This week has seen two events in our family. First there was Mother's Day with a visit to Mom and a planting of new perennials in her garden. Perennials are an investment in the future. They are not as instantly showy as annuals. They take time to settle in and must be balanced with other perennials which have different times of blooming. A well balanced perennial garden has something blooming at most times and many areas of green either resting or waiting to bloom. The joy of a perennial garden is seeing what now is blooming, even as you wait for what is next. A few spaces left for annuals gives you comfort while you await the next revelation. It amuses me that at eighty-five Mother began this new garden and now at eighty-six she is adding, willing to wait.
The second event was Will receiving his Eagle Scout award at age fourteen, the youngest in the group to receive this award. Such an award is also an investment in the future. Someone made the comment that scouting is not an efficient system nor is this award. Tasks could more easily be accomplished by someone already in possession of the required skills. As a boy works for his Eagle he must prove capability by advancing through various levels of scouting, earning twenty-one merit badges and learning and showing leadership skills. Once at the level of Life Scout, he must design an acceptable project which is to benefit a charitable or civic organization other than scouting. He is to design the project, coordinate the efforts of others who will help him from design to execution. Significant hours of his time and others' will be involved. The projects presented were tangible, lasting and required both physical skills and leadership skills to complete.
As I listened to the adults who honored the Scouts, and the Scouts themselves, one theme was core. Each young man had learned the interdependence of the whole. Adults and youth in interdependent relationship grew more useful and aware of relationship. The award was important not in and of itself but as an outward sign of these deeply woven relationships of helpfulness and ongoing creativity. There was pride in self but it hung on pride in others, in relationship. There remains the invitation for these boys to go on and help younger boys also grow into leaders through service and patient mentoring.
In today's Gospel, the disciples are reporting in to Jesus after they have gone on a healing and teaching mission. At this mid-place in Luke's Gospel, they have learned much. Jesus sent them out two by two. They are excited at their achievements and I suppose on the passing of their individual doubts.
"Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!" Luke 10:17
Then they are gently but clearly warned.
"See, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." Luke 10:19-20
He will go on to honor God for the gifts that pass through him and honor that these few disciples have seen and been part of the flow of God's revelation of care and healing in the world. He then quietly tells them,
"Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it." Luke 10:23-24
Yes they achieved much, what was expected of them. Others before them longed and lived for this day, were just as worthy as they are. Yet it is essential the disciples realize this was not done simply by their own abilities and learned skills of articulation and prayer. Something more significant was passing through them, a deep and lasting relationship to God, whom we see through Jesus, manifested in actions of care, faith and healing. It is this relationship to God and one another in which they do well to rejoice. It is this being an open conduit of grace, of God's love, from God to humankind that should cause them to rejoice while remaining focused on the origin of the gifts.
So much in life is already here and we enter into its energy and blessing and pass it along.
Perennials are cultivated between God's first gift of the flowering plants and humankind's arrangement and experimentation. From here we create gardens of pleasure more deeply enjoyed when we perceive the Creator through them.
Human relationships, service and care were created for us to enter into with creative joy. When we perceive the intention and heart of God behind this power to create and care, we grow deeper and more alive. As we learn by Christ's example to open and listen to each other, to see the places of need and serviceability, and to join in this flow of life, we become so much more than our isolated selves.
What remains a wonder is that not everyone will see this connectivity between us all emanating from God. Our faith sees this by Christ's articulation. When we hold this faith, Will's bench of quiet reflection built in a school yard becomes more than design, wood and screws, and companionship. It becomes a gateway to heaven where all our names are written, a place of reflection where we assume a listening position and even here can look for the usefulness of our lives.
So too does Mom's perennial garden.
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