Finding our Middle – 40 Days with Anna
Day 20 – Thursday after 3rd Sunday of Lent
To Read:
The first day she held flower seeds in her hand was such a time. There was no need for words; her actions and thoughts spoke for themselves. There she was in front of some wild flowers, kneeling down with a sprinkling of seeds in her hands. Her eyes located her thoughts; she looked at the seeds and her brow furrowed. She looked over her shoulder into the distance and her eyes popped in amazement, back to the seeds, back over her shoulder. Finally she stood up, looked outwards, where to I do not know – and slowly turned a full circle. By the time she faced me her inner lamps had been turned full on. I didn’t have to be told what was going on in her head; it was plain to see. The sharp needle of her thoughts had sewn together this flower-filled scene that we now occupied with the bare patches of land in the East End. Of course seeds could be transported from one place to another – so – why not do it? She looked at me with large question-marks in her eyes, and without a word I gave her my clean pocket-handkerchief. She spread this on the ground and with infinite care shook the seed pods. The white handkerchief was soon covered with the dark grains of the seeds.
This activity of collecting seeds was one that I saw thousands of times; never once was she violent with any seed pod, and on each and every occasion came the moment of decision: ‘Have I taken too many?’ ‘Are there enough left?’ Sometimes the decision could only be made after a careful inspection of the seed pods. If she decided she had taken too many she would then proceed to portion out those seeds she had collected, sprinkling very carefully some portion back on the land again. Mister God went up about ten points in her estimation with regard to these seeds as she said, ‘Ain’t Mister God wonderful!’
Anna was not only deeply in love with Mister God; she was proud of him. Anna’s pride in Mister God grew and grew to such dimensions that in some idiot moment I wondered if Mister God ever went pink with pleasure.
Whatever feelings people have had about Mister God over the many centuries, I’m very sure of one thing, nobody has ever liked Mister God more than Anna.
From the Scriptures:
As it is written,
‘He scatters abroad; he gives to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.’
10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. (2 Corinthians 9v9-10)
To Reflect:
When King Charles III, before his ascension to the throne, began setting up his estate at Highgrove House with his insistence on an organic approach to farming and the environment many people were dismissive of his efforts. This extended to much public ridicule when in 1986 he revealed that he talked to his plants. It seems that Anna was there ahead of him.
Anna and our monarch are together teaching us, as we encourage each other as they walk gently on this world to treat it with tenderness. It is not for nothing that St Francis in his Canticle of the Creatures addresses different parts of the created order as Mother or Brother or Sister. The world around us is us. We can do nothing without it and we would do well to learn to make the Fifth of the 5 Marks of Mission of the Anglican Communion something to which we should aspire;
To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation
And sustain and renew the life of the earth
Anna, growing up homeless and with little of God’s beautiful creation surrounding her, was determined to show off Mister God’s handiwork by helping it bloom wherever there were no flowers or greenery to be found. She knew that all people needed to know about Mister God was contained in the everyday miracle of the growing seed. Little wonder that the Bible is chockful of metaphors about seeds and flowers and fruits reflecting God’s care and love.
Sadly we can be a little too busy to ‘stop and smell the flowers’. Elizabethe Barrett Browning’s words serve as a challenge to all of us to stop, collect the little miracles that seeds are, and scatter them far and wide.
Earth’s crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes of his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
To Pray:
Crown us, O God, but with humility,
and robe us with compassion,
that, as you call us into the kingdom of your Son,
we may strive to overcome all evil by the power of good
and so walk gently on the earth
with you, our God, for ever.
(Prayer for Psalm 21 – Common Worship)
To Do:
1) Sow some wildflower seeds somewhere there are no flowers.
2) Sing, or listen to, the hymn ‘All Creatures of our God and King’.
Please Note: These reflections are also published on my blog: suffolkvicarhomes.com on Bluesky as @suffolkvicar.bsky.social, and on my public Facebook page Suffolk Vicar – Rev Andrew Dotchin. If you would like them as a daily email please send a request to revdotchin@gmail.com
If you have enjoyed reading them please make a donation to The Clergy Support Trust who provided a generous grant to help me find the space to compose them.
Acknowledgements:
Quotes from the book ‘Mister God, This is Anna’ are Copyright © Fynn 1975
Illustrations from the book ‘Mister God, This is Anna’ and ‘Anna and the Black Knight’ are Copyright © Pappas 1975
Psalm Prayers from Common Worship: Daily Prayer, material from which is included here, is copyright © The Archbishops’ Council 2005 and published by Church House Publishing
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
These Reflections, ‘Finding our Middle – 40 Days with Anna’ are copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2025 and may be reproduced without charge on condition that the source is acknowledged.
Suffolk Vicar 