Finding That Something

Sept. 27, 2012

After a meeting on Monday, I was standing outside of the Episcopal church in my Virginia-Highlands neighborhood talking to Doug*. We were talking about our understanding of God, Higher Power, mystery . . . whatever that something is that’s bigger than ourselves and helps us find hope, peace and inspiration.

For Doug, he finds that something in his organic farm in South Georgia. He has about 100 acres on which he grows all kinds of produce. Digging in the dirt, seeing nature do its thing with minimal interference from humankind, is his definition of a miracle. He was especially excited about his blackberry bushes.

“I used to cut down the blackberry bushes that grew on my property,” Doug continued. “But I recently decided to stop doing that. And, to my amazement, they’ve grown tall and luscious and I have all these amazing blackberries to eat now.” My friend also said he had both male and female bushes on his property. Intrigued by that comment, I learned when I consulted “Mr. Smarty Plants”, a website run by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, that blackberries are monoecious, which means that blackberries have separate male and female flowers on each bush . . . not separate male and female bushes.

No matter. Doug had found that something . . . something wild and wonderful in the dirt in South Georgia. And, we both knew it was definitely more than blackberries.