The Second Sunday in Lent: Bulbs

The Second Sunday in Lent: Bulbs

                                                                 

We moved to Greenacre in January of 2011 after almost eight months of driving once a month from New Jersey to my native North Carolina. We spent that time becoming familiar with the house and land. Each month we moved a load of furnishings and eventually plants I had nurtured for decades in NJ.  I left enough behind for the next occupant of our home.

I was making a parish call once in NJ and Charlie was replanting his house. I notices this great clump of bulbs and found he was tossing them out. “They never bloom anymore. No need to keep them.” “You know they are just root bound. You could separate them.” I followed up. But he did not believe they would ever bloom and gave them to me, if I wanted them.

So I hauled them to Greenacre, and I planted them in the former vegetable garden, as a temporary home. As I separated them I came into the house and told Maxwell, “They must be Grape Hyacinths for the bulbs are so small and that clump must have had 400 bulbs in there.” Do a little math and you know I was in more trouble than I had intended. But I am stubborn so I persisted. The Spring of 2011 saw only faint shoots. Last year I had to burn off the weeds so the bulbs got some space back but only saw green shoots. This year I did not bother to clear the weeds as I have too much land to tend and through the winter the birds perch there and eat seeds. 

This morning as I made coffee and look out the window there they were. No Grape Hyacinths, Daffodils were blooming in the weeds. Mind you there are only thirty or so blooming...but there are thirty and hundreds of shoots! I must tell Charlie.

And Jesus said “Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and it sprang up quickly, since it had no depth of soil. And when the sun rose, it was scorched; and since it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirty and sixty and a hundredfold.' And he said, 'Let anyone with ears to hear listen!' ” Mark 4:3-9

The seed here is the Word of God. It is not just any word but a lifetime of words heard and tended. You never know when some wisdom will come and rest on you and guide you. You never know when it will cause you to act in a better way or clearer way or demanding way. All one can know is that God's Word seeks growth in our being. 

 

So often my life can feel like a weedy field with much pressing on me. There are times when my life or being seems very clean and open. Just now it feels a little jammed in on.

A friend in NJ is in poor health and has managed much on his own. I have stayed in touch with him and others to be a support from this long distance. Last night I spoke with a friend and suggested things that might be of help. I think though I am managing my anxiety by putting tasks to others. I sort of knew that even as I spoke.  I woke up this morning and even before seeing the daffodils, I realized it was time to offer myself. I could take time out here and go and help with the tasks ahead. Is that God's Word pressing in on me? Is this a Good Samaritan writ small I am to be? I'll only know when I offer.

We want the kingdom of God to seem large and clear. But so often it is very small, like a bulb too small to be itself but when tended...well you never know.

“Other seed fell into good soil and brought forth grain, growing up and increasing...”