THE GARDEN IS WINDING DOWN. The leaves of plants and trees are exhausted from their hard work. But there are still some late blooming flowers and some others hanging on that delight us. We might yet find a zinnia like this one blooming - Zinnia Elegans (Elegant) and a bumblebee with folded and translucent wings adding a sound dimension.
These are difficult days. A woman writes of her tearful sorrow, hearing of the death of yet another baby left in a sealed up car. The depraved death-menace of ISIS. The 40,000 traumatized children of Gaza in need of psychological healing after weeks of rocket-rain. A conflict in Eastern Ukraine so intense the dead cannot even be claimed for burial. The plague-like spread of Ebola,
But then there is this little garden-burst of yellow. A reminder of how lovely the planet could still be if we'd only stop fighting. Saint Paul reminds us of these things in his letter to the Philippians:
Do all you have to do without grumbling or arguing, so that you may be blameless and harmless, faultless children of God, living in a warped and diseased age, and shining like lights in a dark world. For you hold up in your hands the very word of life. (Philippians 2: 14,15)
My brothers and sisters I need only add this. If you believe in goodness and if you value the approval of God, fix your minds on whatever is true and honourable and just and pure and lovely and admirable...and the God of peace will be with you. (Philippians 4:8,9)
