This column falls under the “Be careful what you wish for” category.

            Last spring, I planted some beans in my garden. I don't know how many, but around 100 beans. Exactly according to the instructions, three inches apart. Four of the beans came up. Just four.

            So, about two weeks later, I tried again. I planted another package of beans. About 90, this time. Two more beans came up. Just two.

            Total bean plants, six.

            I spent weeks lamenting my lack of gardening skills.

            But oh my, how those six beans grew.

            They overwhelmed the frames I put up for them to grow on. They block out the sky overhead.

            For a couple of weeks, I picked beans every two days. A colander full, every time. Sometimes more. Joan started groaning every time I came in with another bucket of beans.

            I estimate, in hindsight, that I harvested around 15 gallons of beans before I pulled those six plants up by the roots.

            Unfortunately, I didn’t keep the original seed packages. So I don't know their brand or variety. Too bad, because if every bean of theirs germinated and grew like mine, they could feed the world.

            Looking back, I'm grateful now that only six seeds germinated. We'd have been overrun if they had all grown. Perhaps those seeds knew better than I did how much growth to anticipate.

            Disturbing thought – are beans smarter than I am?

Unexpected insights

            Having just had another birthday, I see those beans as a symbol of my life. The beans didn't live up to my expectations; at the same time, they exceeded my expectations.

            Which pretty much describes my life.

            As near as I can recall, I expected marriage to be an extended honeymoon. It hasn't been. It has been better. In ways I could not have imagined back then.

            When we had children, I expected to enact a re-run of Father Knows Best. Ha! But Father learned a lot of things along the way -- and not just about parenting.

            Back then, I expected to spend my adult life living in Vancouver. I couldn't imagine any place I would rather live, unless it was Vancouver Island -- my world had limited horizons. As things worked out, I haven't lived in the Vancouver area since 1964, but along the way I've been exposed to over 60 countries, including many well off the tourist track.

            The one place where reality has matched my expectations is my career. I didn’t have any any. And that’s exactly how things have worked out. With a few exceptions, others have seen opportunities for me. I’ve done what they expected – not necessarily what I expected.

            With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, I can't help thinking that having great expectations may not be a good thing.

            During the thirty-plus years I worked as a professional editor, I was often disappointed by the manuscripts I received. Not so much because they were poorly written, or poorly researched – that only happened rarely – but because they didn’t measure up to the expectations I had for them.

            I might have been a better editor if I simply welcomed whatever came along.

            I might have been a better person… no, let’s not go there.

            Maybe life, like beans, is smarter than I am.

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Copyright © 2017 by Jim Taylor. Non-profit use in congregations and study groups, and links from other blogs, welcomed; all other rights reserved.

            To comment on this column, write jimt@quixotic.ca

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YOUR TURN

The first dozen replies to my unfinished parable, last week, all wondered if some technical glitch had knocked out the conclusion: to whom did the CEO turn over his company?

            Isabel Gibson and Lester Stano were the first to assume that I left the parable deliberately unfinished. Most of the parables told by Jesus – the master parabler – were originally unfinished. Only later, when the disciples bugged him, did he resolve the uncertainty for them. It seems to me that is, or should be, a primary characteristic of a parable. It’s supposed to shake up the hearers’ thinking, to make them re-consider what they had previously taken for granted. Not to provide one person’s answers.

            Who got the company? I don’t know. A number of you thought it should be the gardener-VP, the one who made things more beautiful, more sustaining.

Laurna Tallman picked the third VP: “You have sidestepped the Gospel narrative to produce a different sort of parable for our times. I'll take the gardener, thanks. And if I get the parent company, I will have the revenue to find a gardener to help me maintain it and to find other gardeners to plant more such gardens.”

Wilma Davison agreed with Laurna: “This was a no brainer for me -- the third Vice President. Money, power and possessions just do not compare to the simple pleasures of life. Since the death of our daughter five years ago, I have been plagued with depression.  The surest and quickest cure for me is to go for a drive and 'feel' the colour and beauty in the simple panorama surrounding me, no matter what the season or weather. It is a feeling that is physical as well as visual and I might add that includes listening to the sounds and activities of the critters and insects that might cross my visual path. Go into a stand of trees and just look at the different colours -- blue greens, brown greens, vibrant greens, dull greens, yellow greens, grey greens, and so many more. One does not have to go far and even the bleakest of surroundings will yield miracles of God's creative handiwork.  How can one help but feel he spirit and the joy of His creation?  Thank you for reminding us that we all need to stop, look, and listen.”

Hugh Pett commented, “The parable parallels are unmistakable, so the answer is likely to be the third VP.  But in the Trump era the other two would have a good shot at the title.”

John Danz sent along his own parable, about two wolves fighting for dominance within each of us. “The grandson asked his grandfather, ‘Which wolf will win?’ The old chief simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’”

David Gilchrist wrote, “I love your twist on the story of the talents. I doubt that the first two got the company, but I’m interested in that each did something for himself. (The first two stood to inherit what they had done, as the boss would not be around for long!). I wonder if the third found some way to share with others? Public Park maybe?”

            David went on to comment about a previous column, on blood donations: “Malaria? Yes, I gave for many years, and the platelets were used here -- as you suggest they are still in the U.S. But Canada (at least, Alberta) won’t take mine anymore because of malaria 80 years ago! In the North, they took my blood directly from my vein into a hemorrhaging new mother, and she never got malaria from it! How badly can they really want it? So many of us are willing but turned down. Maybe one of your readers here will influence them to start Platelet harvesting again.”

Peter Clark also wanted to follow-up on that column: “I notice the comments you have printed are from the donor, or potential donor perspective. I would like to share my experience as a recipient.  A couple of years back, during chemotherapy, my hemoglobin count fell through the floor; blood transfusion was the treatment. I became emotional during the treatment and still do at the thought that as a consequence of the generous selflessness of some unknown person I could have life -- in fact as it turns out, life in abundance as I could get back to running.  I remain grateful to my unknown benefactors and salute their altruism.”

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PSALM PARAPHRASES

Over the last half-century, many autocratic governments have been overthrown -- not by force or power, but by the accumulative energy of ordinary people, the communion of saints. Here’s a non-political paraphrase of Psalm 149

1          Familiar words aren't enough.
New times call for new ways to praise God.

2          So dance. Sing.
Show you love God with your bodies as well as your words.

3          Use every means you have
-- your music, your work, your social systems --
to demonstrate your love for God.

4          God will not shun you because you show your emotions.
Love is not limited to important positions or plummy accents.

5          So join together with others.
Link your hands and link your lives.
Clap your hands and sing;
Raise the roof in praise of God.

6          Let the vigor of your voices overflow into your living.
Seize each challenge as an opportunity

7          to promote justice among all the people,
to bring to judgment to those who cause pain and suffering.

8          Even ruthless dictators cannot resist the surge of popular pressure.
The longer they try to withstand the tide, the deeper they drown.

9          That is how to give God praise.
Let us praise God!

For paraphrases of most of the psalms used by the Revised Common Lectionary, you can order my book Everyday Psalms from Wood Lake Publishing, info@woodlake.com.

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YOU SCRATCH MY BACK…

·       Ralph Milton’s most recent project, Sing Hallelujah -- the world’s first video hymnal -- consists of 100 popular hymns, both new and old, on five DVDs that can be played using a standard DVD player and TV screen, for use in congregations who lack skilled musicians to play piano or organ. More details at www.singhallelujah.ca

·       Isabel Gibson's thoughtful and well-written blog, www.traditionaliconoclast.com

·       Wayne Irwin's “Churchweb Canada,” an inexpensive service for any congregation wanting to develop a web presence, with free consultation. <http://www.churchwebcanada.ca>

·       Alva Wood's satiric stories about incompetent bureaucrats and prejudiced attitudes in a small town are not particularly religious, but they are fun; write alvawood@gmail.com to get onto her mailing list.

·       Tom Watson writes a weekly blog called “The View from Grandpa Tom’s Balcony” -- ruminations on various subjects, and feedback from Tom’s readers. Write him at twatson@sentex.net

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TECHNICAL STUFF

If you want to comment on something, send a message directly to me, jimt@quixotic.ca.

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            My webpage is up and running again -- thanks to Wayne Irwin and ChurchWeb Canada. You can now access current columns and about five years of archives at http://quixotic.ca

            I write a second column each Sunday called Sharp Edges, which tends to be somewhat more cutting about social and justice issues. To sign up for Sharp Edges, write to me directly, jimt@quixotic.ca, or send a note to sharpedges-subscribe@lists.quixotic.ca

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