We hear a lot about mindfulness these days. I’m not really sure what that means, but it reminds me of the program’s emphasis on living one day at a time, enjoying one moment at a time. I also understand it is finding ways to turn off my monkey brains and becoming aware of what’s around me, of opening myself to the otherness of what is.
It’s been hot and dry, not the best weather for a brisk walk, so I got up early to walk in the cool of the morning. All around me was God’s lovely garden. Lush green trees. Corn as high as an elephant’s eye. Daylilies and cone flowers strutting their stuff. Ivy-covered banks. But what took my breath away was the stunning display of Queen Anne’s lace and cornflowers growing alongside the road. The velvet blue of the cornflowers intermingled with the dainty white blossoms of the wild carrots (Queen Anne’s Lace) all my worries and stresses disappeared in the presence of such beauty.
Crossing to the other side of the road allowed me to discover trumpet vine and wild clover tucked around the base of the taller flowers, and I found myself pondering Jesus’ words: “Consider the lilies of the field, They neither sow nor reap yet your Father in Heaven cares for them.” And then came the words of the old hymn, In the Garden.
I come to the garden alone
While the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear
The Son of God discloses
And he walks with me, and he talks with me
And he tells me I am his own
And the joy we share as we tarry there
None other has ever known.