Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Before we coaxed that first wolf-like creature to become a constant companion we had plants. We had plants from which we could grind wheat, but we also had plants that would speak to our senses and our need for beauty. True, there are among us people with black thumbs, who kill a plant no matter what they try to do to save it.

There’s a special connection between people and plants. The biologist E.O. Wilson even had a word for it:  biophilia, meaning that natural, i.e., plant, environments have a special effect on us.  How else would you explain the prevalence of plastic philodendron not to mention silk flowers in people’s homes for people who cannot care for plants due to illness or disability?

Touching a real plant gives us a sense of joy, a recognition that we can participate in God’s creation of the world. To plant something is to declare that we believe in a future, possibly even beyond ourselves. That’s, of course, if the deer don’t eat it first.

Prayer for the Day

Gardens and roadsides revived by the overnight rain,
    The lush green of the late spring morning awaits us;
Even the small buttercups and blue wildflowers reach out,
    As bees begin to seek nectar before it rains again.
Shower us with your grace, O God, as you shower our earth,
    So your life touches us in the stillness of the morning.
In the name of the One who touched the lilies,
    Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Thoughts for the Day

If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
      - Marcus Tulius Cicero, Roman statesman (106-43 BCE)

Gardening – cheaper than therapy, and you get tomatoes
    Sign at a local gardening center

Jesus said therefore, “What is the kingdom of God ike?
   And to what should I compare t?
It is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in a garden;
   It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches
    Luke 13: 18-19