Pruning the Garden

When I returned from Mississippi, one of the first things on my to-do list was to get out in my garden and refresh it's beauty. In the week I had been away, it was satisfying how so many things had flowered. Yet many blooms had died off and hung limply on the stems. The burned out and browned buds blemished the landscape. As I selectively pruned each verdure to highlight its beauty, it struck me how we also have to cut out what is distasteful in our personal lives to allow what is beautiful to thrive. I was reminded of the pain that the people who endured Hurricane Katrina had undergone.   There were no words for the depth of that sorrow and struggle. Yet in order to survive and thrive, they consciously chose to suppress the scars of their memories. This does not suggest they had to lose their memories. Instead they needed to selectively spotlight the joyful memories in order to desire to revision their community.  The memories of loving relationships, the grandeur that their towns once exuded, the kinship of the chore was what was sustaining. Keep the good stuff, weed out the bad. Weed out the anger and the heartbreak and focus on the rainbows and the blessings. Those that survived and thrived did just that. They set a remarkable example with their strength of character.  They taught us to shed our materialistic "needs" and return to the spiritual joy that comes from life's simple beauties. The Katerina volunteers also have to weed out the blemishes. The focus of our interactions should not be on reliving the heartbreak of the disaster. Nor can volunteers focus on the inconveniences they encounter during their stay. Instead, by focusing on the richness of the love being shared with the townspeople of Mississippi, the beauty of the garden is fully revealed.