The Climate Change Summit, COP26 just ended with nearly 200 nations gathering to try to stem global warming. I’ve been thinking about the fragility of our tiny planet and the life-forms that exist here. The intricate inter-dependency of all life-forms upon one another is truly astounding. I cannot fully explain why or how these wildflowers contribute to the balance of life on earth. I’ll leave that to more knowledgeable minds. What I do know though is that they have a purpose beyond their beauty. And I have been blessed to have made their acquaintance.

Upstream by Mary Oliver

“May I be the tiniest nail in the house of the universe, tiny but useful. May I stay forever in the stream. May I look down upon the wildflower and the bull thistle and the coreopsis with the greatest respect.

Teach the children. We don’t matter much, but they do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach then the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones – inkberry, lamb’s quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones – rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves, and then the silent beautiful blossoms.

Attention is the beginning of devotion.”

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Matthew 6:25-33

“That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown in the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith? So, do not worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thought of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”

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