Now we are at the final day of all the Earth Week celebrations. Although it’s cloudy and cool this morning, it’s supposed to warm up and be sunny later in the day. Some trees already have their leaves out, and the maples are dropping those flying seedlings all over the place. The ones I didn’t pick up last year are now little seedlings to pull out.
And then there are the acorn sprouts from the oaks that the squirrels didn’t get to this past winter. They’re harder to dislodge because the roots are deeper. And there are all kinds of surprises in the garden, flowers where I didn’t plant them, growing from seeds the birds dropped. Oh, how we are all connected in ways we don’t even consider.
Today we’ll see honeybees if it warms up enough. A nice day for a walk in the woods, looking for Dutchman’s breeches, or trillium, hard to grow in a cultivated garden, though it is worth the effort. And the deer don’t eat them.
Prayer for the Day
Your good earth fresh from the rain welcomes us, O God,
As do all the plants growing as a sign of your beneficence;
Tree branches now ready for new life bursting forth,
As we hear birds fussing with the new nests they build.
May we always not just appreciate your beauty, O God,
But care for the gifts you have given us on this earth.
In the name of the One who touches our souls,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
The spring ephemerals are connected as well to the animals in the forest. The queen bee needs her Dutchman’s breeches. The mayapple spreads through the poop of box turtles, who, within their digestive tracts, prepare the seeds to germinate. Bloodroot is spread by ants, who carry off a tasty part of the plant called the elaiosome and then discard the seeds. The trout lily and spring beauty rely on solitary bees for pollinating. The wild columbine depends on hummingbirds.
Dana Milbank, from The Washington Post
I am going to pay attention to the spring. I am going to look at all the flowers and look up at the hectic trees. I am going to close my eyes and listen.
Annie Lamott
Ask rain from the Lord in the season of the spring rain,
From the Lord who makes the storm clouds,
Who gives showers of rain to you, the vegetation to everyone.
Zechariah 10: 1