The shy Hosta
Another beautiful reflection by Fr Jason Murphy in his bi-monthly column Let the Busy World be Hushed...
The leaves of the hosta plant are starting to yellow with the shortening days and come the first of the frosts they too will fall to the ground. They have given colour and structure in their foliage to the garden all the spring and the summer long, bursting forth from the ground in early March with the freshness of youth and the exuberance of new life.
They were first brought to Europe from China and Japan in the late 1700’s to adorn the formal gardens of stately homes who revelled in their exotic origins. In recent decades they have become a mainstay of flower gardens in Ireland having gained popularity for the varied colour and form they give. There are over 2,500 cultivars of the plant and with such a variety of shape, form and texture you could devote a whole garden to growing nothing but hostas. Their leaves are sometimes like large elephant ears with a bluey grey colour while smaller varieties of the plant are light green with variegated edges which grow and grow in large clumps and can be divided in the springtime to form new plants to be dotted throughout the garden, living for over thirty years and more.
But one thing that the hosta hates is the full glare of the sun, preferring to grow in the dappled light of the shade while other plants take the glory. The hosta doesn’t produce a garish flower but is consistent all the summer long in the structure and form it gives to the garden and if exposed to the hot rays of the sun as in the days of the months past when temperatures soared, it’s leaves start to wither and fade and lose the freshness that was theirs.
‘Sweet is the lore that nature brings’ and teaches us much about living for there are people who are much like the hosta, preferring to live their lives in the dappled light of the shade, in the midst of the ordinary and the everyday, finding joy in the simple things that others take for granted.
They can be found amongst those who are shy and retiring, those who are modest and self-effacing; force them on to centre stage in the full glare of the noonday sun and their leaves start to shrivel and fade for it is not for the direct rays of the sun that they were made.
Over the past days since the death of the Queen, we have learned much about her person and character and one thing that I have heard spoken of in the media from those who knew her best was that she was essentially shy and at all times self-effacing.
She never boasted or bragged of her achievements for indeed she didn’t need to, she spoke rarely of herself, rather putting the spotlight of her attention on those with whom she met and the work that they were involved in.
One courtier spoke of how she would breathe in a large intake of breath before entering a room full of people, so inwardly shy was she and as she moved through the room, she spoke little or nothing of herself, rather listening and giving space for others to tell their stories, leaving them with a sense that it was they who had shone in the bright light of the sun not her.
Indeed we all have the power to influence, be you the monarch of the glen, or someone who enjoys the dappled light of the shade, in the midst of the ordinary and the everyday, revelling in the simplicity of daily life.
It is not only those who bask in the sunlight producing the most garish flowers who lay the greatest influence on the lives of those around; it is rather those who are consistent over time, in their friendship, in their loyalty, in their work, their lived faith and their commitment, in a world where self- gratification and individualism are the gospel truths of modern living, it is those who are self–effacing, who put others first; parents, grandparents, friends and colleagues we oft times take for granted, who constantly give of themselves for the good of others in the simple and the ordinary who have lived their lives in the dappled light of shade who paradoxically leave the longest shadow, the greatest influence, at the end of their days.
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