Gifts for this Time

I was traipsing about the garden this week, with a few tasks to get around to eventually, when I noticed this butternut (juglans cinerea) seedling. I was very happy to see it growing!

I had gathered a large bucket of butternuts from a tree near my home last fall. I left them in the bucket all winter. This is not really how I should have stored them if I intended to plant them. They were subject to bouts of dryness or rain, but not an even moisture and cold. I cracked a bunch of them over the winter for an amazingly delicious cookie recipe. The shells are tough and intricate, yet almost with a feathery or oyster-shell form.

And I had a few handfuls left, so I planted 6-10 in pots to see if they would grow. I had been thinking I wouldn’t see any. But one grew!

So, based on this solitary tree and the hope of it growing in a community of trees, I’m wondering…

In this new season of not-quite-post pandemic life,

What gifts in solitude and distance have you received that can shape your days now?

Amidst recent anxieties, uncertainties and strains and struggles, what husk have you shed, clarifying for you your soul’s seed-form, its limitations and gifts, your desire for what is good and true and beautiful, that which will lead your growth and maturing?

How will you return to life and worship in community, your share of care and responsibility for life together, life on earth, raising up your life to be part of others?

I encourage you who are able to to give alms, sharing what you have. And I encourage you to find ways to reconnect with a local christian congregation or community. You will not only be bringing yourself, but also the ways you might bring others to be part there.