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With the arrival of spring and the advent of Easter, a favorite memory came to mind…
When four years old, my son, Luke, loved to imitate me as I worked in the yard. He observed how I toiled over establishing a bed of roses and other flowering plants and trees. Among my various tools, he particularly liked the huge pruning shears and was frustrated by my keeping them stored well out of reach.
Returning home one day, I found a row of flowers flanking the side of the house, once two-feet tall, had been clipped to a few inches of their lives. Running to the back of the house I discovered that now lying among the recent trimmings were six stalks of unusual lilies I highly prized. I checked the basement and found the not-so-carefully stacked boards and boxes leading to the forbidden, and now missing, scissors. Then emerging outside, I spotted Luke with shears outstretched, framed by the sun, like some mighty gladiator standing defiant among the defeated.
I was furious. Everywhere the flowers had been decapitated. Everywhere. Around the entire property.
I don’t remember what the immediate fallout was, but the following spring, rather than six stalks of lilies, twelve sprang up. I took Luke outside; we sat on the porch steps and taught each other something about pruning and loving and disciplining and miracles.
Easter is coming… stay alert…
Rev. Dr. Stephen P. Bauman is the Senior Minister at Christ Church.