The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning, but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life.
The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun, and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon.
It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we. (paragraph breaks added)
Source: Orthodoxy, GK Chesterton
Isabel
After Alistair Summerlee retired as President of University of Guelph, he considered what to do for excitement. He decided to go on a trek across the Kalahari Desert. It was a 425 km. walk. He and a woman – from Spain I think – and a San native guide. They took nothing with them except for a flask for water. They ate what they could catch or snare (examples are snake and scorpion).
He learned in a “close up and personal” way what deserts are like. Incredibly hot in the day and cold at night. I don’t recall his mentioning any flowers in particular.
I heard him speak of his journey. It’s a fascinating story. His hour long talk can be seen on this YouTube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdBY6l0NvlI
Tom
Tom – Thanks for the link and the story. I’m not a happy camper — literally — so I’m better off reading about that sort of excitement than experiencing it.
Isabel
Well if you’re not a happy camper under general circumstances, listen up to what they had to do in the Kalahari Desert trek.
Since it’s so stinkin’ hot in the daytime, wearing clothing is not helpful…so they had to go naked. They would strip, then roll in the mud. The mud would insulate them from the sun and the heat.
Tom
Tom – LOL. Yes, I feel better knowing that I made a good choice: Not to hike across the Kalahari. Not that this option was ever under serious consideration . . .
I think you were fortunate to run into brittlebush rather than into an Alistair Summerlee looking for excitement. Who knew?
Laurna – LOL. I’ll keep an eye out for retired university presidents on the trail, and give them a wide berth. Just in case.
The colors are so nice in these pictures! How did you get the dark background?
Paul – Well, I have to say I don’t really know. I was standing back a ways, zoomed at 300mm (on my mirrorless, so I understand that’s the equivalent of 600mm on a 35mm camera) on F10 or 11, and that’s what it did. And I underexposed maybe a full stop, so the yellow wouldn’t blow out.
Beautiful colourful flowers! Good photographic advice on taking flowers, a difficult task most of the time.
Judith – Thanks kindly. I can’t always get that dark-background effect, but I like it when it happens. 🙂