June 21st, 2021: Growing in a Changing Landscape
We have been having some better successes with planting our shrubs and flowers. We live in a very harsh winter climate, so not everything we grew made it. Some did last for more than three seasons. It was somewhat discouraging for a while. We decide to follow specific instruction materials from a group of growers. What I have learned about gardening can also be applied to how I understand other aspects of life.
Knowing your landscape (zones): we need to understand the culture of our time, so we learn how to relate and communicate directly to people. The cultural landscape of our time detests celebration. Some schools in the US and Canada have decided to take off names of all holidays. Have you realized that even Father's Day Celebration is not the same anymore? It is just too gender-specific for contemporary culture. Some cities in Canada have either canceled or scaled down their Canada Day Celebrations due to the recent revelation of the abuses of the Residential Schools. When we look closely at these new events, we realize the severe intolerance towards our differences and disagreements. Our current culture is not about diversity; it demands a new form of forced conformity. We are witnessing the beginning of a new cultural revolution.
Knowing our conditions (plant conditions from different garden centers): We cannot be condemning people while thinking that we are always right. However, my reflection of my human struggles needs come from my ongoing studying and discovery of God. We need to be at a place where we can disagree and yet see no need to destroy one another. We also need to have the freedom to accept that we are not the final authority of morality. It is a damaging assumption on our part to think that we can find the perfect solution for all of our moral predicaments. We can protest and fight for what we believe is right, only to realize that we are not free from being wrong.
Knowing that we need to depend on one another (what plants and shrubs do we grow together): More than 50% of what I need daily provided by people who disagree with me spiritually politically. As we learn to depend on others for what we need, we might learn how to appreciate people for whom they are and what they can teach us even though they might have different opinions about different aspects of life. It is a chance for us to allow God to reveal His beauty and power beyond our biases. God is the source of all of the goodness, so whoever can show me that, I can see God's beauty in them. I have learned to appreciate that we can see God's beauty outside the church. We can see the world inside the church as well. God is not limited by what we do and who we are. As much as I believe in the central message of the Christian faith concerning Jesus as the redemption of the world, I don't think Christians have the monopoly overall goodness and beauty of God.
Philippians 4: 8
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Colossians 3: 1-2
"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things."
