Over the last week these two mushrooms sprouted up in our backyard. Many other little mushrooms appear here & there, but these two are gigantic at 8-inches high (& counting.) Each day they seem to grow a little bigger.

Seeing them reminds me of hobbits in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.  I’ve always liked hobbits, what with their enjoyment of meals (breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, tea, supper, dinner) and their affinity for mushrooms. Frodo feared Farmer Maggot for years after trespassing his fields as a young hobbit pilfering mushrooms, but when he’s in a spot of trouble with the Riders of Mordor, Farmer Maggot aids him (& Sam & Pippin.) An added bonus, Frodo ends up with a basket of cooked mushrooms from Mrs. Maggot, “a queen among farmer’s wives.”

Those mushrooms in the Fellowship of the Ring lifted the spirits of bewildered hobbits at the beginning of their journey into faraway, dark places. Just like these mushrooms did for me today.

It’s easy to get down looking around our world today where there are so many challenges and places of despair.  (Just contemplating the upcoming U.S. presidential election can be rather bewildering & excessively depressing.)

But look at these mushrooms, growing so big, so tall and proud.

It’s a weird place to flourish (in our backyard.)

But, hey, they’re doing their thing despite the climate around them. They’re giving hope to all the mushrooms in our backyard to keep on, keeping on.  They may be different sizes and hues, but they’re all mushrooms, big or small.

Yo, people! Like these mushrooms, whatever our countries, sizes, hues (or political leanings), we are all part of this planet EARTH. We are all Earthlings!

Wherever we are placed in this world, let’s try to be beacons of hope like these big mushrooms.  To keep on, keeping on (like Frodo, Sam, Merry & Pippin to where their quest took them: mushroom-less Mordor, Fangorn, Rohan & Gondor…)

We may not be able to control the weather around us, but we can choose hope & emanate light where we are planted.

We can choose…

…to grow our understanding, to grow our desire for peace and be peace, to grow in wisdom, to grow our capacity for mercy to be mercy, to grow in our faith…

…to grow our appreciation to see beauty around us, within us,

…to grow our willingness to change (& be the change our world needs),

…to grow seeds of joy in our lives that combat weeds of despair,

…to grow our ability to love (& receive love) across borders that divide us,

…to grow our courage to stand up for justice, dignity & equality for all,

…to grow our perseverance to hope, even when it’s dark around us.

We can choose to BE hope –

–the taller than tall mushroom kind.

grace, peace & ~MUSHROOMS~

Virginia  : )

“Peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while.  The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”  J.R.R. Tolkien (The Return of the King)