The Compost Universe

August: On Wonder and AweAugust 21It’s an extraordinary little universe back in that compost pile. The cycling of life and death, the plants beginning their lives there as sprouts to one day venture out into the big, wide garden where they will fulfill their purpose, die, and then return to the place they came. As I work the compost, watching the worms and wasps and flies do their work, and as I sift through the seedlings, I wonder where the atoms that those seeds and sprouts and plants are made up of have been and what they’ve seen. I wonder at the other lives they’ve lived.And as I transplant the sprouts to the garden, I wonder where the atoms which make up you and me have been and what they’ve seen across the universe. I imagine their journey started loud and violent, but as they went, it became quiet and beautiful.Reflection title: The Compost UniverseCreative inspiration:  Carl Sagan, CosmosReflection question: Have I considered how small I am—and for how long the matter which I am made of has existed? What does it say about my time here now—my problems, hopes, and dreams?