Mindful mowing

Now this is what I call doing one’s work with care and attention. I’m not sure who mowed this patch, but I was touched when I walked by the other day and saw a closely-shaved patch of earth with a solitary Lady Slipper left untouched by the mower blades.

It caused me to reflect from many angles… How carefully am I doing my work today? How am I exhibiting St. Benedict’s instruction to “regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar, aware that nothing is to be neglected” (chap. 31)? Am I treating those around me as the precious flowers of God that they are, or am I figuratively mowing them down with inattention and insufficient care, or perhaps with an inadvertantly sharp word?

Hmmm...A good examination of conscience from a bit of mowed earth.

Postscript – Mindfully NOT mowing: Here is the same patch of ground this past March. Each springtime, this spot of earth just south of Joseph Hall bursts into a riotous array of Star of Bethlehem flowers. We deliberately do not mow until the flowers have had their dazzling days in the sun and slowly begun to fade. Yet more cause for reflection… To everything there is a season..a time to mow, and a time to refrain from mowing…