At long last, springtime has come and, with it, nature is taking on its colourful attire in the form of all kinds of flowers.
Flowers of different kinds and shapes, of diverse colours and fragrances, for our enjoyment.
One of them has a name which always strikes me because… it has a message.
It is called: Forget-Me-Not !
Scientists surely have a more sophisticated name for it in Latin, but I prefer its popular title and… request: FORGET-ME-NOT!
The picture of it came to me as I read the Psalm of this Sunday (7th Sunday of Easter, Year B – Ps.103).
Verse 2 says: “Forget not all his (the Lord’s) blessings.”
It is not a prophet or any of Israel’s wise people who say this to the Psalmist but he speaks to himself!
He says: “My soul…” – in other words, he calls on his deepest self, not to forget.
Not to forget,
to remember,
to recall,
to be aware of all that the Lord has done for him.
But this supposes that… a person has first noticed the Lord’s action in his life.
He/she has been attentive and sensitive to the intervention of God on his behalf.
Then, later on, he/ she will be able to bring back to memory the gifts received and the blessings enjoyed.
I know of a woman who, at the beginning of each year, takes a colourful flower container which she especially likes.
No, she does not place flowers into it but, every day, she puts at least one small piece of paper on which she has listed something good and positive that has happened during the day.
It can be a small gesture of appreciation from someone, a chance meeting with someone else, the smile of a child, a good deed from a neighbour –
just about anything that has touched her in a positive way –
she writes it down and she places the small piece of paper in the jar.
Then, on those days when she feels sad or discouraged, when everything seems to go wrong, or when she simply lacks the energy to go on doing her best, she takes out one of the small pieces of paper from the flower container…
‘It works like magic’, she says!
The positive aspect of the memory – and the thanksgiving she has attached to it – bring back a feeling of joy, of renewed strength.
On this Sunday, I ask: ‘Why not do the same for the Lord’s blessings?’
They may come ‘clothed’, as it were, under the appearance of all the good things that happen to us and…
we may have failed to notice so many of them.
A colouful flower container… and the resolution NOT TO FORGET are all that is needed!…
Note: Another reflection is available in French in a different theme at: https://image-i-nations.com/7e-dimanche-de-paques-annee-b/
