I pour lemon oil onto my dust rag, massaging the small table’s worn and chipped surface. No amount of elbow grease or lemon oil will cover up the wear and tear–scuffs from an old plant container, water rings from one too many glasses of iced tea, the solitary black circle from a dropped cigarette.
Simply an every day side table, no precious wood or dovetailed joints in its construction. Made of common mahogany, one small drawer holds the flotsam and jetsam of my living room, a shelf underneath supporting a large basket of books.
There is an angry spot on the bottom shelf where some rubbing alcohol spilled. I thought it would come off with the lemon oil, but the surface’s finish prohibited such repair.
Chips, scratches, streaks….the wood is far from perfect, but no matter. We will keep the table, hauling it into and out of the garage each Christmas making way for our holiday tree. Repolish, re-oil and sift through the drawers contents as needed.
Why? This piece belonged to my mother and my mother has been gone for over 30 years. I have so few of my mother’s things in my home; this little table is a daily reminder. Its value is only in the eyes of the beholder—and I am thankful to behold its glossy, worn presence.
In Christie Purifoy’s new book, “Roots and Sky” she ponders the power of every day wonder in simple things, viewed through the lens of the Seasons. I asked a friend if I could begin reading “Roots&Sky” with the ‘Spring’ section, skipping over Fall and Winter. She counseled me to begin at the beginning, explaining there was a reason for the Autumn backstory.
I’m very grateful I started with Fall. Christie’s journal chronicles the trials and triumphs encountered when she and her husband purchased a very old farmhouse high on a hilltop in Pennsylvania. Old, like built in the 1880’s old.
Dreaming of a grand future—flowers, farming, fellowship with neighbors–Christie and her husband begin the daunting process of reclaiming the old and worn and broken down.
Without the dark and empty slate of Autumn/Winter,
we cannot appreciate the riot of new birth in the Spring.
What a parallel for life. As I sit here typing on this rain-soaked day, the old, tired earth is waking up. There are signs everywhere. Although the mantle of ground has been beaten down, grass browned and soggy, leaves laying in saturated piles scattered about, the scilla and tulips are peeking out. The Crocosmia are threatening to invade the vinca, my Pink Viburnum puts on its saucy show.
Viburnum ‘Pink Dawn’
Why do we tend the earth? Why do we tend anything that we hope will grow and yield a present joy or future beauty in our lives? Perhaps it is a statement about our confidence in the future.
From the ‘Autumn’ chapter:
“This house is deteriorating. My body is dying. We are subject to the same terrible decay. But worth is not measured in such terms.
Once upon a time, God called his creation good. And no curse of sin unwound those words. Gnarled maple trees. Plaster walls. An ordinary woman’s ordinary body. All good.
To care for these is to say to death, “You are not the end.” p. 55.
This is why we care for the earth, care for ourselves, care for our homes.
Death is not the end, but a beginning, we know, to another life with our Saviour. The physical earth mirrors the spiritual, the cycle of seasons death/life/care, death/life/care ultimately mirror the power of God’s saving.
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| purple scilla |
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| red flowering quince |
From the ‘Spring’ chapter:
“To remember as the earth remembers is a powerful thing.
Winter remembers death and spring remembers life…” p. 121
‘Death’ is a near naked lilac bush with bare bumps of buds threatening to bloom.
‘Death’ is an old, worn table or a scuffed threshold or a broken down fence.
We repair, we replace, we rejoice when the new comes and the old holds. When life stirs in the ground and in us we remember—what we love will hold us until that final day we see our Jesus.
But for now we plant, we tend, we care. Spring is coming.
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| Winter Hazel (smells like honey!) |
Rebecca, thank you for coming by. Isn't this one beautiful book?
Jody, I came over here from your Roots & Sky post at Makes You Mom. “This is why we care for the earth, care for ourselves, care for our homes.” Thank you for unpacking this. Your words are beautiful and helpful and true.
Nancy, you have a bit more of winter-ing to deal with than we do here in the PNW–'twill make the Spring all the more lovely. Happy tending!
As I tend the earth in six weeks or so, I want to remember HOPE and the confidence we have in our future, just as we have confidence in spring's explosion of growth. I'm with Laurie: a beautiful, heart-touching post. Thank you, Jody!
Oh, Laurie, I know you'd savor every word of it….thanks for reading 🙂
Jody, I must get this book. Thanks for weaving part of your story with these marvelous quotes. Simply beautiful!
Lisa, I think the purpose of Winter IS to make us appreciate Spring all the more. There's a season for everything–we all need to be quiet and dormant at times, eh?
Thanks for reading.
Kathy, thank YOU for visiting….I think you'd find 'Roots and Sky' good for your soul 🙂
Sounds like a beautiful book, and your review is so gorgeous! I'm grateful you came to visit my blog..our similar childhood struggles! I do hope to continue to share! I'm always looking for like-minded bloggers..and good writers! So thank you for visiting me first!
I am so thankful that spring is coming. Winter is my least favorite season, but I know it serves its purpose as well (even if only to make me anticipate spring!). I'm glad you have your mother's table. Items like that are priceless, and the chips and scratches make them even more so. Sounds like Roots & Sky is a wonderful thought-provoking book!