This morning my brother John sent a picture of a flower in his garden and asked if I had “any of these.” I told him the flower is a “Forget-Me-Not,” and I went out to take a picture of the one in my garden: that is how my “teacher” got my attention. The garden is one of my best teachers, and today’s lesson is one I must learn over and over: how easily distracted I am from the most important things. This is the age-old Mary and Martha story. Martha was “concerned about many things” which, in her mind, needed to be done: food preparation, cleaning, hospitality, etc. Many of us want to jump to her defense, but Jesus’s issue with her was not that her activities were wrong or sinful, but that she had missed what was most important: the profound blessing of really Being with Him in that moment.

As a gardener, I know that nothing will get planted if I don’t plant it, nothing will get amended, weeded, transplanted etc. etc…..; and it is usually with these tasks in mind that I head out. However, today my brother’s question re. this tiny flower is how “I came to the garden alone…while the dew was still on the roses; and the Voice I heard falling on my ear, the Son of God disclosing…”: “Don’t miss these unique, exquisite beauties that are emerging before your eyes; open your eyes and see the beauty all around you.” This same message is the theme of the song, ‘Teachers” which I wrote in Yosemite National Park in 1978 — almost 42 years ago:

“Camping by a stream and I can hear it gently calling, “Go to sleep, my darling sister: do not worry about tomorrow; for it shall come and it shall go, and there will surely be another, and you will know what you will know: so be like me and let it flow…..”

“Sittin’ here a’playin’ with the campfire brightly flamin‘: smokin’, wheezin’ and a’cracklin’ as it burns itself to ashes; it says, “I have but a short time to give you all my warmth and light: you are alive and you will die, so be like me and do it brightly!

(chorus) ” And I am really on my own for the first time in my life; and I realize I’ve filled my life with lots of useless strife. So I’m learnin’ from God’s teachers that surround us; and I’m opening my eyes to see the beauty….. all around us.

“The moon so small and far away is shining down so brightly: casting shadows through the pine trees and lighting up my pathway. She says: “Life is for the living, for the loving, for the giving; you’re so small—give it your all, and reach your branches to the sky.

“Yes, reach you for the sky: start asking ‘How?’ instead of ‘Why?’ ” booms out the silent voice of pine trees, as they stand in awesome majesty, yet gently lend their shade to me: “You see how easy it can be to live upon the earth yet reach your branches to the sky?” (chorus)

(I hope to record this song soon and get it on the blog.)