Prayer Room Eight Garden Steps, Step Three First-Plymouth Congregational Church United Church of Christ 2000 "D" Street Lincoln, Nebraska 68502-1698 Office (402) 476-7565 Fax (402) 476-8402

Step Three-
                    Purpose

Psychosocial Crisis: Initiative vs. Guilt
Stage Two Range of Relations: Basic Family

Purpose is the courage to envisage and pursue valued and tangible goals guided by conscience but not paralyzed by guilt and by the fear of punishment.

[Erik H. Erickson, The Human Cycle (1968)]

[Purpose; 20x38 in. Painting by Nadine McHenry. A child is malleable, like clay. Impressions made during this period remain.]

Biblical Reference          Cain and Abel

    In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel for his part brought of the firstlings of his flock, their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry, and why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is lurking at the door; its desire is for you, but you must master it." Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let us go out to the field." And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? Listen; your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground! And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it will no longer yield to you its strength; you will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! Today you have driven me away from the soil, and I shall be hidden from your face; I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and anyone who meets me may kill me." Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! Whoever kills Cain will suffer a sevenfold vengeance." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, so that no one who came upon him would kill him.

[Genesis Chapter 4, verses 3-15]

Taoist Reference

Markings in dry clay disappear only when the clay is soft again.
Scars upon the self disappear only when one becomes soft within.

[365 Tao-Daily Meditations, Day 29, by Deng Ming-Dao ]

Plant Selection         Chamomile

Chamomile. Few flowers have such purpose in the garden. A handful of flowers crushed between your hands produces a vanilla like scent that instantly calms the nerves. Chamomile is used as an anodyne, antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic and anti-allergic. Chamomile is the most suitable herb for infants

[Thomas Bare]

There is a remarkable property about the Chamomile which some still believe in implicitly- that it is the plant's physician. Nothing is thought to keep a garden so healthy as plenty of Chamomile about,. it will even revive drooping and sickly plants if placed near them.

[Frances A. Bardswell, The Herb Garden (1911)]

Step Three: Purpose

A mark is made and will remain
The scars we have till softness comes.
Purpose, conscience, only act
Unshackled of both fear and guilt.
Crush the chamomile in your hand
Its scent will carry nerve.
It knows that healing is its purpose,
A flower with intent, its mark, its life.

[Randall E. Dinsdale]

From the program notes for the Abendmusik: Lincoln Eight Garden Steps concert, May 19, 2002.