Dispatches from Home: The First Day of June 2020

I love this month—warm days, somewhat cool nights, a respite before the onslaught of a sticky-hot, south Mississippi summer! I also love lilies and caladiums. It gives me great pleasure to lovingly plant the bulbs in winter. Then, in early spring, one by one, their little, bushy-green haloes slowly emerge from God’s rich earth. As they grow, their pinks, greens, and yellows fill the flowerbed with beauty. However, beauty is not without its problems. Bugs, grubs, and moles stand at the ready to destroy that which I so lovingly planted. I must be vigilant to keep that which would destroy beauty at bay.

As I reel back in horror at the murder, destruction, and plunder that has engulfed our great country, I think to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be nice if life was like a flower bed in reverse?” If we, as a nation, could plant the bulbs of love in this, the summer of our discontent, only to have them produce beautiful blooms of love come winter? Those blooms filling the dark days of winter with their warmth and joy?

Lest ye forget, beauty is not without its problems. To keep our national flower bed healthy, we’d have to be willing to wage war against that which would destroy it. Not bugs or grubs or moles, but hate, racism, distrust, and a lack of respect for the diversity that should strengthen our country, not destroy it! My sweet Granny from D’Lo, who loved her roses and daylilies, told me long ago, “If you plant and care for something in love, Andy, it will return that love to you.” Take care, my friends, be safe.