Spring Planting
The seed catalogs have arrived! This sign of Spring never ceased to thrill me as a kid and continues to be exciting even today! There is a joy in choosing seeds to plant in the earth, believing that by burying them in the dark loam, life and color and fragrance and even food will be the result.
Jesus reminds us of that paradoxical truth in an honest, visceral way. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains only a single grain.” The seed must be planted, must be buried, must face an unknown future to ultimately find the nourishment and energy it needs to break open to the light it seeks. This metaphor, offered for our reflection on this 5thSunday of Lent, never grows stale, never lets us off the hook in our need to reflect on the mystery of dying and rising in our own lives, in our Earth, in our universe.
This past year we have all learned something about dying; now we face new beginnings in a changed landscape. How can we be more than “single grains” with no life? How do we work together to grow toward the light – and life?
Dubuque, IA
Comments
Post a Comment