Thursday, May 13

Thursday Meditation –   Seeing with faith

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. —Hebrews 11:1-3

It is that time of year to plow fields and sow seeds.  Early in the spring, long before local produce is ready,  I start anticipating the joys of summer and fall vegetables and fruits.  I can see and taste them, even before they are available at the farmer’s markets.  Not a farmer myself,  I can only imagine the sense of hopeful vision and anticipation the farmer has looking out over a field freshly plowed and seeded.   Although still bare to the eye,  the farmer “sees” the field in full harvest.   

And it is that time of year when birds are nest building and eggs are laid.   Yesterday I watched a hummingbird pull fluff from a cattail for its nest.  Today I watched in delight as two crows broke twigs from one tree and flew to another tree to build a nest together, gently warbling as they worked together.  [who knew crows warbled gently?]

One of the gifts of spring is to remind us that life is always unfolding;  that God’s love is ever present if we have the eyes of the heart and soul to see.  Like the farmer sowing seeds in faith, like the birds building nests, if we live our lives seeing through eyes of faith we won’t lose sight of God’s presence of  hope and promise of eternal renewal in all creation and situations.

Following  is a story of the sunflower seed by Thich Naht Hanh, a Buddhist monk.  In his story he conveys a wonderful lesson on relating to what is real.  In order to hear what is not said and in order to see what is not yet visible requires waiting with patience, open mindedness, open heartedness and conviction that what is not hear and what is not seen is real.

“I live in Plum Village, in the Dordogne region of southwest France, an area known for its sunflowers. But people who come to Plum Village in April do not see any sunflowers. They hear people saying that there are many sunflowers around, but they cannot see them anywhere. However, if you ask the farmers in the region, they will tell you that they can see the sunflowers very well, because they have already sown the sunflower seeds. They have ploughed the earth, sown the seeds, and spread manure. They know that there only needs to be one more condition for the sunflowers to manifest. That final condition is warmth. As the weather begins to warm up, the sunflower seeds will sprout, and, if the weather continues to be warm in June or July, the sunflowers will bloom.

“So the farmers can see things that the visitor cannot yet see. We say that there isn’t a sunflower here because we cannot see all the latent causes and conditions lying in wait. We have the tendency to think that as long as we can’t see the sunflowers, they don’t exist, and that once we can see the sunflowers, they suddenly do exist…….That is why we shouldn’t wait until we see big yellow flowers blooming in the fields to say that the sunflowers are there. They are there, just hidden, and whether or not we see them is only a matter of time and latent conditions”.   

O Dancer of Creation,
the earth awakens to an urgent call to grow.
In the hidden recesses of my wintered spirit
I, too, hear the humming of your voice,
calling me, wooing my deadness back to life.

My soul yawns, stretches, quickens,
as the energy of Spring revives my weariness.
I sit with wonder, observing the steady activity
of downy woodpeckers and newly yellowed finch.
I do so wait with the avid attention of a child’s first look,
savoring the colors and shapes of earth’s loveliness.

As the filtering patterns of early sunlight
lift the shades of green in every growing thing,
I enter into spring’s unlettered words of life.
For a while my doubts, anxieties, and worries
become like chapters in some ancient book
whose text no longer claims my full attention.
I am content to sit, watching Spring
turn the pages of this animated publication,
eager to discover the invigorating story
reflected in my own springtime revelation.

Tell me, Wise Awakener,
why is it easier to believe in a stem of new grass,
or the opening bud of a fresh purple crocus,
than it is to believe in the greening of me?

-Poem by Joyce Rupp, Prayer Seeds

Loving Father, I can be so entrenched in my own thinking that sometimes I doubt Your Word and question Your promises, often wishing I had some concrete 'proof’ of Your love for me – and yet Your Word gives me all the affirmation of this absolute reality I need – for Your Word and Promises are sure and Your faithfulness stretches beyond the limits of time and space. Thank You for the gift of faith, and I pray that day by day my loving trust in You and the reality of Your Word will become increasingly established within my heart – for I long to please You in all I say and do and am. It is Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.

Photo by Marco De Hevia on Unsplash