by Chris Koellhoffer, IHM May 19, 2024
This spring, resurrections appeared early and everywhere. I saw notices of rising in the blooming forsythia in our front yard and the tribe of dandelions dotting our lawn. Daily, I scrutinized these first golden appearances, feeling like a contemporary Mary Magdalene searching for proof of life in a hidden garden. True, we still had patches of stubborn snow in the parking lot and piles of decayed leaves scattered along the street. But they were no match for splashes of bright yellow interrupting a dull landscape.
Surrounded by so much golden aliveness, I was reminded of one of the first poems I ever memorized, Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay”:
Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
The poet is right on about nothing gold staying around for long in early spring. Now, some weeks after its glorious display, the forsythia bush shows only leaf subsiding to leaf. The dandelions have lost their color and launched wisps of seed into the universe. In the natural world, our chance meetings with beauty may be fleeting. However, even a brief encounter with the beautiful or the good or the holy has the power to in some way move us toward transformation.
I thank these harbingers of spring for reminding us that the life of the spirit isn’t governed by the same calendar or timetable as the spring gold that can’t stay for long or the seasonal gold that quickly fades. In the life of the spirit, beauty lingers. Goodness touches us. Compassion remains. We are forever marked by people and experiences that dwell in memory.
So yes, we may be long past the spring season when nothing gold can stay. But by the grace of the Holy One, may we be blessed by other, more enduring kinds of gold that impel us to be our best selves. The teacher who encourages our curiosity and ignites our love affair with learning. The friend who is powerless to change our circumstances or take away our pain, but who sits with us in our anguish, saying little but listening intently. The parent or guardian who cheers our every sign of growth. The furry companion who wants nothing more than to settle beside us and embody unconditional love. The peony returning every year to unfold its petals and scent our garden. The holy ones who give their lives over in love to create a more just, inclusive, and tender world. May their presence abide with us. May we hold them all with a grateful heart and may their memory rise in remembrance. May the gold of these lives remain, persist, endure forever.
I’m grateful to Carlo Carretto in “Blessed Are You Who Believed” for naming so beautifully the resurrections that continue for us each and every season:
When you forgive your enemy
When you feed the hungry
When you defend the weak
you believe in the resurrection.
When you have the courage to marry
When you welcome the newly-born child
When you build your home
you believe in the resurrection.
When you wake at peace in the morning
When you sing to the rising sun
When you go to work with joy
you believe in the resurrection.
Takeaway
Sit in stillness with the Holy One.
Place before you an image or photo that speaks of resurrection. Or take a walk in your neighborhood and notice whatever reflects courage or promise.
Take in what you see and hear and smell and touch.
Reflect on the rising of life around you.
Give thanks to the Holy One and hold in tenderness all those in our world who are yearning for signs of fresh hope.
Featured Image: Dominick Scythe, Unsplash
NOTE:
Blessings of Spirit as we celebrate Pentecost. Thank you for sharing your gifts of encouragement and prayerfulness and openness as you witness to Spirit in your everyday lives.
May all who travel this Memorial Day week have safe and peaceful journeys and may whatever you’re about these days be restful and restorative.
To automatically subscribe to receive new posts from Mining the Now:
Go to the Home Page of Mining the Now (chriskoellhofferihm.org)* In the left-hand column above the section marked “Archives,” you’ll see the words, “Subscribe to blog via email.”
Enter your email address in the space provided and then click on “Subscribe” and follow any prompts. You’ll then be subscribed to automatically receive any future blog posts from Mining the Now.
NOTE: If you are trying to subscribe while using a mobile phone, you may have to take another step. As you look at the blog post, there should be 3 horizontal lines at the top right of the page. Click on these lines and you’ll be taken to what’s on the left hand column (on a laptop or PC). Scroll down and follow the directions at * above.
Thank you for following!