Day 36 - Our riches are transient

On my way into the pharmacy yesterday I was bowled over by the beautiful flowering cherry tree outside its front door. On my way out I noticed the blossom all over the trunk - nature reasserting itself and showing its resilience. I have been thinking about a theme for the next Café Church I will lead and this tree blossoming in unexpected ways is giving me pause for thought.

I have noticed how often our theology comes from hymns and not Scripture! And so I was not surprised when I woke up today and my earworm was Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold. Jan Struther wrote this hymn in 1901 and some of what she wrote would not go down well in some places today. What does a speedwell, the blue flower that is mentioned twice, actually look like? And, of course, the word gay causes merriment.

Daisies are our silver, buttercups our gold: this is all the treasure we can have or hold.

Jesus told us not to store up treasures on earth, instead to store up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-20). Daisies and buttercups do not last, especially if we pick them! But they are renewed, they reappear. We do not need to grasp and try to hold on to this gold and silver just as the manna that God provided for the Israelites could not be hoarded (Exodus 16). The hymn moves on from precious metals to jewels, and who has not noticed that raindrops are our diamonds and the morning dew? Speedwell is sapphires to us and newly furled leaves are our emeralds, while roses are the reddest rubies ever seen.

We are now finished with Jan Struther’s observant nature lesson and more learning follows. We ask the God who provided these treasures to teach us how to love them and grow like them all. We desire to be as bright as silver and as good as gold, with hearts willing to unfold like rosebuds. We want to be gay as leaves in April, clear as drops of dew because we want to be true to our God.

You may wonder why I did not instantly Google speedwell if, as a child with an urban upbringing, I could not picture it. I did and I found this:

Obviously speedwell is, like buttercups and daisies, a WEED. Wikipedia reliably informs me that a weed “is a plant considered undesirable in a particular situation, growing where it conflicts with human preferences, needs, or goals”.

Yet these weeds are God’s creation and we can appreciate them and the poetry around them. Lessons about God and our growth can come from simple children’s hymns and any plot of land – if we allow our eyes to see and our hearts to unfold. We do not need to climb mountains or travel to waterfalls or the coast to appreciate the world around us – a creation that pleased God when he saw it and which was very good. (Genesis 1:31)

Elaine Kinchin