After I found the wheat yesterday, I put it all in a bin of water to soak. I feel like there is this little theme of “re-visiting” that is reappearing as I begin journeying through there first days of Lent. When I put the wheat in water, I thought, “how is it that I knew to do that?” As a child growing up we would have a yearly Advent celebration at our church where they had different craft stations. It was there I learned how to make a suet ball and cover it with birdseed to hand out for the birds. It was also at these gatherings that I learned to make Scandinavian straw ornaments. The straw needed to be soaked first so it would bend instead of break.
Next step for me this morning was to look for a You Tube video and how to weave a St. Brigid’s cross. (There are many videos to choose from). I pulled the longest stems out of the bin of water and began trying to follow the directions. It was readily apparent that practice would make me much better at it, but I just kept going. I made my perfectionist traits sit and stay instead of them trying to tell me to start over.
This is my finished project:
There was still quite a bit of wheat left in the soaking tub when I was finished. My first thought was to throw it in the garbage. But I had another idea because there was a bible verse I remembered whispering in my ear. “Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains but a single grain. But if it dies, it bears much fruit” -John 12:24 translated from my own memory.
Thoughts of “Maybe I could start a wheat field in our yard” turned into putting at all leftovers in a towel that I dumped at the edge of our woods thinking maybe the deer might like it.
I have read that many place St. Brigid’s crosses above their doors as a sign of protection. One of the things I have also been pondering lately is what I want to welcome in my life and what I want to get rid of. I have decided that is going to be the symbolism in my St. Brigid’s cross. Though I have still not decided where I will hang ii, the metaphor of a welcoming door and a closing door does seem significant.
