Seeds and Sunrises

This morning, I started my day on the back porch swing with a cup of coffee and a book. Yesterday’s cool front brought a calm chill to the morning air here in Central Texas. I breathed in the cool air and felt it fill my lungs. It was centering.

And, then what happens only a few days a year from the vantage of the porch swing…. happened. The sun rose over the horizon and kindly touched me with its light. In early November the sun offers this magical gift to whomever is on the swing at the right time as it rises into a small gap in the grove of pecan trees that call our neighborhood home. I wonder if this is what the druids felt during the summer solstice at Stonehenge as the sun hit just the right spot in the stones…that connection to something bigger, a reminder of the cosmic promises always there amidst our human highs and lows. The light felt comforting, like it was holding me, like it was saying to me, “I’m here for you today.”

Later in the day, I began class with some students by having them join me in spreading wildflower seeds outside. Bluebonnet and Blanket seeds. Round and fluffy seeds. All sorts of seeds! In the evening twilight, we cast out the seeds like sowers in some ancient parable. We cast out seeds we hope will come up in the spring to fill the tummies of pollinators and put smiles of children’s faces. We cast out seeds in hope…hope for the future.

What if our response to days when we feel hi and joyful, or low and uncertain…is the same response? Creation has been teaching us our whole life how to respond to whatever may come. The Sun greets every morning with light, warmth, and a new day…shining down equally on all things, so trustworthy and steadfast that we set our clocks to its perceived movement. And seeds, these little arks of potential and life, are just hiding under the surface, waiting for the right moment to germinate, ready to humbly emerge when we and Earth need them most.

How has your day been? Has it been a high? Has it been a low? Either way, know that the seeds and the sunrises are here with wisdom and inspiration to help you respond to this day and all to come.

Peace, Harold

The picture for this post was taken in my front yard where I removed an area of turf grass and spread wildflower seeds to begin creating a pollinator garden for the spring.