Dear Reader:

Lately I have included in my daily prayers a little addendum that basically says “Give me continued strength to keep growing, Lord.”

How easy it is, as we grow older, to slowly let go of growing in the sense of learning new things…things that should still fill us with wonder, awe, and excitement. I ask my guardian angel to “bend over me and remind me in a whisper to “grow, grow, grow.” 

In educational terms…we call this becoming a lifetime learner... not just intellectually, but for me spiritually.

We must continue to be open to daily miracles that remind us Who is still in charge of this world we call home. Witnessing God’s Hand in each day keeps us shaking our heads in astonishment at the wonders of such a Creator.

With limited mobility to be out and about with people during our”stay home” pandemic restrictions…I, now, turn inward to books and conversations to keep learning within the home… and outward in my garden …to witness the miracle of life on a continuous basis. Every new bloom makes me soar in happiness.

If you’re green, you grow…if you’re ripe you rot.” Kermit the frog had it right all along. In order to keep growing, both physically and spiritually, we have to continue to stay green…to stay open to new experiences and challenges. We have to deliberately choose to keep growing.

Yet…don’t we fight this every day? We spend much of our lives trying to protect ourselves against life…to get past the constant “green” of change in the early stages of life and get settled into a “ripe” sense of security …good health, abundant savings, and controllers of time.

But no matter how hard we try to outsmart life…it always wins. Life doesn’t allow complacency and “security.” It is a series of challenges from the time we are born until we die. In order to live…in order to continue producing “green sprouts” year after year…we have to quit fighting the ups and downs of life…and instead accept them for what they are…life.

Most of us have to get backed in a corner to accept difficult changes in our lives…until we eventually arrive “at the day when the risk it takes to remain tight in the bud is more painful than the risk it takes to blossom.”  * (Anais Nin)

So until tomorrow…Life is constant change and  growth… We must continue to fight the odds, to find the courage to produce one more tiny speck of green, to let go of the familiar, and instead, show the world our unique bloom in it.

“Today is my favorite day.”  Winnie the Pooh

What’s blooming in the garden today:

Vikki, Lee, and Rhodes live downtown, downtown Charleston…about as downtown as you can get ….where they run the ‘Not-So-Hostel” hostel. It doesn’t leave much room for planting…but then planting doesn’t take much room to bring amazing results…especially with Vikki as the gardener.

With lantana planted along the back pathway…Vikki has saved her little plot of land to produce a vegetable garden. She has planted…tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers, basil, carrots, broccoli, kale, beets, and salad greens. (My mouth is watering…just thinking about the fresh summer vegetables!) Way to go Vikki!

Thanks Tommy for my Clemson mask…it came yesterday and I love it…now that I have two masks…it will be easier to wash one and let it dry… while I wear the other one! Go Tigers!

I have always loved this cartoon as a teacher…(seen in Education Station/Mary Davies) but I realized the other day it, also, provides a good metaphor for the pandemic….

Before the crisis…the world was just swinging along when suddenly one unnoticed ‘germ’ knocks all of us off the swing…a new kind of physics and motion problem in the world.

***Now we have to make the choice to do all we can to help everyone get back “in the swing” again and soar!