GARDENING: A SPRIRITUAL EXPERIENCE

Jan 31, 2011

Gardening at some level has been an interest of mine for as long as I can remember. Some interests are simply intrinsic to our being or possibly genetic in some way. When I was about 10 years old, I asked my mother if I could plant a flower garden. Thank God, I was blessed with a mother who encouraged me to explore my interests, even if they were foreign or not very interesting to her personally. My mother never let her hands stay dirty, she spent as little time outdoors as possible, and she knew nothing about gardening. But she remembered a flower, the Zinnia, from her childhood, so she bought a packet of seeds for me to plant. It was a wise choice because Zinnias are large, colorful, annual flowers which are normally able to overcome poor soil conditions, and their extended longevity makes the effort even more worthwhile. Excitedly, I did my 10 year old best to clear and turn the soil in a small corner of our Bermuda grass covered, red clay backyard. I knew nothing about fertilizing or soil preparation, but I planted my seeds, watered them, and eagerly waited until, to my mother’s surprise; tiny sprouts began peeking out of the soil. In a short time, a display of red, yellow & orange blooms appeared; it was a success and I was greatly encouraged as a gardener.

Sometimes people tell me that, although they enjoy other peoples’ gardens, they don’t garden because they don’t have time, it’s too much work, or they have a brown thumb. All this can be true, but there are an abundance of benefits to gardening which can most assuredly offset the efforts involved. To enjoy the benefits of gardening, it isn’t necessary to over extend your efforts to the point of making your garden feel like “work.” Most of us don’t have a lot of FREE time, so gardening time should fit into one’s schedule. A brown thumb is a myth. With a willingness to learn and the understanding that occasional failure is critical to the learning curve, anyone can turn brown thumbs to green.

For me, gardening is a spiritual practice. Watching a seed sprout, or discovering a tiny tree emerging from an acorn, or experiencing the magnificent rebirth of perennials as the seasons change, are reminders of God’s presence and the miracles that surround us everyday. Nature is an awesome, living example of God’s work, forever changing right before our eyes, and to be a part of that process is, in some ways, like working in tandem with our Creator.

Another benefit of gardening is the opportunity to relax your mind. I consider it akin to meditation. Being alone in the garden, whether it’s planting, weeding, pruning or preparing a bed, the time belongs to you alone and your mind is free from everyday stress, if for only an hour or so. Even my physical aches and pains go on hold when I’m in the garden. It is pure therapy.

I encourage everyone of any age to garden. There are many lessons there for all of us if we’ll just take a little bit of time to discover them.

Please follow my blog as I share some of my gardening experiences and, hopefully, help you learn to reap the many benefits of gardening.