“..and if I had
not learned from nature that there is strength in tiny and fragile things – how would I have come to know that there
is also strength in things unseen and intangible – in memories that bring the rapture of other days into this present
hour – of love that reaches across the days and the darkness to light fresh candles in our weary hearts – of the
understanding that often passes without a spoken word – of a remembered
smile that somehow does not fade with time’s passing -- of countless others things from which the fabric of our lives
is woven….I think it wonderful -- that man can predict the exact moment
of tomorrow’s sunrise – I think it even more wonderful that the sun should rise – (at all).
Winston
O. Abbott, Letters from
Chickadee Hill
Chalet L’Abri, August 2005…
Measuring My Days…acg
Along
our roadsides Queen Anne’s Lace now glorifies the high meadows and byways with delicate white flowers floating amidst
intensely blue chicory (ragweed) and golden rudabekia (black-eye susans). Composed of many delicate florets arranged like a flat-topped umbrella,
often a wee cluster in the middle is crimson or purple, and as one of many legends has it, represents a drop of blood shed
by Queen Anne herself when she pricked her finger while making lace. Sometimes unseen by the human eye, nature
has nevertheless conspired for designated insects to detect this pollination center assuring survival for centuries. As summer wanes and maturity sets in, the lacy umbrella will fold to a facsimile of
a bird’s nest, another name for this cousin of the carrot family. In fact,
Queen Anne’s lace, also called wild carrot, was the progenitor of our garden carrot; its very root is edible, though
the stalk is poisonous. The Great Creator surely intended that we should savor
not only its magical beauty and mystery, but also its singular uniqueness and witness within the plant kingdom. Give me wisdom to see it from the Creator’s perspective and then I shall reap a rich benediction. Oh, Yes! ~ (Those two words being Eugene Peterson’s translation with emphasis
for the Biblical word “Amen”.)
Recently
while watering the trapezoid flowerbed fronting the chalet, there emerged four adorable baby rabbits, not more than five inches
long. They showed no fear of me and once my watering was complete, they returned
placidly to their bramble of flowers. Apart from my occasional intrusion to pull
weeds or rid this patch of peppermint, I surmised that these infants, with their mom, were the highest order of life in this
little ecosystem abuzz with a wide assortment of insect life. Returning home
a couple of days later, I saw a neighbor’s cat intensely keeping watch on my flowerbed.
Thereafter, the baby bunnies have been seen no more. If my prayers have
been answered, momma rabbit chaperoned her brood to the safety of deeper brambles back of the chalet.
“We are
like the desperately nearsighted, inching their way along some great tapestry or fresco in the attempt to take it in. We see
enough to recognize something of its quality, but the grand design escapes us, for we can never stand back far enough to view
it as its Creator does, whole and entire from beginning to end. “—Derek Kidner, former warden, Cambridge, England
"The best and most beautiful things
in the world are neither seen nor touched; but are felt in the heart."-
Helen Keller
What the caterpillar calls the end,
the rest of the world calls a butterfly. - Lao Tsu
"We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual
beings having a human experience."
- Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Live simply. Love generously. Care
deeply. Speak kindly.
Leave the rest to God.