What Greater Love?

I was out in the garden this morning, pulling weeds, when I looked over and saw 4 pea pods on a pea plant that was resting on the ground. In mid-March, I planted a garden of peas, because we had had such a warm winter that the ground was workable. "They" always say to plant peas early, as soon as the ground is workable, and I never seem to plant them early enough, so this year I did it. A week later, a blizzard arrived. I don't know if the blizzard was the cause, but only three pea plants came up. I have never failed at growing peas before, but this year, I flopped.

In May, I planted swiss chard along the little fences that were put in the garden to support my phantom peas. I haven't taken the little fences out, even though there is nothing to climb them.

Two of the three pea plants that came up died early on. All that is left is the one pea plant that, for some reason, lies on the ground. And it has given birth to four pea pods. Is that not beautiful? What a plant!

And just now, I read an article about a man who is in critical condition with burns he received while trying to save his quadriplegic dad. The man is only 20 years old and this is the third time that he has saved his father's life. I don't know if he will survive this time. Whether he does or not, the love that he has lived during his brief life is HUGE. More than many of us demonstrate over a long lifetime.

I feel so much gratitude for the strength of my little pea plant and for the love of that man. And I feel some self-condemnation, because I don't know if I have discovered the amount of love within myself that would lead me to overcome my fears and need for self-preservation so that I would run into a burning building to save another.

I have to sit with this...