Last week, I asked a teen girl, “Have you had a poem or prayer that has inspired you recently?” She did have a poem, and she shared it with me. The title of the poem she recommended was “Crocus-minded”. I searched for it and found that it’s in the book, Bless this Mess and Other Prayers, written nearly 45 years ago!
(Children) Have you seen crocuses? You’ve probably read this book, The Runaway Bunny, and seen this picture. It’s one of my younger son’s favorite books. Here’s the crocus that the little bunny turns into, hoping that his mother can’t find him, but - she finds him anyway, even disguised as a flower.
I always loved crocuses when I was on Vancouver Island; they look like beautiful gems of the early spring landscape. They poke their heads up from the cold earth, even above the snow after a long winter, signaling that Spring is coming.
Well, it’s not Spring right now, but the fall is quite obviously arriving. We are very alert to the arrival of Fall! I guess it’s because we know what’s coming up following the fall! (Please don’t frown at me, telling you all this stuff related to winter! :)
I learned that the floral emblem of Manitoba, our own province, is the prairie crocus, which is also the floral emblem of South Dakota. I was amazed when I learned that my favourite flower - now in Manitoba, the prairie crocus (botanical name: Anemone Patents) - used to be everywhere in the spring before our prairies were replaced by farms, cities and roads. From my conviction that the gift of the earth is the gift of God, I would like to share this poem, Crocus-Minded, with you, just as that teenage girl shared it with me. Whatever challenges you may face now and in the future as we are called to act and speak for justice and for God, I hope Crocus-Minded finds a home in your heart today and inspires you to take courage.
It takes courage
to be crocus-minded.
Lord, I’d rather wait until June,
like wise roses,
when the hazards of winter are safely behind,
and I’m expected,
and everything’s ready for roses.
But crocuses?
Highly irregular.
Knifing up through hard-frozen ground and snow,
sticking their necks out.
because they believe in spring
and have something personal
and emphatic to say about it.
Lord, I am by nature rose-minded.
Even when I have studied the situation here
and know there are wrongs that need righting,
affirmations that need stating,
and know also that my speaking out may offend–
for it rocks the boat–
well, I’d rather wait until June.
Maybe later things will work themselves out,
and we won’t have to make an issue of it.
Lord, forgive.
Wrongs don’t work themselves out.
Injustices and inequities and hurt don’t just dissolve.
Somebody has to stick his neck out,
somebody who cares enough
to think through
and work through hard ground,
because he believes
and has something personal
and emphatic to say about it.
Me Lord?
Could it be that there are things that need to be said,
and you want me to say them?
I pray for courage.
Amen.
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