In the red circle of the desert, in the dark and secret place, the prophet discovers the obvious things. I do not say it merely as a sneer, for obvious things are very easily forgotten; and indeed every high civilization decays by forgetting obvious things. (GK Chesterton)
Some things that were never planned turn out to be the best gifts in life. Spontaneity is quickly something that we’d rather squeeze out of our days. Unexpected visitors or phone calls are seen more as interruptions to our plans than as a welcomed guest. Humanity likes order and disorder is seen as negative.
Yet as we seek to follow Jesus and as we ask him to guide and lead us, I wonder if we should more and more look for the things that we never expected or intended to see; to learn to be open and hospitable to things not planned for.
Life can be as unexpected as walking outside only to find a flower growing in a crack in the sidewalk. It shouldn’t be there. This is obvious. Nobody planted it. No one tilled the ground, watered or fertilized it. It wasn’t matched to the color of the surrounding houses, nor does it fall into sequence with other plants in the area. It is not native; this flower does not fit into some organized, elaborate landscape design. The experts of Southern Living magazine were not consulted. It’s just there. And it shouldn’t be.
It reminds me that life can emerge out of broken places. Life can appear when it is least expected and the vehicles that bring it can be the least likely; the ones we never imagined.
This sidewalk runs through this old neighborhood in the historic district of this pre-civil war town in the deep South. It is marked with finely manicured lawns, raised flower beds which all fit into a highly detailed and complicated color scheme. Trees that are hundreds of years old shoot up from the ground; tin soldiers standing guard along the street.
Full of pride and arrogance, the landscaped flowers stand in perfect order and seem to taunt the flower appearing from the cracks. As if to say, ‘you should not be here. This place is not for you. You are not one of us. You do not belong.’ Akin to a stray mix bred puppy found playing and running around with a group of pure bred black labs.
Four little girls are riding their scooters up and down the sidewalk in front of the houses. As if written into a script, one of the little girls brings her scooter to a halt; laying it down to one side, cautiously and carefully. She approaches the unexpected discovery: the flower that shouldn’t be there. The other girls curiously gather to look as if to be captured by the beauty and unexpectedness of it all. For an eternity, they soak in the gift and wonder of it all; like a man who accidentally finds a treasure buried in his field.
The children don’t notice the professional landscaping, their wonder and attention has been captured by this unexpected visitor. The professional landscaping is too planned; too perfect. It lacks the wildness of life. Sometimes, when our lives are too planned and organized nothing has a chance to catch us by surprise. Everything becomes routine. Our days become safe. It’s all the same. We find we are living in Pleasantville, an inhabitant of the Truman Show. I find it difficult to get excited about knowing how everything in my day will turn out. I don’t want to spend my life in a predictable monotony of sameness and familiarity.
Routine causes our days to lose their profundity and extraordinariness. Monotony transforms colors into gray. Too much familiarity keeps us from seeing. It keeps us from seeing each other and keeps us from seeing what is right there in front of us. We can often stop looking and noticing all together because we have seen it all before. As a result, we miss the flower growing out of the crack in the sidewalk.
ericfaisonstory 