A morbid thought?

With the wonderful Fall weather we’ve had lately, my wife and I decided to do some landscaping in our yard. She had picked up 84 tulip bulbs and was originally planning to line one edge of our property with them. We ended up deciding to plant 7 lilac bushes along the property edge instead though and so ended up planting the tulip bulbs around our trees.

I could go on about the details or our earthmoving ventures, but I’m already starting to bore myself so I better hurry this along. We ended up moving six day lilies to make space for the lilacs. As I dug them up I found many bulb like roots. Not wanting them to come back up in the future, I tried to pull them out by hand. Usually this didn’t work however so I would dig further with my hands and little garden shovel and try pulling again.

The rich, black soil felt moist on my hands. I encountered plenty of earthworms and other little bugs that apparently had made this area their home. It struck me that someday my hand, which was moving this dirt, will one day be buried by it and gradually decompose and become one with it. What a morbid thought you say. Yes it’s not a fun thing to think about but somehow I felt very much at peace with it.

So often we get caught up in our everyday lives and think the world revolves around us. But the truth is that whatever your religious convictions may be, it doesn’t. It lasted long before us and will continue after us as if nothing changed. Of course the choices we make do have an effect the future. That dirt was powerless in remaining put when I decided to take a shovel to it and the flowers and bushes we planted will effect the landscape for years to come. But someday our bodies will be just as powerless as the soil on which we walk. Kind of puts everything in perspective a bit.

Now I’m not suggesting that we just sit back and feel sorry for ourselves due to this fact that one day our bodies will be reduced to the status of dirt. Today each of us holds a shovel in our hands that will play a part in shaping the world around us. It is actually quite a beautiful concept. This is our time. What shall we plant for future generations to see.