New Year, New Beginnings

January 1, 2010.  Only one 0 following that 2 -- how far we've travelled since the New Year when the world welcomed the 21st century....

Some parts of the US are buried in snow.  In Chicago the temperature didn't get to 20.  In Colorado and Utah it was in the 30's.  In Boise, ID and in Groveland, temps in the 40's were promised.  In Seattle it was 54 when I looked, with a forecast of rain all weekend.

In Honolulu, it's 80.   My mother is cold; she has the house closed up, and is wrapped in a fleece blanket.

As I look out across the back garden, I see masses of color -- oranges, greens, golds, reds.  This Red Ginger, blooming in the front garden under my bedroom window, missed being part of a Christmas bouquet by being the only red ginger in bloom.

There are Monarch butterflies in the backyard, probably drawn to the badly overgrown crownflower plants, which they love.  They also enjoy the Cup-and-Saucer bush.  A year ago this bush was so heavily pruned that it was nothing but 4' tall stakes.  Those top branches are now about 8' in the air!

Here's a close up-up of the flower so you can see how the plant gets its name.  The cup-and-saucer bush reminds me that plants grow stronger after occasional strong prunings.  People do, too.  I need to remind myself of that more often.  In a little book that has been on my bookshelf at home since college years, titled The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran writes on "Joy and Sorrow".  He says,

...Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.
And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.
And how else can it be?
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain....


I must look for things about which I can be joyful, for which I can give thanks.  Today I give thanks for the sunshine, the flowers, and the butterflies. 


Don't forget to pray ....