I’ll admit that a lapse has occurred in my writing. While the forces of weather have not been kind to so many areas of the country these past few weeks, New England has been blessed with a long string of perfection: cool nights, warm days, total sunshine, dry air, soft breezes. The light is so brilliant, I have given myself over to beholding.
Behold the dahlia that wants to be a tree! It’s up to my chin. If this weather went on forever, I’m betting the dahlia would, also. The tall grasses have exceeded their normal height by a foot or more, while also filling out twice as much as usual. The sound they make as they sway in the breeze is so enchanting, I have to stop the weeding and just listen.
The energy that rises like sap through the bloodstream in weather like this ought to be bottled. I’ve used the garage as a project area – painting an old bureau to put out on the porch. Yesterday I tackled the ugly bleaching-of-the siding-on-the-north-side. I’ve been able to put the laundry out on the line to dry, wash the car, keep doors and windows open all day, cut a bouquet of dahlias and hydrangeas for a dinner table setting for guests, and sit on the porch reading a book. All while beholding this gorgeous weather.
I know what awaits: cutting down all of the peonies, phlox and day lilies. Spreading mulch. Raking. Cleaning out the bird houses. Raking. Putting away the bird bath. Raking. It’s a lot of work to maintain a beautiful yard. But for now, so what? This grasshopper is playing for a little while longer. Let the ants ignore what is going on all around them for the sake of practicality.
In a recent writer’s workshop, Barbara Brown Taylor spoke about the importance of beholding. The Bible, she said, makes well over a thousand references to beholding. That is how God got people’s attention: behold the burning bush! Behold the water made blood, the falling walls of Jericho, Jonah in the belly of the whale!
We learn by beholding – especially when we sit stock still, eyes wide open, using our eyes and ears to take in what is before us. We draw it into us as we behold – take joy in it, marvel at it, search for the meaning so we can hold onto it as long as possible.
Beholding is opening yourself up to the beauty, immensity, and fabulousness of the universe. We can do this in small measure every day, no matter the weather, whatever our circumstances of daily living. It may even be essential to our wellness, to our ability to cope with things we find too horrid, too complex, too painful, too draining.
I wish you sweet moments of beholding, today and every day.
