Grace

After a cool, damp week the sun is out! June is on the horizon and the irises are about to bloom. Most of the garden is planted and rows of tender plants have appeared in the raised beds. Lovely!

Here in Vermont the trees are a dense, lush green. Plants need to take full advantage of our four to five months of warm weather, and go about the tasks of reproducing and storing energy with vigor. By late July the foliage will begin to thin, already preparing for the autumn to come.

The birds are using the feeders less as other food sources become available. When the feeders are empty we will take them down and store them until October. Come the first chilly days of autumn the birds will remind us to bring out the food; we have a good working relationship!

I like to remember we have our own internal seasons. Sometimes the inside and outside worlds are in sync, other times not. Lately I have found myself diving deeply into the interior, even as the Natural world is bursting into furious activity. This could feel jarring but thus far has been OK. I seem able to stand with a foot in each world, shifting between them as need be, and am rewarded by moments of grace.

Grace reminds me to be grateful for my life, family and friends, and the Beauty surrounding me, even as I feel disappointed and angry with much that is unfurling in the world. It encourages me to be concerned for my grandchildren, and curious as to how we humans will manage the road ahead.

In dark, difficult, times it is easy to forget that spring invariably follows winter, that life sprouts anew when given any opportunity. This will be so as long as there is life on our precious blue-green planet. May we take refuge and comfort in that.