Lupine season. Happy Sunday!

“If your eye is generous, your whole being is full of light!” Jesus

It is Lupine season in Maine. This particular form of Lupine is native to Maine, but I suspect, wherever I see these kinds of mass display, that there is a human hand behind it...that someone nurtured nature to establish the Lupines. Perhaps part of that comes from the well-known (at least in Maine) children’s book, “The Lupine Lady”...based apparently on a true story of a lady who, after a lifetime of travel, set out to do her part in making the world more beautiful by spreading Lupine seed wherever she went in Maine. However it happens, I am always delighted to find a field full of Lupines in June...and I think I can remember every single time I have been blessed to find one...every spot...and easily recapture the feelings of my first encounter. This field is along a road I travel fairly regularly at all seasons of the year, as it is one way to get to Emmon’s Preserve, one of my favorite photo haunts, but either this display is new, or I have somehow missed it all the years I have lived in Maine. Imagine my delight to see it as I rode my eBike home the other day. Admittedly, having been alerted to the possibility of Lupines by some small clusters at the ends of folk’s drives, I did have my eye out...but even so I almost rode right by it. I am certainly glad I stopped. And thankful to whatever Lupine Lady (or man) decided the field needed Lupine.

That idea of leaving the world a more beautiful place than it was when you entered it is a powerful one. I am not suggesting that we all buy Lupine seeds and go scattering, but it would be good to take a moment to reflect on the ways we might each leave the world a more beautiful place. Sometimes that might involve nurturing nature, as the Lupine Lady did, but more often it is only a matter of living consciously...with an awareness of how our actions impact the world and those around us...for better and for worse. It is worthy goal to think the the sum of the beauty we create and nurture while we live might outweigh the sum of the ugliness and mess we, as humans, seem to inevitably leave behind. If the generous eye sees more beauty than ugliness in the world, then certainly the light within us, the spirit of the living God, should move us to both celebrate and nurture that beauty where we see it...and to actively create it where we can. My prayer today is that you, each of us, will discover the ways in which we might leave the world a better, more beautiful, place. Wake the Lupine Lady in each of our souls, and let us loose on the world. Happy Sunday!