Going to seed

I believe this life is a precious gift to be fully embraced and cherished. Not something to merely tolerate or bear until we die and go to heaven. Richard Rohr feels many of us lead Christian lives as if it is an evacuation plan for heaven.

But I look at the way a flower goes to seed. And I know there's something more to dying. A single flower can leave behind a forest of trees. A single tomato can supply next year's crop.

It has to do with allowing maturation of the seed through death in some form. Going from flowering to fruit to seed, in each phase completely shedding the old and transforming into the new with hardly a semblance of what was.

I had witnessed my mother go to seed. Bone marrow cancer stripped her bare. When she passed away in 2003 what was left of her had faded from view. All I could see was her soul shining through her eyes. She was beautiful.

I know that the seed of her life and difficult death are scattered far and wide, bearing their own abundant fruit. She left incredibly gifted offspring and an indelible mark on many friends. She campaigned for the Cancer Associations of South Africa and England, speaking to many groups of people. She took the illness on bravely, going through the difficult treatments, complementing them with healthy living and supplements which added a whole decade to the initial prognosis.

I don't know that this will be of some comfort to those who are faced with the harsh realities of lives in danger of being forced into seeding long before their time through cancer or other debilitating circumstances.

I hope it does. All of nature are designed to propagate. There is always an abundance of seed. But sometimes we don't see it for what it is. And so we miss the harvest.

Matilda.