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| Mud and MuckA few days ago, in the midst of a rainy week, five irises appeared in my back yard. Through a tangle of stems and leaves, they materialized: first one, then another, then three more. The intense purple and lovely white seemed especially brilliant against the gray clouds and muddy yard. Parker Palmer, in his book, Let Your Life Speak, has a truth to share about spring: "Before spring becomes beautiful, it is plug ugly, nothing but mud and muck." Parker reports he has walked in the early spring through fields that tried to pull his boots off and made him wish for the return of ice. "But," he affirms, "in that muddy mess, the conditions for rebirth are being created." The exterior of the classroom and office building (the building closest to our parking lot) was ugly for quite a while. It was wearing the '"brown coat" of stucco, and encircled by some well-used scaffolding. Its edges were rough, and its windows covered in plastic. But behold! The gray walls and pipes and boards and red tape were a prelude to the creamy, beautifully textured walls which have now emerged. It had to look ugly before it could be beautiful. My office at the church is also undergoing a transformation. Some very nice bookcases were donated. The old board shelving and metal wall brackets were removed, which created a need for a fresh coat of paint. The painter worked diligently, but nevertheless there was a week during which everything in my office was pushed to the middle of the room and covered in plastic. Frankly, it was mess! But a very worthwhile mess. The paint job has given the room a whole new look. Maybe there is a lesson here for our lives. Maybe messes (unattractive as they are) are not necessarily a bad thing! Maybe sometimes they are the temporary condition which gives way to new life. Look at the twisted pile of old sticks which becomes the blossoming wisteria vine. Look at the apparently dead trees which are gradually being covered with delicate blossoms. Look at Christ, crucified on the cross, laid in a tomb, and then risen in glorious love and light. It is spring! May God's resurrection power come to us! Grace and peace be to you, Pastor April |
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