The Daily Lily

“If we do not listen we do not come to the truth. If we do not pray we do not even get as far as listening…Four things go together: silence, listening, prayer, truth.” Hubert Van Zeller

In the book of James we are reminded that; “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. (1:19) James goes on to say, “Don’t fool yourselves by just listening to it. If you hear the message and don’t obey it, you are like people who stare at themselves in a mirror and forget what they look like as soon as they leave.” Do you look like a ball of negative emotions? Or a gown of Hope and Praise?

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If you recall, we ended Alice’s last adventure with the birds and animals and Alice swimming from her pool of tears to shore. What a bedraggled, ‘queer-looking party’ stood on shore. (My! but our lack of self-control can have serious repercussions on so many others besides our self.) Thankfully,Mouse had a plan though on how to dry them out. He had them all sit in a circle and proceeded to tell them a very dry historical account of William the Conqueror. When that failed to dry them, Dodo proposed a Caucus Race. Each participant, starting at different points, ran in a circle for about a half hour until they were all quite dry and then Dodo called the race announcing each one a winner. Alice was appointed to hand out the prizes, comfits retrieved from her own pocket. Then Dodo presented Alice with a prize…her own thimble. (Alice thought this all so absurd. Yet it is interesting how we humans seem to need to be pampered with prizes, no matter how silly, in order to not be offended at being overlooked. Dodo may have been a very wise bird after all.)
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We left off in our last Wonderland Adventure with Alice having shrunk small enough to get through the door that leads to the beautiful garden, but having left the door key on the table. Failing in her attempt to climb up the table, she decides to eat a little cake left in a box under the table. Perhaps this will help her grow to reach the key. After finishing it off, she shoots up like a telescope but is much too large now to fit through the little door. Disregarding her own advice to stop crying, she sheds a pool of tears. Presently, seeing the rabbit, she implores his help but to no avail as she startles him so that he drops his glove and fan. Holding his fan, she realizes that this is causing her to shrink away again!
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For Christmas I received a ‘listening library’ of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland from Jon M. I found it interesting on reading the cover of it that the author, Lewis Carroll was such a diverse person, a mathematician, photographer and clergyman. At Sara’s suggestion, I would like to share some observations and thoughts as I enjoy listening to this classic.
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“I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see. The longer I live, the more my mind dwells upon the beauty and the wonder of the world.” ~John Burroughs

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Chris and Tammy have just returned from the tulip fields of Holland. For the ones of us that are just seeing the beginnings of spring and planning of our gardens, or the ones of us, like myself, that only dreams about gardens we might enjoy Chris and Tammy’s photos. Looking at the beauty of the fields in Holland makes one wonder could heaven be any more beautiful. Yet, I believe it must be.

Frankfurt and Amsterdam 2008
http://www.flickr.com/photos/christophermar/sets/72157604719729408/

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