Deep in us there is a bulb that longs for the end of the season of dormancy. That bulb contains, and is the symbol of all our potential. It is the promise of everything we might be. We can reasonably characterize it as the essential life force in us, waiting for the right time to lend itself again to our regeneration. That bulb longs for the right conditions to arrive so that it may burst forth and become the dynamic presence that will make a difference in the circumstances in and around which it has been buried.
In its dormant state that bulb embodies our dreams. It is the symbol of our longing for a season, for that time, when it can become the thing that it is… essentially. It dreams of rising up from the underground of its slumber, and declaring its presence in the world. It soaks up the nourishment of the Earth. It wants to bask in the warmth and luster of the Sun. It desires to drink of the Rain’s abundance to its satisfaction. It waits, patiently, to demonstrate the benefits it has accrued from the ground which is its womb, and to which it knows it must eventually return. It wants to replicate itself, so that the earth will be a witness to its innate fecundity.
During the seasons of its dormancy it may have been cared for… or not. It may have been covered with weeds that some see as hiding and suffocating its existence; but which it knows as having served their purpose nonetheless. It may have been trampled underfoot by the careless and/or the unknowing among us. It has had to endure the obscurity that things unnoticed must. It may have even succumbed to its own existential exhaustion, not giving up - but recognizing the need to just rest.
In an effort to make sense of all its experiences while in a state of apparent non-proliferation; it found itself agreeing with and embracing that oft repeated chorus of wisdom from Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. The contemplative moment to which we are called in this passage fosters the cultivation of balance in our interpretation of the yin and yang inherent in the events that demand our physical, emotional, and spiritual energies in the course of our lives. That balance is essential to our growth and development as wise souls. It is what informs the difference between those who endure and those who fall apart when confronted by the dynamic oppositeness that is ever present in our experience as beings in time and space.
“To every thing there is a season,
and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
A time to be born, a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate;
A time of war, and a time of peace”.
A time to be… and a time to be dormant.
This wise ecclesiast impresses on us the functional significance of being mindful of the times of our lives. We should pay attention, lest we become exhausted by our own lack of perspective, and miss the opportunities to become what we long to be… even that which we essentially are.
And so when we have given our all and find ourselves empty… When we have been trodden underfoot and otherwise stepped upon… When we have been dissed, and thoroughly discouraged… When the weeds and thorns all around us have subjected us to their constant assault and left us to tend to the wounds of an abrasively unforgiving culture… When we come to the end of our tethers, having been roped in and become exhausted by the struggles with our vanity and our lack of discretion… . Let us, even then, remember that these seasons too - will come to an end.
Like lilies in Spring we discover the essential us as a bulb waiting for its season to burst forth; casting off the redundant obscurity of a season of dormancy, so that we may become all that we are… again. We find ourselves now looking forward with a profound longing in our spiritual selves to making our presence known and felt in a world gone bleak through our falls, and our follies, and the persistent grayness of the winters of our discontent.
Well... it is Spring again! It is the season of rising up and breaking through! It is that time when we must cast off the ignominy of lives gone dormant for reasons that are too many to list, and too uncomfortable to regurgitate.
Let us declare a resounding “No!” to the naysayers. Let us issue a timely rebuke to those who would insist on being uncaring, or ignorant, or oppressive, or any combination of these iniquitous ways of being and behaving. Let us rise above our own sense of being unworthy, and assume with all our energies the task of redefining ourselves in terms of our ability to become more than we have been.
Like lilies we all share a certain vulnerability. But, as we are reminded by the preacher, it is ok to bloom even for just one season, if that is all we can muster the energy to accomplish in the course of our lives. That being so, let us not allow our finiteness to prevent us from rising up and sharing our essentialness with those around us in the world in which we find ourselves. Indeed, let us live into our existential duty to help lift the spirits of those who await our coming again.
… . And, let us do this with the timely offering of something so exquisitely beautiful, so exhilaratingly awakening, and so life-inspiring, that the world can’t help but notice… and be revitalized.
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