A garden reminder

A new house means a new garden and some plants that I'm not very familiar with, but am enjoying getting to know. We moved into this home about a year ago, and this spring I am finally having the opportunity to work on the surrounding gardens (not a lot, but enough to have some fun!). They've got a great start, but there's room for more! Fortunately, my mom knows what plants are in these gardens (she should, she planted most of them) and has walked me through to show me what is what.

There is one floweirng plant that is pretty prolific along the sides of the house which I'd never seen before, though was familiar with its name - columbine. My familiarity with its name is certainly not from the plant, but from the high school in Littleton, Colorado, that burst into the naton's consciousness a handful of years ago after that devastating tragedy. I suppose this beautiful plant was the source of the school's name.

Over the last week or so, as I look at these lovely flowering plants and work around them, the association has struck me as sad. They really are beautiful, graceful, fine. Ours have pink flowers. It's been a bit distressing to look at these flowers and think of that tragedy. This morning, at a Bible study group I've been attending, a friend brought up the columbines (She's got lots in her garden and was the source for these in ours.) and said that she hasn't been able to look at them the same since the Columbine High School shootings. To hear her say this out loud and to realize that I'd been feeling the same way, really woke me up. This sad thought couldn't be right, couldn't have its source in such a lovely plant.

After I got home and sat down for some more quiet prayer time, I thought further about this issue. I know that God made this plant as He did all plants, and so they must be good and really can only inspire good - in thought or deed. So it just doesn't feel right that something of His creation can cause me or anyone to feel sad or down in any way. How could I turn this around?

Then I realized what I need to do - I need to use that plant as a reminder to pray, especially for children, schools, education, etc. And that's what I've been doing since when I'm outside doing some garden work. When I look at the columbine plants, I take a moment (or a few moments) to pray to really know that God is caring for all of His children, wherever they are - at home, school, on the playground. Or for our schools and school systems, that they are a safe, nurturing environment, effective in their efforts to educate our communities children and teens. Whatever I feel inspired to pray and ponder. And I know that, as I am blessed by having these beautiful flowers in my garden, my prayers are in some way blessing children and schools everywhere.

• Here's a passage from Science and Health that I really love - so poetic! It relates to this idea. Page 240:1
  
  "Nature voices natural, spiritual law and divine Love, but human belief misinterprets nature. Arctic regions, sunny tropics, giant hills, winged winds, mighty billows, verdant vales, festive flowers, and glorious heavens, — all point to Mind, the spiritual intelligence they reflect. The floral apostles are hieroglyphs of Deity. Suns and planets teach grand lessons. The stars make night beautiful, and the leaflet turns naturally towards the light."
  

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

I just finished reading this incredible book! [Yeah, it's been out for a couple of years; just getting to it thanks to my sister-in-law (a newfound book supplier/fellow junkie!).] And it is not, at first glance, something I thought I'd be writing about in this blog, but, wow!, was it good! And so relevant for the time. Kite Runner gives amazing insight into the culture of Afghanistan over the past four decades along with the political and religious upheaval the citizens of the country have endured (a subject about which I've learned quite a bit over the last 4+ years, but of which I still know so little.). Though not containing a focus on spirituality, this book does raise a number of moral and ethical issues - certainly in the spiritual ball park!!

I would probably lump Kite Runner into historical fiction - though it is VERY recent history as it overs the last four decades of the 20th Century. Primarily set in Afghanistan, the story focuses on the life of Amir, born in the early 1960s, and his relationships with his father (Baba), Hassan (the servant's son, who is about the same age). When he is in his late teens, he and his father, under dark of night and with many bribes, emigrate to the United States, leaving behind the shambles of the country they have known and loved. But for the two of them and the other Afghan refugees, Afghanistan continues to be a vital part of their lives. It is truly an intense culture - full of customs and ritual - that they all keep very close.

The relationship of these three characters is probably best expressed by the author on page 11:
______________________________

Hassan and I fed from the same breasts. We took our first steps on the same lawn in the same yeard. And, under the sames roof, we spoke our first words. Mine was Baba. His was Amir. My name. Looking back on it now, I think the foundation for what happened in the winter of 1975 - and all that followed - was already laid in those first words.
______________________________

And this is so true! Baba is one of those bigger-than-life sort of men - great at everything, strong, athletic, successful. Amir wants, more than anything, to please his father, but, as an almost total opposite - awkward, fearful, bookish - never is able to achieve that goal. Hassan is a friend and companion for Amir - he is totally devoted to him and clings to his every word. Hassan is also a Shi'a, a Hazara, a member of the lowest social and religious class. Though he was truly a friend to Amir, Amir could not, would not acknowledge this fact - espcially publicly, yet not even privately to himself. He just could not find it in himself to say that word, no matter how true he knew it was. This moral dilema is a constant struggle for Amir and leads to the events of 1975 and beyond alluded to in the quote above (not going to tell you anything about them as they are pivotal! Read the book!) - events which totally change the lives of Hassan and his father and leave Amir emotionally scarred for the next 25 years. It is Amir's return to Afghanistan at the request of his father's closest and life-long friend that fully reopens these wounds for Amir and brings about healing for him and, essentially, for Hassan.

The ethical and moral issues abound - racial prejudice, religious bigotry, our relationship and responsibilities to our neighbors (i.e., brothers, sisters, friends, family, with all the etc.), standing up for what is right in tough situations - even in the face of possible death, and I am sure more just not coming to thought right now. Amir faces these - loses, deals with the repercussons, and, at the end, wins. Our actions truly do impact our lives - perhaps not openly, in a physical, for-all-the-world-to-see sort of way - but they do, maybe more than the lives of those who bare the obvious hurt. But there is hope of resolution and healing (always!). The end is sweet and satisfying as Amir reaches for this better goal of resolving his past mistakes. This would make Baba truly pleased with Amir!

I litterally could not put this book down! Except for some crucial points where I was just MAD at Amir (e.g., 1975) and then afraid for him (a few in his trip back t his homeland), the book was always at hand and I zipped through it - and I am an admittedly slow reader! I do hope you will read this book if you haven't. Will love to hear your take on it if you have read it or after you do!