I go by a field where once
I cultivated a few poor crops.
It is now covered with young trees,
for the forest that belongs here
has come back and reclaimed its own.
And I think of all the effort
I have wasted and all the time,
and of how much joy I took
in that failed work and how much
it taught me. For in so failing
I learned something of my place,
something of myself, and now
I welcome back the trees.
"IX." by Wendell Berry, from Leavings. © Counterpoint Press, 2010
I have been reflecting a lot on this Wendell Berry poem lately, especially as we enter the back half of autumn here in Pennsylvania. Trees are nearly bare now, and the garden has been put to bed.
Berry's words remind me how our understanding of our work, even our sense of vocation, often stands in stark contrast to the seasonal rhythm by which the rest of creation marks time. We prioritize success, fulfillment, things accomplished; risk is challenging, failure is painful. And loss? So hard.
This world, the same one created in delight by God, operates by a completely different logic. Spring eventually leads to winter, and is followed by spring again. Things sprout, bloom, fade. Living things eventually become compost and nurture the next generation. Berry seems to accept this wisdom with equal parts joy and wonder. Might there be a lesson we can learn from this for our own experience, tempering the grief of endings with the solace of the bigger story that holds the whole cycle? Perhaps this is what constitutes hope.
Two of our upcoming events speak directly to this sense of hope. Our Wise Women's Work series continues with Becca Stevens, Episcopal priest and founding director of Thistle Farms, an initiative that provides sanctuary and employment for women healing from addiction and trafficking. Our Albright-Deering lecture and workshop, with pastoral care professor Karen Scheib, will address well-being in pastors and how to reorient our lives in the wake of loss.
How we tell the story of the ups and downs, the flourishing and the decline in our lives and communities, says a lot about the God we believe in.
May the Gospel you preach (even without words!) affirm the hope that trees will come; and when they do, like Berry, welcome them with joy.
Peace,
Helen Blier
Director, Continuing Education
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