daisy – Blisswood

Learning How to Fly

Fledgling Starling Rests Briefly Before its Next Take Off ~ Shared by M.

Christ is Risen!

It’s truly amazing how much God loves us all… including those precious little fledgling birds “coming in hot” and touching down safely in daisy dotted fields!

It’s hard work learning how to fly! I KNOW, because I tried really hard when I was around three or four years old… Vaulting off picnic tables and launching myself out from low tree branches.

My hair (styled in required pig-tails) although catching the wind, never helped with upward thrust. It was a rude awakening that my flapping arms were simply too slow, and just couldn’t cut a decent lift off.

Never thwarted for long, I logically hatched a brand new plan on my high-tech Etch-a-Sketch (taking in all previous failings and fallings into account), and a brand new, final experiment became that day’s Swan Song.

Let’s just say it could have ended more disastrously, with my leaping high off the top bunk bed (bumping my head on the ceiling) all while holding a balloon. Gravity prevailed, and I wouldn’t blame my long-suffering Guardian Angel if he may have pondered an immediate transfer that day, but has stolidly stuck with me… And still protects me! (Thank you Holy Guardian Angel!)

Mom, ever-commiserating, consoled me. First, by telling me to stop bleeding all over her newly washed kitchen floor, and second, distractingly bandaging my bruises, along with sharing the amazing concept – there were other “ways” we can soar aloft… in our minds and hearts! That it’s our souls that have invisible wings! God made us all special, in our own ways.

Today, I’m sitting placidly beside an open window and joyfully hearing the many kinds of birds in my yard singing sweet songs of praise, who are Blessing the Name of the Lord, from henceforth and forever more!

Meanwhile, I’m still learning how to fly in the way God wants me to. It’s a life-long process. Happily, there are inklings of updraft, and for that I’m grateful.

God is Good!

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father… Fear ye not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. ~ St. Matthew 10:29,31

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. ~ St. Luke 12:6,7

Truly He is Risen!

Silent Peace of Prayer

Image by Basil Smith from Pixabay

More than all things love silence: it brings you a fruit that tongue cannot describe. In the beginning we have to force ourselves to be silent. But then there is born something that draws us to silence. May God give you an experience of this ‘something’ that is born of silence. If you only practice this, untold light will dawn on you in consequence…after a while a certain sweetness is born in the heart of this exercise and the body is drawn almost by force to remain in silence. ~ St. Isaac of Syria

It is good to learn to pray without words, with the breath and the beating of our hearts, for silence is the perfect prayer. Silence is the language of God. We learn His language as we do other languages, through listening intently and practicing what we hear. ~ Fr. Antony Hughes

We can only meet God in the present moment. This is an area where God chooses to place limits on His own power. We choose whether or not to live in the present moment. Because we can encounter God only in that present moment, whenever we live in the past or in the future, we place ourselves beyond His reach.~ Archimandrite Meletios Webber

Little Suns on Stems

Be like a dandelion, whenever they fall apart, they start again. Have hope. ~ Anonymous

Love all creation, the whole of it and every grain of sand within it. Love every leaf, every ray of God’s light. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things.~ Starets Zosima, in Fyodor Dostoevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov

Dandelions make me smile. They were the first backyard flowers I ever picked, and seemed like beautiful, brilliant, little suns on stems. My mom lovingly placed many bedraggled bouquets into vases all around our home.

I picked daisies too, and was delighted that when turned upside down, they became tiny white tutus tinged with rosy pink edges. It was the first thing in my young life that I ever coveted… a daisy–petal ballerina skirt. Yes, the “clothing thing” starts pretty young for some of us gals.

Fast-forward 50 years to church (this has absolutely nothing to do with dandelions)… where I helped my very young granddaughter venerate an icon. There happened to be an angel in it… an angel with… red shoes. My granddaughter, stood in deep contemplation (which I assumed to be a pious moment), until she whispered fiercely, “Baba, I want those shoes!” But, I digress, and since there wasn’t (to my knowledge), a local Byzantine Payless Shoes Store on this side of the Bosphorus, we can at least agree the gal “clothing/shoe thing” indeed seems inherent. Let us return again to the topic of dandelions.

I remember being around 4, and handing a fistful of crumpled suns to a visiting, elderly relative. Expecting to hear a grateful thank you, she instead recoiled in horror and hissed, “Weeds!”

What on earth were weeds? They sound terrible… horrible! Determined to defend, I stubbornly objected. “But, God made flowers! How can they be bad?” Of course that didn’t fly well with the visiting relative, and although the incident ended in a stalemate between her and I – God won that round.

Later, as a teen mowing our lawn (under duress), I observed how prolific and tenacious those blessed dandelions could be. They even pop up through cement cracks! Wow. Now that’s perseverance! Oh, that I could be just a little like that!

Whether by chance or design, and through a “herby” friend (who’d scoop up chickweed for a chew), I stumbled upon how healthy and nutritious dandelions are (unsprayed of course)! They’re literally everywhere! God created them, and they’re filled with His goodness. Who knows what other exciting benefits they hold? Time will tell.

Meanwhile, a young grandchild recently wove two dandelion-chain crowns, and solemnly placed one of the diadems on my head. We took a regal selfie together… oblivious to the sticky, white, sap dripping onto our bangs.

I thank God, Who, in His Wisdom and compassion, created the noble, persistent, dandelion – and grandchildren.

Here is a super video on “how to” choose and eat dandelion greens! If you pick them yourself, do make sure they’re unsprayed, and not too big. Otherwise they may be bitter, tough and furry! But when you time it just right, they’re amazing!

May your Lenten Journey be peaceful, fruitful, and green.