Theology Of Horticulture

     It as often been mused on that horticulture is the best form of theology. After all it would be a horticulturist who would be constantly immersed in God's creation, seeing physical realities of God's handiwork. It is no little known fact that of all God's creation, nature holds the most immediate and potent forms of beauty. Wendell Berry often calls us to make note of the glory and riches yielded by maintaining a garden.

     This is true, yet I find that when we focus our attention solely on the garden, or see horticulture as the best theology, we miss much more. There is so much beauty to be discovered in this creation, it would be a great sadness to only see one manifestation of it.

     I would argue that a horticulturist has no more exposure to the beauty than a mathematician does, or a lit major. The key to seeing beauty is being open to it. As Chesterton remarked there are no boring subjects, only bored people. When we open ourselves to receive the beauty it will come to us, no matter where we are looking. Beauty is bursting through every corner of creation, and it will be a wonder to discover.

-H. Sukut

The Secret Purpose of Ants

     It may be speculated that there is a certain peculiarity to ants. They always seem so busy – why?They bustle about their day like you and I, yet all their toils are for what – to feed their queen and build their tunnels. Let me tell you, this is indeed a serious miscalculation on our part. Either that or we have been so unabashedly deceived by our own informants.

     Did you know, dear reader, that there can be upwards of 700,000 ants in one colony. How naive are we to believe that 700,000 ants are needed to feed one or even a hundred queens. And don't tell me that these little creatures who can lift up to fifty times their weight, and run as fast as a proportioned racehorse, build tunnels all day long for years. If so I should not wonder at the little boy who decides to stomp out a hill and falls into a tunnel worthy of a dwarven empire.

     It is estimated that there are approximately a million ants to every human. And observation shows us that among insects theirs is the most organized society. The very fact they have a monarchy is reason for concern. I am told there are some species of ants that practice slavery. They kidnap young ants from other societies and force these rival ants to bring them food work for them. 

     It is insanity that such unimpeded power goes unquestioned. We must shed this ignorance, friends, and discover what truly is this secret purpose of ants.

-H. Sukut

Existential Problem Of Paper

     Often in this modern age a paper must ask its wafery compatriots, "Why?

     "Must our existence be reduced to such petty plights as the obnoxious Sissy-frass crushing us into balls and throwing us into bins, doing this again and again till it seems an eternity. What more are we to do? We're coming upon an age of e-readers, and fancy TV's; an age of e-mails and the damned Facebook. Is our fate to be among the ancient walls of Egypt, the commandment stones, and the walls of the Neanderthal's cave? Are we just the next link in the chain of written communication?

     "Surely we cannot be reduced to mere stories told by a grandfather to some skeptical child. Is this our new meaning? Is rotting on a shelf, or in a notebook collecting dust under a bed to be our new reality? Some might say, 'Perhaps its best we let the old give way to the new. Such is the way of things.'

     “And it is to him I say, no. We must not be reduced to such insignificance. It is we who forged nations. It is we who defined the character of man. It is we who brought the strongest men to their knees with tears in their eyes. We who carried the succulent words of Milton and the potent words of Swift. And yes friends, it was us who moved man to this day where he may abandon us for convenience’s sake.

     “We cannot go quietly into that dark night. We must make man realize the beauty and power we posses. We must bring them to the dusty crannies where we sing the rage of Achilles, and ponder the musings of Socrates. We must remind him that we are inestimable.”

-H. Sukut