We once spoke during
a discussion at church of heaven and hell as things that are here on earth.
That is to say that they are not some concepts that exist in the ether beyond
our purview but rather our experience in this life. Today I am conscious of this
on a gut level beyond typical awareness.
I have been blindly
working for some time now. One of my sons is battling cancer and work has been
a way to seek normalcy even though the awareness of his struggle permeates each
breath like invading pollen.
Then on a recent morning I received a call.
“We want to come and work in your yard … do some landscaping.” After some
reassurances that my yard was by no means an eyesore (simply kindness I think)
I croaked a grateful, “OK … I suppose that would be alright.”
I rushed out the
door to work and began the cycle of making calls, answering email, tending to
property issues and generally “putting out the fires”, that self employment
demands of us.
My other son had a
soccer game and it kept playing on my mind. Guilt was creeping in but there was
so much to do I wasn’t going to be able to make it on the busiest day of the
week. The next thing I know I’m “texting” my partner who is engaged in another
aspect of our business asking if he could fill in for me for a couple of hours.
To my surprise, in just a moment or two he responded … “yes.”
A few hours later,
after much rushing about I was standing on the sidelines watching intently as
my son and the other youth were engaged in the throes of competition. Their
focus was palpable. We were all caught up in the tension as our lives
intertwined with the hopes and dreams of our children. As I gazed about at the
parents, relatives and friends I realized that our commonality had bred nothing
other than a form of love.
Afterward we all
shook hands and hugged, basking in the glow of a game well played (a scrappy
draw actually)
Driving home I
thought of the folks from church that had been working in my yard. It had been
difficult to say yes to their offer yet the myriad of tasks needing to be done
had rested heavily in a corner of my psyche for a while.
Pulling in the drive
their labor was strikingly evident. They had removed dead shrubs, cleared ivy
and weeds, mulched beds, dug and elevated and swept and cleared. Full bags of mulch
were stacked neatly here and there. They had informed me that they intended to return.
Tearfully I wandered
this garden of my life, grateful for the dark shades I wore. I envisioned their
bent backs and their hands in the dirt. I knew that some had been children and
older youth. It was unseasonably hot. They would have been sweating profusely.
All on a Saturday when they could have been playing or resting or tending to
their own.
Maybe it seems
melodramatic but in that moment I felt lifted beyond what I had been before. I
loved them. I loved my partner and friend. I loved them all for what Thomas
Merton described as their, “intrinsic
excellence”. This, I feel, is ultimately their love of God and the hope of
heaven that is what makes us unique among creatures “in God’s
image.”
Heaven is what I
feel now. Through these acts, for a spell, I can truly surrender all things to
Him. I can love Him more intensely through my fellow man.
We have been given
many gifts during this time of trial and tribulation. Folks have contributed
their time, labor, money, materials, food and they have prayed. Yet the greatest thing they
have given is to show us their love of God. In so doing they have broken through
the veil of suffering and shined a light into this often hateful and darkened place.
They have shown us heaven here on earth in all its glory and all its grace and we will be eternally
grateful.
Peace and blessings
to all of you. May these words serve as my humble attempt to praise Almighty
God through the grace, dignity and love that are our fellows.
Amen
