Someone Came Knocking

Yesterday, as I sat in my comfy morning zone sipping my second coffee of the day, someone came knocking on my door. I opened it to see an almost elderly lady who wanted to know if I'd like to sell her some of my rhubarb.

There is no sidewalk on our side of the street, so when we had built our Serenity Patio in place of the quack grass that had formerly been our front yard, we set the fence of it back to the easement line. When this was done it formed an extra parking spot at right angle to the driveway. To pretty it up just a bit, we had installed a small border garden where I planted the odd this and that. At one end it contains a large clump of iris, a gift from a former neighbor when she had culled her garden. At the other end and closest to the road there is another large clump of rhubarb, which we had found growing in the back yard since ages before we bought the house. These two clumps of growth are perfectly self-maintaining. In between them I have, from time to time purchased flowering things to plant there, but they never seem to survive or thrive. What does thrive along that fence, but planted on the patio side, are two stands of seedless empress grape vines. They stretch themselves along support wires suspended two feet above the fence providing color, a bit of shade, and much attraction for birds, butterflies, and a number of our friends who love the grapes.

In biblical times it was common law that, what crop bounty could be reached within 3 feet of the road was free for the taking -- it was the "alms length" which gave rise to "an arm's length" measure. In today's society welfare programs have all but eradicated the common personal charitable characteristic. These days, it seems to me, the common view is to ownership "this is mine, that is yours" and sharing freely is a thing of the past. So this sweet little lady was quite surprised when I said to her, "Help yourself, it was a gift from God." And even more so a few moments later, when she humbly asked to borrow a knife to cut it, and I told her that she could help herself also, to whatever grapes she wanted and could reach from the road side of the fence, that they too were a gift from God.

A few minutes later she was again at my door to return the knife. She had carefully gathered all the leaf croppings and said if I'd show her where my compost was she'd put them there as well --- a far cry from those careless individuals who pass by tossing their empty Slurpee cups, beer cans, or cigarette packs. She seemed hesitant to leave, perhaps searching for the best words to thank me for my generosity. She fumbled for a few, but I said, "No, no, God's gifts are for sharing. By the way, I have some philosophies about that. Would you like to hear them?" "Oh, yes" she said. So I told her that I was working on setting up a Non-profit Society, initially to benefit abandoned children, but based on the premise of caring for one another, and ultimately to engage in the War of Good vs Evil. We both agreed that this war was already well underway, and she was quick to assure me that the Good was going to win. "Yes", I agreed with her, "but for my part, I think I'd rather be a participant in the battle than a by-stander hoping for the best outcome."

Then I went on to say, as I see it, someone who would make a point of stopping to ask if they could have some rhubarb, must have a plan to make something out of it -- jam, perhaps, or a pie. It seems to me, that if they happened to make a little more than they really needed for themselves, they might not mind donating a bit back to support a worthwhile cause, such as contributing to a yard sale, bake sale, swap meet or what have you. [she nodded] I said, what if there were a dozen or so such recipients and they all got together? That would make a nice little fund-raiser, wouldn't it? "Yes," she agreed, "I'd like to talk to you some more about this, but I have to run right now. Could I have your phone number?"

And that was how today became the day to finally re-pot the rubber plant, which has been shooting air-roots for months already. I got this plant gifted to me as a cutting from a plant that Bob had given his mother years ago, which he had purchased as a small starter plant one Mother's Day. Last Christmas I took a good dozen air-root starts from it and made little individual plant starters and candle sets as gifts to friends we either had over for dinner, or were invited to their homes. Today I created an additional 52 starters. The little peat pellets will soon be popping up pepper plants, and in a few weeks it will be blackberry season; yet another gift with which God has seen fit to bless us.

And so the yard sales begin, because someone came knocking.