RUTTER — Daffodils and dignity

Last weekend, my 6-year-old grandson, Mason, and I went down to the wooded area in our yard and picked handfuls of daffodils.

Knowing the day’s 60-some degree weather would be 17 by nightfall and freeze them out, we were determined to gather them to share and enjoy their beauty a bit longer.

Daffodils have a special meaning to me, as David presented them to me when he proposed marriage 38 years ago.

They were out of this very same garden where we pick them now.

Curious about the flower, I read that because they bloom in the spring, daffodils are often called “Lent lilies” and in many cultures symbolize rebirth and new beginnings.

With perfect timing, we find that this delicate and fragrant flower draws us to the miracles Jesus performs on his walk to the cross.

Our Lord gives sight to the blind, cures the sick and revives the dead.

With each instance of physical healing, Jesus awakens their sense of dignity, their worth.

“We don’t recognize him,” the crowd essentially says of the man whom Jesus healed and told to take up his mat.

Yes, he looks different, carrying himself erect and with utter ease.

His sight is returned, the pain of rejection is lifted, and he can get back to the business of living.

He can look others in the eye, smile naturally and extend a helping hand instead of receiving one.

The healed rejoins society, and touched by Jesus’ love, is changed.

Dignity, worth in the eyes of others, respect, companionship and belonging — oh, what we all desire!

Life is challenging. Each of us has crosses to bear, temptations to fight and times of sorrow.

Likened to a garden, it has weeds that need uprooting and thorns that prick our flesh.

But — and you know where this is headed — our gardens also yield the daffodils that fill our days with beauty, fragrance and warmth.

Jesus came to give us the fullness of community, to heal our brokenness and place us in the loving arms of the Father forever.

He calls us to him, inviting us to hear his voice, accept his healing love and take it to others: “So be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and handed himself over for us as a sacrificial offering to God for a fragrant aroma.” (Ephesians 1-2)

Today, as in times past, there are many who long for a loving touch to heal their pain and bring them into community. Let us be Christ to them.

Let us return dignity to the forgotten.

And so I pray: Dear Lord, free my thoughts from that which keeps me from your call. Help me to recognize the dignity in all and bring beauty into their lives.

Mrs. Rutter is a member of Sacred Heart Parish in Columbia.