Pesky Reminders

 

Gratitude for Life

“Oh, the Lord is good to me/and so I thank the Lord/for giving me the things I need/the sun and the rain and the apple seed/ the Lord is good to me.”

Johnny Appleseed Song

          When I was a kid, I loved the Walt Disney animated films on history or science that were shown in the auditorium during weekly assembly. Usually Jiminy Cricket narrated, and the lessons were taught in a way that involved a lot of music and silliness. The story of Johnny Appleseed was one of those, and I also remember one about how the brain works, and one about how plants use sunlight in photosynthesis. They were interesting and because they were also fun, we learned a lot. 

          Last week, the Johnny Appleseed song began playing repeatedly in my brain—over and over, it bounced along as a background refrain to everything else I happened to be doing. After a while, it started to get on my final nerve. I wonder if this happens to you, too. Things get stuck in your head, and you can’t turn them off. I’ve been told it is one of the ways anxiety manifests, but sometimes it’s also that your inner guidance is determined to get a message through.

          Now, last week, as you may remember, all that stuff with my friend’s death was happening in my life: several days travel to be with him while he died, hours and hours spent with folks I didn’t really know, and the tension ever present in an ICU. There was ample reason for anxiety. But why this ditty? Why this silly little cartoon figure of Johnny Appleseed bouncing around in my brain, singing his song about the Lord? Surely some funeral dirge like Old Rugged Cross would have been more appropriate.

          Finally, out of desperation, I gave it my full attention instead of gritting my teeth and cursing every time it began. I looked it up to make sure my brain had the words right—it did. And I worked it into a piece of art I was doing—a Thanksgiving table-runner. And, finally, I just paid attention to the message—"the lord is good to me and so I thank the lord...” No matter what is going on around us, whether good or bad, one thing to always be thankful for is life itself. The historical Johnny Appleseed went about planting apple trees that he would never see grow or produce apples. He planted them because he loved apples and he knew that someday other people would reap the harvest and love them too. He simply brought life where there was none before. And life is a miraculous gift.

          My brain brought this message to me in the form it did to tell me to lighten-up (a frequent message), and even in the midst of difficult times to be thankful for my life and all the ways God has blessed me. Thankfully, the song is no longer playing in my head, but now, maybe it is playing in yours. Enjoy!😀

                                                  In the Spirit,

                                                  Jane