This lovely purple Columbine is blooming near the chapel here. It grows in dappled light under an Arborvitae, so the sun doesn't scorch it. Columbines used to be called Mary's Slippers. I'm thinking maybe it's the flower in bud that more resembles a slipper. Be that as it may, I would finetune it abit and simply call the flower, Mary's Footsteps.
Remembering Mary's footsteps, her Visitation comes to mind — her hastily arranged journey to share with her elder relative, Elizabeth, the happy new of her pregnancy and her prayer-declaration, "For he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name," Luke 1:49. Another translation says, "The Lord has done marvels for me..." We can all announce that!
I'm color-blind, but the May trees are such a green, even I can see it.
That there is a light spring rain this early morning,
That the bees made the honey for my A.M. tea,
That there are such good people in my life,
That I was taught to read as a young boy,
That I had a wonderful dinner with my sister this week,
That the robin is still sitting on her nest in the peach tree,
That my phone takes photographs,
That this computerized message will go around the world...
you get the idea.
But there is more. In the Middle Ages the Columbine was considered an important medical herb used as a cure for "pestilence." How appropriate is this for today. The word pestilence usually refers to the plague, but it can also refer to anything that is considered harmful or evil. How un-Christly, when someone thinks of others as a pestilence. In which case, a heart can be pestilent — poisoned.
We need to stop wondering so much about other people and give our energies more to recounting the Lord's marvels. There are so many!
