The weather has been alternating - sunny for days, then rainy for a week, then the sun comes out again, then it rains again... and the cycle continues. Every morning , my favorite moment is scanning the grass in the garden and noticing how the mostly brown land gradually becomes green from the inching upward of the grass and after having drunk up a lot of rainwater. Even the portions that were mostly brown soil start to acquire their green color as the roots of the grass from the area beside make their way there and fill out the spaces.
The flowers too, continue their cycle of budding, blooming and dying, budding anew, blooming anew, withering anew. When one dies, it simply means that new life can now succeed it..
Our life is like the fields - whether these be garden grass and flowers, or farmlands. We go through definite cycles of birthing, growing, maturing and dying, birthing anew, growing anew, struggling anew, deepening understanding anew, then letting go of things anew to give way for the new seeds of what matter most, to emerge...
The beauty of being in midlife is that we gain the eyesight to see what we may not have seen before... to recognize the Hand that tills us, to know the Heart that swells the grains within us, and to realize that there is the Compassionate Love that has always showered us with "all good gifts".
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We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand..
But it is fed and watered by God's almighty hand..
He sends us snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain...
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain...
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above
So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love...
We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest, our life our health our food,
No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us
Are sent from Heaven above..
So thank the Lord, oh thank the Lord for all his love..
I really wanna thank you Lord!
- music by Stephen Schwartz, "Godspell"
