Amen

The worker must have bread, but she must have roses, too.

Rose Schneiderman
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Hello Arlene
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It is truly a beautiful moment when you smile at a flower and see it smiling back at you. It's a reaffirmation of the greatness of nature. The same intelligence that grows the wheat for your bread also brings up flowers upon the earth, Someone once wrote "The Amen of nature is always a flower. " The blessing has been done, the crops are grown, the bread is baked, the live stock has been fed and there is nothing left but "Amen."

When I lived in northern New Hampshire I loved to go hiking in the forest. There were well kept trails all through the White Mountains and almost everyday from Spring to Autumn I would be out for several hours exploring them. I enjoyed stopping to rest in an interesting place, surrounded by the sounds and sights of nature. If there was a brook or river next to me I could hear the laugher of the water as it slipped past the grasp of the banks and occasional "ooo" of amazement as it spilled over a rock formation and now and then the clunk of a stone being placed like a chess piece at a different location on the bottom.

There were trees around me, each with a different character to them. I would focus on one near me and try to listen to it's story. Dickens used to say there were spirits in the trees and if you listen carefully you can hear them speak, if they wanted to. In Shakespeare's ply "The Tempest" Ariel, a spirit of the air, is confined inside a tee by a curse. When Prospero, through his mystical powers releases him, Ariel becomes his servant. Imagine what it would be like if you had the power to release the spirits from the trees. I just listened.

And there are wild flowers in the forest also. And they are as their names imply wild, and do not wish to be domesticated. But they have a special beauty to them and a special smile.

One does not need to go into a forest to enjoy the beauties of nature. So once the bread is baked, if there is a rose anywhere around smile at it and say "Amen."

DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.