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Once again we stand at the
threshold of a new year. This continuing carousel of time has
been revolving for generations through millennia.
December is a rather sentimental
month as it marks the last days of past time, past
accomplishments, and past memories. No matter our wish, we
can’t return to the outgoing year; we can only look behind and
see from where we have come.
Yet, December plays the partner
to optimism as it also heralds beginnings of new hopes. Dreams
of projects for the approaching year are planted like little
seeds in this month, ready to spring forth with a burst of
enthusiasm.
For half of the world, December
brings with it barren dormancy. The earth rests; the trees
rest. Growth is suspended and flowers fold their buds inward,
all waiting for that precise time when nature trumpets the
arrival of spring.
A passage in the book of
Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a season for everything.
For without the sequences of the seasons, there would be no
equal balance to nature as well as life. It is this rhythm
that every living thing depends on.
December is a time of losing and
gaining, letting go of some things and reclaiming others. A
time of learning and a time of promise. Spring will dawn soon
and we’ll know when it arrives by the changes of nature’s
texture. The sunlight feels different on our skin; the soil’s
just a bit softer. The cyclical seasons will have come full
circle. We move in and out of them for hundreds of times and
each moment offers us reasons to expand our capabilities and
learn.
Gardening is a rewarding way to
expand our awareness beyond the here and now and it has a lot
to teach us – growth, renewal, patience, the delicate
existence of beauty. It also teaches us to pay attention to
the subtle changes of the earth, the weather, the animals, and
new growth. But it with each new change comes uncertainties
that slip into our awareness.
No one knows what possibilities
change may bring. What colors will the flowers bloom? Will the
garden produce forth its bounty? Will the weather provide
enough rain and warmth to keep the plants alive?
Yes, gardening through the
seasons is one gamble after another. To work the land one must
have unwavering faith. Faith is the necessary element that
keeps the gardener planting. He has faith that the spring will
come around, that the rains will come and the tiny little seed
that he put in the ground would one day germinate and yield
forth its bounty.
That is how gardening reflects
life. Sometimes we don’t know what’s going to happen until
it’s upon us. Sometimes what appears to be dead is not dead at
all. Sometimes we don’t know if something will work out, but
we still plant the “seed” and wait patiently.
We’ll never know our true
capability until we try and we’ll never know what
opportunities will grow into bigger things if we care to have
faith in them. A seed thrown away is just that – a seed. But a
seed given the chance to grow may turn into a plant and
produce a rewarding crop.
It takes a seed to begin a
garden; it takes faith, no matter how small, to begin the work
of great possibilities. But the journey is never easy, nor
does it have an end.
So. as this year winds into
receding history. we remember to trust in God’s guidance and
have faith through the new season, learning and growing, while
hiking that narrow, less-traveled path – the Path to Freedom.
Post Script:
If you're asking, "What happened to Jules?" Well, he is too
busy to write these days, so for now his daughter will be
filling this space with her musings. Enjoy!
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personal
musings
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