Talking to the Basil

 We were sitting on our friends’ warm porch on a cool night when Jill noticed the basil plants growing in a nearby planter.  She spoke admiringly of the plants and expressed her love for all things basil, so our friend offered to send some leaves home with her.

 As we were preparing to leave after a pleasing evening of conversation and dining, our host gathered her scissors, leaned over the basil, and said, ‘Sorry basil!’. My pastoral mode kicked in and I felt compelled to reassure her, “It’s all right. That’s why the basil exists.” “Really?” “Oh yes, it lives to die,” I said confidently. Circle of life, right?  Snip. Snip.

 But that night I began to wonder if my pastoral counsel was sound. I was studying Romans 8:22, “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”  What is the basil giving birth to that causes it to groan with birth pangs?

 Basil exists to bring healing through its leaves. Basil exists to bring flavor out in meals. Basil exists to add its pleasing scents to our garden walks. What more could it be waiting to be, to experience?

 It is waiting for a time when the children of God will be redeemed, in their new bodies, and for them to become the stewards of creation we were supposed to be from the beginning.  That will be a time when the New Earth is revealed, in all of God’s glory; when the plants grow in habitats protected from unnatural changes; when the rivers ramble and the fish swim without worry of pollution; when indeed all creation experiences the perfect climate for each and all to flourish; then we will know what all the groaning was about.

 Until then we can talk to the basil. We can try to understand what it is telling us. We can use it and enjoy it for all the purposes God intended it to fulfill.  We can promise the basil that we will protect it, that we will be good midwives for that new birth for which it groans.  We can invite the Spirit of God to reveal what the basil is trying to tell us.

 Now I am going to stop and smell the basil.