Pastor's Weekly Musing

June 24, 2025

Musing from my jogging journal

The bugs were bothering me in the woods, so I cut out and jogged the last half-mile down a Briar Chapel street. I passed a work truck, a common sight, but because I was slow up the incline, I had a chance to read the company name on the door: Rose Culture. This phrase delighted me, worn out as I was. Obviously, the business relates to the horticulture of flowers and bushes, but “culture” is such a rich word describing human (and non-human) behaviors. Think of language, poetry, music, painting, dance, food, hospitality, decorations, architecture, dress, leisure, sports, and entertainment. There’s a jogging culture and also a nap culture.

And then there’s rose! It can refer to a color, a pastel shade, or, when accented, a type of wine known as rosé. As a verb, the past tense of “rise” and a holy word for Christians (“Up from the grave he arose!”) One might stop and smell the roses, come up roses, or come out smelling like roses. One might be as red as a rose, as fresh as a rose, or make a bed of roses. To make rosy indicates a flush to one’s cheeks. To see with rose-colored glasses indicates optimism, perhaps naiveté. But maybe a “rose culture” plants seeds of hope to nurture into something beautiful.
So, I mused, as I crested the last hill and eased toward my home.

Read Andrew’s published poem “O Ye of Dog-Walking Faith” HERE