I did not plant them. And yet, there they are. Blooming in my garden. A bouquet of lavender petunias. And one strikingly tall sunflower. How they did this is both gift and mystery to me. Among all the other plants and bushes I did plant and tend, some blooming with more success than others, I have now added these two guests to my care. In the gardening world, I believe they are called ‘volunteers’…they volunteered themselves to make beauty in my yard, to bloom where they were planted.
Who understands such a phenomenon? Who can give language to these many gifts that show up at our doors? Who can speak with adequate eloquence of such mysteries? It seems to fall to the poets and artists to do so. Of course, Mary Oliver, poet and observer of all life’s beauty said:”Truly, we live with mysteries too marvelous to be understood.” You can say that again, wise poet!
Truth be told, I have never been a fan of petunias. And I would probably never have chosen this particular shade of lavender. Yet I have come to love it as much as the other blooms scattered about the yard. And sunflowers never fail to floor me so I have watched this stalk, now taller than I am, grow and grow and open its sunny, yellow face to the Sun. Today I stood and watched as the bees collecting energy for their journey fed on the golden brown center. If all goes according to the stalks’ plans, there are three more floral blossoms to appear before autumn makes its inevitable entrance and the flowers fade.
These two blooming volunteers have given me much to remember and reflect upon in these steamy days at summer’s waning. Whether gift or mystery, we are surrounded by so much that comes to us from no work or effort on our part. Of course, we need look no further than our dinner tables. I think of the abundance of summer vegetables coming our way right now. Some people may have a backyard garden but the majority of us rely on the planting, harvesting, transporting and selling of the food that nourishes our bodies. People we have never known and whose lives we can only imagine have toiled on our behalf. They have made sacrifices we know nothing about. They have sweat in the morning sun, ate home-packed lunches in the heat of the day, then dragged themselves home in various states of exhaustion. They have battled sun, rain, insects and working conditions both just and unjust. And this says nothing of the animals who offer their very lives for the protein that graces our diets. So many gifts. So much mystery.
As for me, I want to walk the world in awareness of all the many concentric circles of connection that bind us to one another, living as human beings having a spiritual experience. I want to never take for granted those who have labored and offered gifts for my living, whose lives are intertwined with mine. In the minutiae of the daily, it is often difficult. I get bogged down in the lists I make, the details I try to accomplish. But on a good day…in a particular moment…I become awakened to these invisible threads of connection that make my life possible and my heart is lifted in gratitude.
So today, I will say thank you to the petunia and the sunflower for starters. Again, as Mary Oliver urges:
‘Let me keep company with those who say
“Look!” and laugh in astonishment,
and bow their heads.’
Yes. Yes, indeed.