An Interesting Palette: Spring Green and Autumn Gold
New Grass at Year’s End
New grass is such a hopeful shade of green – its shafts are so lithe, especially in late October’s sun, almost the year’s end. In one week, the backyard has gone from a landscape of straw to a grassy carpet dotted with patches of tan. Each morning the green deepens and stretches, as the leaves overhanging the yard burn with brighter colors.
So, too, the flowerbeds are beginning to fill up – yes, with some hardy plants I hope will survive, but also with pesky weeds. They reappeared because no chemicals or weeding disrupted their recovery. My bad!
Even the richest soil, if left uncultivated will produce the rankest weeds. ~Leonardo da Vinci
I can’t pass them off as anything but weeds – and they look so hearty that I can’t just wait for the first frost!
Pesky Weeds Remind Me Gardening Chores Are Not Over!
No, it’s time to break out the hand tools – a small cultivator. Up close is how I have to dig out these robust remnants poking through layers of fresh mulch – and on my knees is the position affording the greatest leverage. Alas, I did not bring the little gardening mat with me. (Although I think I need a new one with hand grips to lower myself safely, and arise from a kneeling gardener’s position!)
Kneeling is a posture I learned as a child – at home and in church. But, I gave it up as I grew up – just as I gave up the simple prayer, my parents taught me:
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.
But, its roots ran deeper than I imagined. And when first I realized indeed that “Death would stop for me,” it bloomed with comfort and conviction.
I have taken it up again — along with oh so simple prayers.
On my knees is a safe place, reminding me I did not get through this day on my own – and I sure won’t make it through the night on my own either. A friend and mentor died in her sleep, and from her memorial, I learned another verse from this child’s prayer: a petition that keeps me focused on my own patch of weeds – the concrete ones and the spiritual ones!
If I should live another day
I pray the Lord to guide my way.
Amen (Isaiah 41:13; 42:7)
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