Our slender tender hydrangea tree has taken a beating in recent days.
It’s got lots of company, too, in its newfound decrepitude: Here, a tiger lily has been trampled to the ground. There, one in a former trio of azaleas trembles in fear, perhaps because its already-weakened neighbor is now no more – every one of it crushed stems and branches carted off amongst construction debris.
That’s the price of progress, I suppose: When a siding crew descends, landscaping plants become just so much collateral damage. Scaffolding and ladders have to gain solid footing somewhere. And if the best base happens to be in the middle of a bush, so be it. I understand the efficient logic that drives the desolation – the crew-cut that so many of our bushes recently received. Still, it’s a bit jarring to behold.
Such was my perspective yesterday, as I contemplated the pruning that will surely need doing…in order to return our poor hydrangea to some semblance of symmetry.
Today, I awoke to a slightly different perspective. A fresh blanket of snow now covers the damaged shrub, and gives me occasion to reflect.
Advent.
It’s here, arriving with the dawn … and with its promise that “redemption is at hand.”
Advent is easy to miss, especially in a time and place which – at first glance – appears utterly perplexed and dismayed. The “anxieties of daily life” shout much more loudly than gentle flakes of snow. They “assault everyone who lives on the face of the earth,” both those dealing with trivial losses (like a shrub gone south) and those who must shrink from the deadly force of missiles shrieking overhead.
Anxiety grips our hearts.
If you give it room, it can “catch you by surprise like a trap.”
But there’s an alternative. Advent teaches us to be vigilant in the face of anxiety. Falling like snow on a broken branch in the promising light of a new day, Advent reminds us that we need not fear, for our redemption is at hand.
O Wisdom
Lord and Ruler
Root of Jesse
Key of David
Rising Sun
King of the Nations
Emmanuel
Come, Lord Jesus
Let us pause now…to recall that we are in the presence of the Holy & Merciful One.
IHS
With Us Still 
Looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas may be arranged.
Yes, Tom. But the Most Sincere landscaping, ever!
John, never mind the careful pruning. An excellent landscaping enhancement would be the placement of the golf league trophy in a prominent place in the front yard. If you bury it, your house may sell in the next three months.
Now, why on earth would I want to sell a house where my Golf League trophy is permanently displayed? 😝😇