“This dandelion has long ago surrendered its golden petals, and has reached its crowning stage of dying – the delicate seed-globe must break up now – it gives and gives till it has nothing left. What a revolution would come over the world – the world of starving bodies at home – the world of starving souls abroad, if something like this were the standard of giving; if God’s people ventured on ‘making themselves poor’ as Jesus did, for the sake of the need around; if the ‘I’ – ‘me’ – ‘mine’ were practically delivered up, no longer to be recognized when they clash with those needs.”
The final words of Many Beautiful Things come from the Parables of the Cross. Lilias refers to the seed-globe of the dandelion: “It holds itself no longer for its own keeping, only as something to be given.” Can we say with the abandonment of the seed-globe, “I am now ready to be offered?”
For further reflection on this quote and this topic of giving – giving of ourselves to others – visit biographer Miriam Rockness’s blog post: The Lesson of the Dandelion.
For daily thoughts from Lilias during the forty days of Lent, consider reading a quote a day from A Way of Seeing.