Being Unbound: 29 March 2009

Dear Friends,

A few years ago we built a couple of raised gardens, surrounding them with a weed barrier covered by bark. In the smaller raised garden I planted a mix of wild flowers. Now, I am by no means a master gardener nor am I all that certain if it’s annuals or perennials that come up every year, at least not without looking it up, so I was a bit surprised the garden did so well. Once in full bloom, there was a beautiful display of brilliant colors and flowers that were a delight to my eye and the hummingbirds and butterflies as well throughout the summer and into autumn. At the end of the season, as the frosty weather arrived, I set about clearing the now dried up plants out the gardens. Winter came and went and the following spring plans were made to plant vegetables in both gardens. As the growing season came along, I noticed something a bit odd: surrounding the smaller garden, pushing through the weed barrier and bark, emerged some of the wild flower plants, which apparently seeded themselves the previous fall. Once again there were abundant flowers and colors to grace the landscape but this time around the vegetable gardens and this time I had not planted them there. They rose up anew and in a very different place. And…they continue to do so, in new places, every year.

I ponder this today as I begin planning this year’s garden and wonder where these wild flowers will emerge this year. I wonder if even though having been planted somewhere specific for a season of life, the scattering of the seeds that are our lives, causing us to be raised up in a new place (in mind, in heart, in spirituality) and time is not only possible but perhaps inevitable.

The story of Raising Lazarus (John 11:1-45) is another familiar one for many of us. Jesus hears Lazarus is ill, waits instead of rushing to him, Lazarus dies and is placed in a tomb, Jesus arrives and calls to Lazarus to come out – and Lazarus does. My curious mind would really like to know what happened to Lazarus after being raised up. What did he do? Was he different? How was his life different? Or, was it life as usual? Did they have a party to celebrate? But…I get stuck on the final words of Jesus: “Untie him and let him go” (verse 44). And I think those words have a lot to do with us and our religious and spiritual dimensions.

Part of taking inventory, or pondering our lives – where we’ve been, where we are, where we’re going, even who we are – can often bring us to questions: Am I in the right place? Have my beliefs changed or grown since childhood? Are my beliefs all wrapped up and tucked safely away in an unchanging and confining box? Is it even conceivable for me to imagine being outside the box of my own making? How do I define who God is now? Is there a possibility that the ties that have bound me (in faith, in thinking, in living) can be loosened to allow the seeds of me to be planted and allowed to flourish and blossom in a new place or in a new way?

And then there are two other important questions…What ARE the ties that do bind me? And do I choose to be unbound and scattered into newness by the breath of the Sacred Mover?

Peace on the Journey