Blooming Lovely!

I don’t normally put posts on this blog about the garden and photos of the blooms as they come out each season, but the truth is, I am presently unable to get my thoughts together creatively. At present the Silver Birch trees are shimmering in a stiff breeze but later they will be drenched with rain. So too the rest of the garden. We needed this rain as the ground, largely solid with roots, was getting truly dried out. A few days of showers and blooms fill the garden like jewels in a pirate’s treasure chest. For indeed, my plants are my jewels. I have never bought or desired gold and precious stones. I look out at the garden, or walk outside, and I am drenched in the beauty that meets my eyes. Jewels may sparkle but so do raindrops on leaves and petals. My jewels have scent and touch to delight the senses. Their colours gladden the eye. The trees whisper in the breeze and wave a welcome. None of these, my jewels, have to be locked away. They make a home for nesting birds and provide nectar for busy bees. A garden is a welcoming place to lift a weary heart and gives cheer to all who enter. Birds come to feed and provide for their young. Their singing is music to the ear, their presence a never ending joy. A garden whispers peace in a chaotic world

Tree stump covered in clematis - a few weeks and it will be covered in roses!

The frog stands guard!

Brightening the path

Brightening the shadows

Magic

 

Lighting up a dark morning

What is magic?

 

Children are intrigued by ‘magic’. We too can be delightfully mystified by the very notion that some things can happen completely beyond expectations. We don’t understand what is happening, it is beyond reason, it may be beautiful and awesome, it is magical! 

I come downstairs on a cold dark morning and switch on the tree lights. Magical! No, not because electricity is beyond my comprehension but because it does something to ME… something to lift my mood, something to make me come alive to joy and beauty — dispelling gloom and welcoming a new day bright with promise. Outside is darkness, inside is joy and beauty. I am alive, to live, to hope and dream. Why? Because I can appreciate when light enters my heart and mind. Magical!

Of course, there are no end to things, especially within nature, that can have the same effect. A rainbow set against a slate-blue sky, sunlight on frozen drops of water like brilliant diamond necklaces, a blanket of sparkling frost, sunlight dancing on water…

Yesterday we walked back from town and passed by two young children sitting by the window of their cottage. One was dressed like a fairy and bobbing up and down. The other was sitting on his chair looking forlorn and eating a large potato crisp from a container.

“A fairy has flown off the Christmas tree,” I said as we were passing by.

The girl pointed to two notices in childlike writing. “We’re selling crisps for charity” she said.

The little boy looked up. “We’ve only got 6p,” he said sorrowfully.

I called my husband back and plundered his small change. I gave it to the girl and was offered the crisp container.

“No thanks,” I said.

A smile on their faces was all I wanted. Magical!

It took me back years ago when I was training for teaching. It was Christmas and our reception class, like the rest of the school, had a turn to put on for the school concert. I chose an action song where all the children could take part, singing and acting. The main characters were dressed up. I chose a girl who rarely spoke and never smiled. She was thin, pale, and her clothes often shabby and inappropriate for the cold weather. I dressed her up in frothy fine pink nylon to be the ‘sleeping princess’ who was to marry the handsome prince.

“Doesn’t Angela look lovely!” said one of the children, awe-struck .

Angela smiled. And so did everyone else. Angela WAS a beautiful princess that had slept for a long time but was now awake to her own beauty! The whole room lit up. MAGIC!

And that is the magic of Christmas. Not the eating and drinking. The extravagance and  false sentiment, but seeing the truth of what is already there if only we have eyes to see. God with us. Awesome.  Magic!