Month: March 2006

“WOW! A path with an island!” Mike yelled enthusiastically, “You can get through the yard two different ways!” I gazed at my little rock island with one half-dead rose bush and contemplated the work I had done in the last two weeks to create a pathway through the “rockeries” in the front yard. I left that little island in the middle of a path because it has some large coral rocks a builder left there years ago. I planted a rose bush there a while back near the rocks and I made feeble attempts to garden in the rocks, but a lack of sunlight and a northern exposure rendered my efforts to grow flowers useless. I was left with those big rocks and one half-dead rose bush. The rest of the front yard is small plantings surrounded with a maze of grass to maneuver if you want to get from one side to the other. What Mike commented on was my work as I systematically and manually laid pavers to redefine an old pathway I found when we dug up the yard to fix the plumbing. “You should write about how to build pathways!” Chuck added helpfully and turned to Mike to discuss the latest yard sprinkler project. The two neighbors wandered off to discuss water pressure and sprinkler heads as I stood rummaging through my memory as lines from an old poem played in my head. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.”
What was I thinking when I began this project of building pathways? Kneeling on my gardening rug, digging up the front yard with garden trowel and sometimes pick and shovel, smoothing the soil, picking out rocks, fitting and laying each stone paver by hand…”How to build pathways?” I snorted, “No one does this kind of work manually any more!” I turned, but the boys were gone, leaving me to think about pathways diverging, making choices, accomplishing grand things and a quality hand-made job well done.

This is the sixth station of the Cross. If you look at the picture, you see a woman wiping the face of Jesus. Legend tells us that the image of Jesus’ face stayed on the cloth. He left Veronica a gift. Who is Veronica? We don’t hear about her in Scripture. The four Evangelists do not mention her in the Passion of Christ, but she is real to us nevertheless. The name Veronica comes from the Latin and means “true image.” She is one who is filled with compassion at seeing a suffering man. She sees through the dirt and sweat to His true image, to His pain. She steps forward through columns of armed soldiers to wipe the blood and sweat off the face of the suffering man. She puts her safety on the line for the sake of giving comfort to one not as “lucky” as she is. You see, she is a sinner; He is not, but He is taking on her sin. Step out there today and wipe the face of one who is less fortunate. He might be Jesus and you will “see” His face.