Breathing Room

Several months ago, we received a dish garden from some friends. It is very large and full of plants - 10 of them - and they are all tall and leafy. Yesterday, I noticed that the Norfolk pine in the middle was shriveled. Its branches were parallel to its trunk and it was clearly dying. No wonder, I thought. In its constricted space, there was no room for its branches to spread out and grow. It had no room to breathe. I transplanted the squished tree into its own pot and I hope that it is not too late for it to recover.

I see a lesson for us in the story of the tree.

Many people try desperately to make the most of the situation that they are in. They pray, they grit their teeth, and they rationalize every which way about all the possible purposes for the pain that they are in. They live in what a Saint called "holy darkness" and accept it as the price of being human. I suggest that sometimes the holiest thing we can do is to fight the pain and search for the options that bring us peace. The holiest thing for the rest of us is not to judge others when they do.

The adage that was so popular a couple of decades ago, "Bloom where you are planted," isn't always a good idea to try to do. The Norfolk pine was never going to bloom because what it needed to be a Norfolk pine was not available to it where it was. No wishing on anyone's part was going to provide the space for its branches to grow the way they are supposed to grow because someone planted it too close to other plants. To live, it needed to move and find a spot more suitable to what it is called to be: a tree with long arms that reach out in all directions. It is its birthright to be planted in a place that will allow it to grow. Something got in its way.

In the same way, humans have a birthright, too. We are called to be truly human. We are called to make the most of who we are, to use our enormous creativity and capabilities, to love and be loved. We are made for happiness or it wouldn't be such a deep desire within us. I wish we really believed this, but the Church of the Cross often trumps the Church of the Resurrection. Sometimes we get in our own way by being too fearful or too timid; sometimes others get us off track by being too directive or unloving and sometimes we become the rock in another's stream.

Jesus said "I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly;" the Psalmist counsels, "Seek peace and pursue it." St Paul tells the Colossians that we are called to peace. If our destiny were to live a boring or narrow life, we would have been made differently, but as it is, we are complex creatures placed in a world of beauty and not just utility. We are made to experience Life to its full and to become what God has called us to be - a people who love ourselves and others as deeply.

God does not toy with us, try our patience or send us trouble. When it comes, the God of Light calls us out of darkness. The God of Hope calls us out of pain. The God of Love has carved us on the palms of His hands.