Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
All is Dying, All is Returning to Life

All is Dying, All is Returning to Life

Last updated on: October 9, 2024 at 1:10 am by Mary Pezzulo

0 Comments

All is Dying, All is Returning to Life 2024-10-09T01:10:54-04:00 Mary Pezzulo

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

There was a shirt lodged in the chimney.

It wasn’t one of our shirts. It was a t-shirt, not Michael’s size, and it had obviously been used as a bird’s nest. We turned on the heat for the first time and found that the furnace kept shutting off for no apparent reason. The landlord called out his trusty handyman, a talkative Appalachian fellow missing a few teeth. He found the shirt, and dug it out, and sat on our living room steps exclaiming about the shirt for ten minutes. He’d never seen a shirt stuffed in a chimney in all the thirty years he’d been repairing houses. He couldn’t even imagine a bird big enough to carry it, but it must’ve been a bird. It couldn’t be the pigeons. Maybe it was the neighborhood hawk.

We reminded the handyman of the gutters that had needed cleaning since I don’t know when, and he went out to look, which is when he remembered the trees that have grown too close to the porch. Those were the trees that shielded us from the stalking neighbor who used to live in the haunted house, and I love them, but I also love having a house. He’d forgotten about the trees for a whole year. They’re eating into the porch and crushing one gutter now. They’ll have to go. Our porch will be naked on three sides instead of hidden in a messy thicket.

I was sad, but I thanked him.

On the way back to his truck, we all heard a loud, desperate fluttering sound. There was a fat pigeon winched between one of the trees and the side of the house, at just such a tricky angle that he couldn’t get out.

“I hate pigeons!” said the handyman, reaching up coldly to grab the struggling creature. “They’re filthy birds. Only thing worse is geese. Do you hate pigeons?”

I’m not too fond of them, but I was afraid he was going to kill the bird, so I said “no.” The handyman saw my horrified look and threw the pigeon, alive, onto the lawn, where it fluttered away.

Later that evening, Jimmy’s boy and the Artful Dodger came along to see how the garden was dying off.

“Guess what they found in my chimney?” I said as I brought them around the side. “A shirt! It wasn’t Adrienne’s father’s shirt, it was a shirt for a very large man.”

“Was it Santa’s?” asked the Artful Dodger.

We laughed as we scurried around the house.

The sunflowers are all but gone now– there’s one that still has buds, so I’m keeping it alive to see what will happen. The goldfinch and the robins have flown south, and I haven’t seen the cardinals in days. The tomatoes are nearly dried up. I don’t know if I’ll see a bean before frost. There was a gray and white cat playing in what had once been the summer squash– this was the Artful Dodger’s cat. Jimmy’s boy said that her name was “Disaster Cat Astroy Astroy,” but the Artful Dodger called her “Sparkles.”

Adrienne came out, pretending to look at the phone in that tiresome adolescent way, but clearly hoping for some excitement. I told the story of the shirt in the chimney again; I also told the boys about the pigeon stuck between the tree and the house, and the handyman tossing him onto the lawn. I explained how the trees weren’t long for this world, and would be gone the next time the handyman was in town with his chainsaw. I think we were all sad.

“I’ll have to think of something to plant there,” I said. “One side of the house is shady but the front will be sunny. I have wildflower seeds that will reseed year after year.”

“Bushes!” said Adrienne. “I want bushes around the porch.”

“What about something we can grow to eat? How about blackberry bushes?”

Oh, the were excited about blackberry bushes. I pointed out where we might grow wildflowers to court the pollinators and where we could have blackberries for the summer, where we’d put a climbing rose or grapes on a trellis or both. We’d have a whole world of beautiful-smelling and tasting things to take the place of those scrubby trees, places for the birds to nest, plenty of shade to hide the porch. An Eden right here in Steubenville. A paradise.

Jimmy’s boy, who had been yanking some dead grass from the middle of the tomato cages, cried out in surprise. We all gathered round in the dying light to see what he’d found.

There had been a big avocado seed in the compost I spread over the tomato patch before I put the plants in this year. It was too big to decay when the rest of the kitchen scraps did. Over the summer, it sprouted. There was a slender stem coming out of it, topped with a propeller of oblong green leaves.

“It’s an avocado tree!”

In vain did I explain to the excited boys that an avocado tree was not going to survive the frost. They squealed with excitement at the thought of a tropical tree in my tiny garden utopia. I promised to try to save it. I’d grab a bag of potting soil and a planter this week when we finally replaced the car. I’d try my best to transplant the avocado and see if I got an indoor plant out of it.

Adrienne and the boys ran footraces and played and wrestled until well after dark.

All around me was fresh cool air and the honey smell of Autumn.

The whole world is dying, and the whole world is returning to life.

And life is good.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows an d Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.

Steel Magnificat operates almost entirely on tips. To tip the author, donate to “The Little Portion” on paypal or Mary Pezzulo on venmo

Previous Post

October 6, 2024

Let the Children Come

Next Post

October 10, 2024 The Other Half Gold

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"You're talking about supercessionism, the idea that Christians "replace" the covenant that the Jewish people ..."

Alex

Yes, the Old Testament is About ..."

"Oh I'm sure it did."

Mary

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"For what its worth, it seems like the whole thing originated from Pete Hegsith speaking ..."

Evil-Striker

A Televised Execution is a Moral, ..."

"You may be right. A war and its aftermath are different than day-to-day governance. Still, ..."

Mary

On Traditionalist Bullies, and the Death ..."

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category abortion Abuse Advent America American Christianity angel angels Annunciation Appalachia apparition apparition chaser apparition chasers apparition culture art art review babies baby baby Jesus Bad Lip Reading bad statue contest bath beauty Bible story blog blogkeeping blood book review Brandon Sanderson breastfeeding bus Catholic catholic conspiracy alarmism Catholic Oppositional Disorder Charismatic Renewal Charlie the Cat chastity Christ Christian idenitity Christianity and Judaism Chronic Illness clean clothing COD piece comedy compassion conscience conspiracy theory conversion cop-on-black violence Crucifixion cry of the poor culture Daesh Daily Saints death death penalty devotional diaconate diaper diapers dirty disability Donald Trump Dorothy Day dream drugs Eastern Catholicism Eastern Christianity education election election update Elsewhere on Patheos empathy environment Fear feminism film review fish flashback fluffy buns food Franciscan University of Steubenville Friendship Room fun Gabriel gardening gospel hair-splitting Heaven hell heresy Hillary Clinton history Holly the Witch Holy Spirit holy war Homeschooling homosexuality horror human dignity humor Icon idol immigrants infection inter-religious dialogue Interpretation of Scripture Islam Jesus Jihad Joseph joy laity and lay vocations lamb dinner laundry lent lgbtq literature love manners Mary Medicine and Science Meditation mercy mess milk misogyny Missouri monasticism monster motherhood mourn with those mourn movies movis music mystery nature neurodiversity New Pro-Life Movement news nonsense nostalgia O antiphons obituary objectification Ohio Valley Ordinary Time ordination Ordo Amoris parable paradox Passover peanut butter personal beliefs pets philosophy Planet Charismatic poetry politics polls poop Pope Francis Pope Leo power in the Church prayer prayer request prayers preferential option for non-violence president presidential election priest primary private revelation pro-life prophecy Public face of Catholicism Pure Flix Q and A race racism random rape rape. sexuality reader's request Reckoners refugee religious trauma ressurrection Right to life Saints saints and celebrations same-sex same-sex marriage satire scandal secular feasts seder Seven Joys Seven Last Words sex sexual ethics sexuality silencing six months skid row slavery social justice Speculative fiction spiritual abuse spoon stain story suffering suffrage suffragette Sunday Gospel temple Tenebrae Responsories Terror the exorcist The Friendship Room The New Pro-Life Movement Things I Learned on the Internet tin cup traffic true story tv review Uncategorized USCCB vice and temptation violence Virtue virtue and vice war Way of the Cross whimsy whole life women's ordination work of mercy Year A

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was King Saul's father?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Methuselah Job Kish Rehoboam