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Embers from the Fire
A weekly blog by Deacon Dan Wagnitz for the Quad Parish Community

Blades of Grass – 6/26/2020

Sometimes it takes awhile to notice something. Sometimes it’s a long while. This week I
finally noticed grass. Or maybe more to the point, I noticed grasses. I have one fairly significant
hill on my morning walk. It takes me about 15 minutes to get to the top. I tell myself that it is
good work for my heart. I know that it’s also good for my eyes because whether it is trying to
divert my attention from the stress of the steady climb, or the slightly slower pace of heading
uphill, it’s a good time and a good place to notice things. This week I noticed grass. Or maybe
more to the point, I noticed grasses.

If you drive down this road if you noticed the grasses along the road at all it’s probably
just a green blur. But when you walk along the road there is time to see the detail. You get a
deeper appreciation that God paints creation in detail, he never paints with broad brush
strokes. I noticed the variety in the grasses growing on the roadsides. I tried to count them. I
soon realized that to truly keep track I should have picked one of each type because I counted
up to 14 different types until I wasn’t sure anymore.

It’s really the different seed heads that catch the eye. There are ones where the seeds
cling so tightly along the stem that you have to look hard to even notice them. Then there are
ones with long grain seeds that hand loosely in all directions, looking like a miniature firework
in the instant of explosion. Some look like spear points and others like tiny cattails. Some are
red, others tannish, others are various shades of green. My favorite is long and graceful, more
like tufts of silken hair than grass seed.

When you notice the different seed heads then you realize the different heights as well.
Some have gone to seed just a foot off the ground and others stand chest high. Some of the
stems seem stiff and straight while others lean over at the top and quiver in the slightest of
breezes.

It is that movement of grass that may be the most intriguing aspect of all. When a
breeze ripples across a field of grass you can literally see the wind. It is like looking into the face
of the Holy Spirit as he continues to move across the face of the earth.

His Peace,
Deacon Dan