Transplanting Iris: Anticipation and Imagination

An iris root is called a rhizome: a fleshy system that grows horizontally and very near the soil surface. After three or four years the rhizomes are exhausted and weak. Fewer or no flowers are the clues. The rhizomes need to be dug and broken up - the spent and unhealthy parts disposed of. Whatever is clean and salvageable can then be planted in a different place or in the same spot with the soil first renewed.

July and August are the months for transplanting iris as they need weeks of warm soil to grow new roots before the heaving frosts. So it is a time of imagining and anticipation. How will all this investment of time and energy pay off? What will the garden look like next May. 

Living in the moment, to be sure, but the spiritual life also allows for some imagination and anticipation - some wonder!

I might anticipate or imagine

my country unified again,

caring about each other,
welcoming,
hospitable and hopeful, 

beyond the conspiracy theories,
endless rallies,

washed clean of hatred and
prejudices,
conspiracy theories,

party and personality adulation.

I might anticipate and imagine

the Church,

healed of this next wave of

sexual harassment,

abuse,

power manipulation and

concealment,

and so planted in the Gospel

that people come running

to be part of it.

I might anticipate and imagine

myself,

less dispirited,

less anxious

more patient, peaceful and 

accepting -

happier really.

Did you hear the news item this week - that for all we have in this country - for all our "freedoms" - we come in only at number 18 as the happiest people in the world? Slipping another 4 points since last year alone. There are 17 countries who reflect that they are happier than Americans. What's that about? And could this be true - that overdose is now the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50?  

It's Iris transplanting time - a time of imagining and anticipation. We might allow it to inform our prayer.

And here's a Spring-blooming Iris called Good Morning Sunshine. Worth waiting for, no? Keeping hope alive.