Celebrate Life

Let us celebrate life! Let us celebrate all that we can see; hear; smell; touch; and feel. Lives in many forms, -- human companions, flowers and trees, birds and woodland creatures, -- come from the bounty of God, -- and are ours to enjoy.

Let us be more than casual observers of life! Many aspects of life are hidden from casual observation.

The essential "good" of a peanut, its edible part, is hidden inside its shell. The flavor of a peanut or any food is not known until we taste it. The "good" part of sunflower seed, also, is found inside its covering. Squirrels and chipmunks, as we, have learned the same truth. (Life that wishes to enjoy the fruits of peanuts and sunflowers must look inside the outer coverings).

Along with the edible "good" we find in life, there is "good" that contributes to the continuity of life. The seed of a peanut or a sunflower is "good" to eat. It also holds within itself the potential for a new life.

Hidden aspects of life may enchant us with their mystery. If we cut an apple in half, keeping the cut perpendicular to the stem, we will see that the seeds are aranged in the shape of the apple blossom, or a star.

There is mystery, too, in what seems to be, an inert pine cone. The scales of a fully-opened pine cone will close tightly if the cone is placed in water. The closing of the pine cone reveals to us the action of a fresh cone in autumn. At the time for "planting", the Creator insures that winged seeds will have optimal flights to new growing places. Only after warm days, will a pine cone's scales open for the dispersal of seeds. In rainy weather, the scales of pine cones close. The Creator, however, does not depend on just one way for new life to begin. When squirrels tear scales from a pine cone to harvest the seeds, some seeds fall to the ground, and will grow.

Can any of us fully understand the potential of seeds? If we look at a corn seed and a hemlock seed, what might be our expectations for the mature life, each might produce? The corn seed, the larger of the two seeds, grows a stalk of corn, six feet high, a plant that lives for one season. The hemlock seed, smaller than a mustard seed, grows a tree one hundred feet high, a tree that often lives for 300 years. The potential of a seed, or a new life, cannot be immediately discerned.

In every human being, there is also visible good,and hidden "good". My brother, at his place of business, introduced my mother (deceased,1988), and me to his associates. "Mother," he said, "I've told my friends how fascinating you are! Do something fascinating!"

My mother laughed, as did I, and the others. Whether we are with other human beings, flowers, trees; or creatures of the forest, we are probably unable to see, in a first meeting, those aspects of a life that make the life "fascinating."

We and other lives have the richest of gifts. Yet we may not know of that truth. The wondrous reality is that every creation has God's spirit within itself, whether the life is a plant, a tree, a creature, or a human being..

In a hymn, the writer, Clara H. Scott (1895) asks God to reveal His or Her presence to her. Scott's hymn asks: "Open my eyes that I may see glimpses of Truth Thou hast for me." How strange that the writer believes we are able to "glimpse" Truth, an unseen quality of Spirit. Yet, over time, experiences come when need tells us to hold onto God for comfort and support.

We find reflected into every life such spiritual qualities as adaptability to change, resiliency, strength, patience, creativeness, intelligence, courage, and so on.

The discovery that we and all other life are one with the Source of life, comes as a revelation to us, and brings us a wonder to rejoice in. The knowledge that each life expresses God causes us to be, forever after, caught up in discovering His or Her spirit in all that lives.

It happens most often that when we are not looking for spiritual truth, God surprises us with an unexpected illustration of His or Her presence. Often, too, He or She answers questions for us, that we have not yet put into words.

There was a time when I considered that a butterfly might be braver than I. The butterfly, after all, undertakes a long flight across great bodies of water to reach a wintering place. I considered, too, that a butterfly might be stronger than I, because a butterfly is able to fly such great distances. I also considered that a butterfly, might, indeed, be wiser than I, because a butterfly knows where there is dry shelter in a storm.

Can we ever be certain how belief comes to our thought? I believe now that the spiritual qualities I recognize in the butterfly, have always been, and are now, within every life. I believe, too, that each life, in its time of need, whether it recognizes the Source, draws on its sustaining strengths, -- courage, strength, intelligence.

We celebrate life for the good we can see. We celebrate life even more for the good we can only see expressions of. We can't hold the quality of love in our hands, but we are able to recognize when love is present. Life's greatest good is God's support, that is always ours, -- in times of joy; and in times of need. Henry Van Dyke has written, "In adversity, God is not our adversary."

It is our Creator, the Creator of all that lives, who urges every created life to move beyond, whatever seeks to limit it.
marylee manson armour, 1983. Revised a little, May8,2006