Our theme for today is mushrooms. Or toadstools. Is there a difference? It was a small, lonely red specimen sitting in the middle of our lawn, unaware that a tall, old man with a very big lawnmower would soon chop it into smithereens.
Copyright © Ralph Milton
So I picked it carefully, brought it in the house, and placed it gently on my scanner/photocopier. Why? I have no idea. But I was delighted with the result. A work of modern art!
Copyright © Ralph Milton
Then I noticed the wounded side of my three-inch friend. I too carry deep wounds that have healed. And they will never go away. The pain remembered, the wound, adds depth and power and meaning to an otherwise insignificant fungus and a tall, old man.
Copyright © Ralph Milton
It’s hard for an old man with arthritic knees to become intimate with a three-inch mushroom growing in the grass. But inside, with glaring lights and spying camera, it revealed a crenulated beauty I had never seen before. Or at least, I hadn’t really noticed.
Copyright © Ralph Milton
Moving even closer with my camera lens, I realized that lawnmowers and photographers pose no threat to such creations, because their calling is to whither, to die, to spread their spores into the breeze and thereby birth a million offspring. Perhaps next autumn, if it rains, one of its children will again delight this tall, old man who will again save it from his mower.
With thanks,
Ralph Milton
Dr. Ralph Milton is one of Canada’s best-known religious communicators, and a recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Sacred Letters from St. Stephen’s College, Edmonton. He also has an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from the Vancouver School of Theology. A former news broadcaster, open line host and church administrator, Milton is the author of 17 books including the bestselling Family Story Bible; Angels in Red Suspenders; and Julian’s Cell, a novel based on the life of Julian of Norwich. Co-founder of Wood Lake Publishing, Ralph Milton lives in Kelowna, British Columbia, with his wife and friend of 50 years, Beverley, a retired church minister.
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