Purple Shamrocks

This picture depicts a plant I received last year.  I don't remember the occasion.  There were no flowers on it, just the large purple triangular leaves.  They were pretty.  I remember thinking that the purple leaves were flowers.  The plastic tag on the plant called them shamrocks.  Huh?  In the first place, it was purple, not green.  Plus, the plant was not shaped like a shamrock.  The leaves were more like triangles.  But then again, shamrocks are sort of triangular shaped.

Anyway, the plant lasted awhile but one by one the stem shriveled and the leaf or flower drooped and fell over.  Every stem eventually did that.  Soon all that was left was soil.  I was busy so I just put the flower pot outside on my porch until I could get to it in the spring.

I never did get to it.  It sat next to other plants that I put out as the weather warmed.  I forgot about it. I water these plants with a hose, so everything gets wet in that area, including a pot of soil.

One day I noticed that the purple leaves had come up.  Again!  What a pleasant surprise! And if I were more efficient, that pot of soil would have been tossed out.

Today, I pulled the pot out and look at the flowers!  Surprise!

God is so good to us.

End of Summer

This is a picture of some of the plants I transplanted today.  It’s also a visual meditation.  This is a time for me to take stock of myself.  What do I need to cut back on—not only material things, but the spiritual demands that sometimes are overwhelming.  (Do I really need to do something for the parish every day?  Can’t a day go by where I don’t have to prayer group, scripture study, right to life group, parish council, Rosary, Sodality, etc.)  This is a good time to do this--the end of summer, before it gets too cold.  Spiritually, I’m beginning to think of Advent. 

I had to step back and look at these plants.  Some are as old as my children.  I split one of them and I’m afraid that it will cause it to croak.  If I double what I do for people, for the church, for family—will I croak?

Now that I’m finished transplanting, I have to decide where to put them.  They were outside, all summer.  Likewise, once I’ve decided what to keep in my life, how can I use what I’ve kept, to my best advantage. 

I’ve also resolved to take better care of these plants. 

Me, too.