hints of gladness

“She said she wanted to see beautiful things. I took her to where I planted my seeds.”  ― Darnell Lamont Walker

“The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness.” ― John Muir

Plants make me glad, at least mostly (admittedly there are some weeds that bring me to less than glad, but happily they are far fewer than the many delightful plants all around). I enjoy watching all sorts of plants grow and blossom and change. And what a lovely riot of color we see in the trees this time of year in the northern climates: oh my!

So when I read of yet another benefit of plants, I take notice. I watched and appreciated this 2.5 minute NSF Science Nation video, and you might too? (Also below is a brief description worth a glance.)

Cactus "flesh" cleans up toxic water  

University of South Florida engineering professor Norma Alcantar and her team are using the "flesh" from Prickly Pear cacti, called mucilage, to clean up oil and other toxins from water. With support from NSF, Alcantar has spent the last few years confirming something that her grandmother told her years ago--that cacti can purify water.

“Using a natural product to clean water” – making water drinkable in places where every day there is contamination, or in places like refugee camps or disaster sites? – YES, please.

“Plants are nature’s alchemists, expert at transforming water, soil and sunlight into an array of precious substances, many of them beyond the ability of human beings to conceive, much less manufacture.”
― Michael Pollan, The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World

Enjoying and appreciating plants brings me to this poem that I recently came across and have been pondering. Before reading it and the quotes, allow me to wish for you opportunities to bow often, and many moments of goodness and much gladness.

“As dreams are the healing songs from the wilderness of our unconscious - So wild animals, wild plants, wild landscapes are the healing dreams from the deep singing mind of the earth.” ― Dale Pendell

When I Am Among the Trees, by Mary Oliver

When I am among the trees,

Especially the willows and the honey locust,

Equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,

They give off such hints of gladness.

I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,

in which I have goodness, and discernment,

and never hurry through the world

but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves

and call out, “Stay awhile.”

The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,

“and you too have come

into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled

with light, and to shine.”

“God is not only something metaphysical, but also the physical world, the plants and animals, the mountains and rivers, the air and the sun and the earth.”  ― Jeffrey R. Anderson

“So you’ll go out in joy, you’ll be led into a whole and complete life.

The mountains and hills will lead the parade, bursting with song.

All the trees of the forest will join the procession, exuberant with applause.” - Isaiah 55:12

“Love all God's creation, the whole and every grain of sand in it. Love the animals, love the plants, love everything. If you love everything, you will perceive the divine mystery in things. Once you perceive it, you will begin to comprehend it better every day. And you will come at last to love the whole world with an all-embracing love.”  ― Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts