A Concord Pastor Comments: Musing on a Tuesday morning...

Over the weekend I was at Russo's in Watertown, Lord,
in a socially distanced line, waiting to enter the store
and buy some fruit...

The alfresco queue took a path through long rows of flowers:
annuals and perennials waiting for folks to bring them home
to a garden, window box or porch step,
some place to spend the summer...

And while waiting in line, Lord,
my eye was taken with the lantana...

In some places these beauties are considered weeds
but in these parts, they're just considered lovely..

And I wondered, Lord,
about when and how did you came to create
the plant we call lantana?
   Was it on a whim?
   Some Divine doodling?
   A first draft of hydrangea?
   Colorful filler for Eden's garden?

Whatever your intent, Lord,
I'm grateful for lantana
and how you find this lovely weed
    exquisite, as an orchid,
    as handsome as the finest rose,
    as glorious as a sunflower
       reaching for the sky...

I'm grateful that you see in every person
what you see in every flower, Lord:
a unique beauty, a singular glory,
an individual reason for being
and most of all, a reflection of divinity,
living, growing, budding, blooming
overflowing with your life
in every stem and every blossom,
in every human heart and face,
in all things bright and beautiful,
in all that you have made...

(Sometimes, standing in line at a farm stand
becomes a time for prayer
and I'm grateful for that, too...)

As you tend all creation,
help us care for one another, Lord:
the orchids and the flowering weeds,
the roses and lantana,
everything that lives and breathes
and every soul we meet
in the gardens of our lives...

Amen.