It was a wonderful day for thought. The weather was glorious. January in my part of the world, the Willamette Valley floor in Oregon, is typically gray and grim, cold and dank. This particular January, however, brought with it burgeoning evidence of spring. My quince shrub was blooming and brave daffodils were showing their faces; camellia bushes were awash with color and rhododendron everywhere were ready to explode into swaths of beauty. A record was even set the previous week for warmth on a particular day in January, having reached 68 degrees.
My thoughts meandered while I worked in the sun, reveling in the bright blue sky with its fluffy, puffy, white clouds.
One of my first gardening clients in the area had passed away quickly and unexpectedly. Her response when given her harsh death sentence was “Wonderful!” She knew the end of this life was a step into the next one.
The task at hand was to clean up her garden. In times past I could feel her presence, fully expecting her to wander out the front door with her smile and warm greeting. This time was different—I knew she was off to other, more important things and that the stash of oak leaves which had buried her plants was of no concern to her.
I spotted the property line marker as soon as I began. If she were still alive, I thought, she would be thrilled and relieved to see the bright orange indicator. Not knowing where the line was had brought her a great deal of anguish. And yet it matters not a whit to her where she is now.
My thoughts continued to wander as I remembered watching a video of a man who had dropped dead and yet fully recovered. A soft-spoken gentleman, he spoke of what he experienced, his conversation with God, the things he saw, and life upon returning back to his body.
Fortunate is the man or woman who knows that this earth and life on this earth is not the beginning and end of all things. Fortunate is the one who knows the things of this life are not transferable into the next one. No 401k will ever be rolled over into eternity. Neither will any contributions to charities or causes. Nothing of this world is applicable in the next—financial portfolios with investments and real estate; bank statements; listings with “Who’s Who;” political, religious, scientific, financial, or educational credentials; awards in any given industry, by any group of people. Fortunate are those who know this. This is truth.
Our physical lives are what we know, what we deal with on a daily basis. In this electronic age we can readily know what is going on around the world. Even at that, this earth and life on this earth is not the center of the universe.
And so my mind roamed. I do not know where God dwells. However, as I cleaned up the oak leaves in Dorothy’s garden, I decided that the center of the universe is wherever that is, and that is where I want to be.
As I sit looking out the window, fog has enveloped the scenery. I have wrapped myself in a blanket to ward off the chill. When I lived on the coast, there was a term for the weather we’ve had the past few days. They call it a “false spring.” When I finally head off to work I’ll put on an extra layer of clothing. And the thoughts will continue.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy,
and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Matthew 6: 19, 20