desire truth in the inward being; therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart." That speaks to me of practice of silence in God, giving Divine Wisdom an opportunity to speak to our inner selves. For me it is the practice of centering prayer. For others, it is a quiet walk or another meditation practice, perhaps the prayerful preparation of a meal or caretaking for one whose gift is presence.

I will borrow a story told in a children's homily by our interim rector. A blind woman friend told her that she and her husband had gone to a place where people gathered to watch sunrises. A woman, seeing her cane, came over after the sunrise to commiserate. "I'm sorry you couldn't see the beautiful sunrise," she said. The blind woman replied, "I felt the warmth of the sun's rays shining on my head. Then I felt it move down my body, and finally to envelop me in its warmth. I'll be you didn't see that."

We see in different ways. The small pasqueflowers, strewn among the decay of last season, would have escaped us, had we not been looking for them. Those pictured here were at the very beginning of the trail. We saw other pasqueflowers along the trail, but missed these on our way in and out. I found them only because I was looking for a photograph after my friend had gone. Beauty among the decay. How often can we see? Do we even look?