Unexpected

Last autumn, when he was in remission and feeling well, Gerry planted six little chrysanthemums in our front yard. They grew and bloomed prodigiously through the fall and well into the winter, but the lovely color and greenery gave way eventually to woody, withered brown stems. They looked well and truly dead and hopeless and I figured there was nothing to do but dig them up and get rid of them (if you didn’t realize this already, I know NOTHING about gardening).

So last Sunday after church, when the sun was warm, I decided to tackle them by cutting back as much as the dead stuff as I could before I started digging. You know where this is going. As I ruthlessly hacked away at the stems, I began to catch glimpses of tender little green leaves clustered at the base of each plant, down beneath a winter’s worth of dead leaves and other detritus. At first I thought they couldn’t possibly be mums, but some interloper instead; they looked completely different from the mature plants Gerry had put in. But once I was finished cutting all the dead stuff away, it was clear that I had six identical little clumps of fresh new growth. Gerry’s mums are coming back.

I normally steer away from sentimental associations between spring growth cycles and the miracle of the resurrection, but this year the sight of those brave little spears of green made me weep with joy. St. Paul tells the Corinthians that our resurrection bodies will be as different from our physical bodies as a full grown plant is from a naked seed. What is sown in weakness is raised in power. All that nasty dead overgrowth in my front yard was really sheltering something new and fresh and full of life where I least expected it.

The ancient and beautiful liturgies of Holy Week draw us into the story of Christ’s death and resurrection, how he lays down his life for us in order to be raised from death by the lie-giving power of God. Easter is always a lovely celebration at St. Martin’s, but it will have more power and meaning for you if you spend a little time in the week walking the way of the cross. You may find something new and fresh and full of life where you least expect it.