My
wife and I spent about a week in the Drakensberg, Kwa-Zulu Natal during November
2020. The mountains are absolutely magnificent and majestic! There are so many
write-ups about mountains in the different languages of the world that I cannot
and dare not try to copy or to emulate – I will fall flat on my face before I
even start. You can search my blog and have a look at my write-up about Cathedral Peak.
The Christian Scriptures are awash with references to mountains and the interaction we human beings have had in the very distant past. During 1992 a Rabbi instructed me to get a special translation of the Torah; he was so forceful that I immediately went to the Jewish Bookshop and got my copy. It was translated by the gifted Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan who unfortunately and untimely passed away. But his living legacy is alive and well not only in his original LIVING TORAH translation, but also in the translation of the entire Jewish Scriptures. And it is from that, that I take my inspiration for this blog publication.
The LIVING NACH SACRED WRITINGS – a new translation Based on traditional Jewish sources - quotes Psalm 121: 1 – 2 as follows: “I lift up my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come? My help is from God, Maker of heaven and earth.”
How powerful are these words!
I stagger under the power of these concepts – and you?
Do you have enough faith to go without these powerful concepts? I don’t.
Having been in those towering Drakensberg mountains, it re-enforces the above quote. I believe these and try to live thereby moment by moment. When I look at my onion seeds these words flood my mind. When I look at my giant dahlias a.k.a. dinner plate dahlias, that I propagate in my garden, these words come to mind. Moment by moment I make progress.
I was fortunate to get some unique seeds from the veld in Dullstroom, Mpumalanga and it started sprouting on my side table where I sit and read in my lounge. Just, like that, in the open and even close to soil. My wife shouted at me while I was in my office tending to my legal work and I got such a fright because she never shouts at me. And yet, that day, she shouted. I jumped up and ran towards the lounge and she just pointed her finger at the seeds in the open plastic bag and said to me: “Look!” Yes, there they were sprouting on my little side table. Now you wonder what kind of seeds are those? Seeds from veldplants. Brunsvigia radulosa – also known as tumble weed or the candelabra flower.
Look at my photos of the plants in the veld and the seeds in my container in my kitchen.
I was struck by the thought that plants grow specifically to multiply! My gardener from Malawi planted five seeds from the Malawian pumpkin; I harvested hundreds of seed from just one pumpkin. Have you ever seen onion seeds? Tiny little things, but brim-full of life. Carrot seeds? Have a look. Look at a corn cob – and think of an agriculture land full of corn. Millions of seeds that bristle with life. This is what carrot seeds look like. Wow!
I took some shop bought pineapples and used those tops to start growing my own pineapples. Our daughter is very keen on growing papaya trees from the seeds she harvests from shop bought papayas; and then she gives it to friends.
Surrounded by mountains and veggies seeds! These blessings tend to over power me and leave me almost speechless – that is the reason why I am writing this on my blog.
