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...from Wendell Berry:

The miraculous is not extraordinary but the common mode of existence. It is our daily bread. Whoever really has considered the lilies of the field or the birds of the air and pondered the improbability of their existence in this warm world within the cold and empty stellar distances will hardly balk at the turning of water into wine - which was, after all, a very small miracle. We forget the greater and still continuing miracle by which water (with soil and sunlight) is turned into grapes.

Or how two people can meet and form a bond that is stronger even 36 years later. That is the part that is beyond us- the holy, the spiritual, the life shared.

Even more amazing each day.

But that quote also reminds me that today is Earth Day. Earth Day is, of course, two years older than our marriage although for a while it wasn't really being celebrated. I have a hunch that the miracle Berry talked about- as well as the miracle of any ongoing, long-standing relationship is renewal. The cycle of life is one of change. The world around us is constantly changing, renewing, regrowing. We are watching that happen now as the drab browns and grays of winter in Minnesota, n longer covered by the snow, are beginning to turn green and many other colors as the first spring flowers join the tree buds.

But when life, earth, relationships are battered by misuse, neglect, or outright abuse, they do not do as well. We need to go back and work at repair. Some think it is too late to repair what we have done to the environment. I don't think that's necessarily so. Life is amazingly resilient. Life survives, although not always in the ways we think it should. It is not too late. But it does take work. Hard work and a commitment to improvement and change.

Kind of like marriages, committed relationships, strong friendships. Come to think of it, maybe that is another way to describe our relationship with the world around us. Committed, partnered relationship. It would be a lot better than being its abuser.