Whatever He Says

  It’s easy in these days of seclusion to wear the same clothes for days on end, for who will notice? But nature changes her dress daily! Today, the maple keys that were chartreuse tinged with cranberry just days ago are softer in colour: silk green and watermelon dusted with silver. Everything changes in a day. And the seasons are no exception. No fall, winter, spring or summer is quite the same as another in sensory experience. We can have such particular memories of one sultry summer etched into our consciousness, the colour palette of a specific fall; all purple, blue, orange and white, or the deep cold winter of 1947, for instance. We are richer for paying attention—noticing the clever folds of a forsythia flower and the delicate frill of an autumn olive blossom; admiring the work of One who delights in beauty for its own sake. Almost home on my morning walk, a young man in a black baseball cap, tank top and shorts, pushes a stroller towards me. A small vision of loveliness ...

It is May again. I love this month for hopeful buds and fruit-filled seed pods scattered on the edges of streets and some on the soil where they may find a place to take root. It feels like such a miracle, this annual victory of life over what seemed like death, so cold, determined and definite a closure. But life returns. Life is in birdsong and the spring of grass beneath my feet. How strong the life force in a blade of grass—and what weight they do uphold when mustered together. I walk and feel, see, smell, and hear evidence of the miracle of life. I give thanks for the beauty of planet earth –the blue dome above us, the warmth on my shoulders cloaked in sun rays. In my years of growing old, I am grateful for life-lived, even more, thankful for life now, with children grown, grandchildren, and a life partner who loves me and whom I love, after all our years together. These things are so precious, as are the many friendships that I treasure. Yet I know now not to cling to them. God g...