Thoughts while tending the garden
I have so many moments while I’m gardening where I feel God’s presence so overwhelmingly. I encounter God in the Garden much more than any other place really, and it’s powerful every single time. I wanted to create this page to share some of my realizations and lessons received while I’m tending to the garden/field.
September 18, 2024
Careful what you Wish for…
Have you ever prayed for patience?! If not, you’re in luck because you should know that to do so is to make a rookie-level spiritual mistake. Those of us in the other club can share a cautionary tale….It’s overwhelming, the amount of opportunities God will provide you so that you get to truly learn and experience patience! Lesson Learned!
I’ve been on a journey for some years to experience God intimately, but it did not seem possible for me inside of the box they call “Church”, so I set out on a journey that has felt brave and terrifying and heartbreaking. It has been my desire to fully experience my Creator in some other way so it was something akin to a “foolish prayer” that began my unfolding…
Last year as the Summer began; I was setting my intentions for the season and I wrote that I wanted to “Experience God in the Garden”. I think I envisioned some quiet meditative moments or perhaps satisfaction in a job well-done, thankfulness in a homegrown meal…But as often happens with requests to our Creator, they are fulfilled in abundance…
Last Summer was a metamorphosis for me, a great unfolding. Throughout the season of blossoming, I experienced emotions with heart-breaking intensity as I worked in, tended and observed my garden. I felt absolutely broken open by having to thin my young seedlings when two were growing where only one would thrive. I experienced remorse, because sometimes I just couldn’t choose which one to pull, and then they struggled to establish themselves and died. I felt fierce parental love, to protect my plants from anything that might harm them. And I felt torn-apart when something harmed them anyway. (I’m looking at you tomato worms, ya sneaky bastards!) I found myself gasping with delight to watch a hummingbird barrel in and enthusiastically suckle at my Bee Balm. I chuckled at the ingenuity of squirrels who sat atop my 10 foot sunflowers as if it was an all-you-can-eat-buffet.
I cried as I crouched next to my flowers at dusk; first with joy to witness the ecstasy of a pollen-drunk bee feasting on my flowers, and then with sorrow as the season came to a close… when I could sense that the bees were losing energy and time. And then I felt an aching emptiness when THEY WERE ALL GONE.
So, this is when I started crying a lot while I was gardening, on my knees….and decided that this is my church. Because when you’re watching God’s handiwork in things such as the Perfect Universe That Exists Inside the Center of a Flower, it tends to fill you with awe and reveal new things to you. And, this is why it takes me so long to do any work at Gypsy Girl Blooms!
I am sitting at the feet of my Creator when I watch a butterfly gather pollen.
I am experiencing Christ when I have the audacity to hope, even when it looks grim.
I become the Great Mother, when I provide abundantly.
And, I am always the Grateful Servant, who is just thankful to wake up and be a part of this big beautiful experience for another day.
The Creator of the Universe is teaching me in the Garden.
The Creator of bees, (even probably tomato worms), and most definitely sunrises and rainbows, is showing me what Love looks like.
My Creator is speaking intimately to my heart in the Garden.
It just seems to be my job to slow down and perceive the language of the conversation.
August 6, 2024
Thoughts on aging…
In this picture, you see a Dahlia in 4 stages of maturity. From a little baby, still cocooned in it’s protective outer leaves (middle bottom), to a newly emerging flower just beginning to stretch its petals out (up on the very right), a young vibrant bloom with abundant pollen and succulent petals (middle) and then on the very left we have a flower that has fully blossomed and matured….Look at the way its petals are completely unfurled and have a bit of a curl at the end. The very tips of the petals have a bit of an iridescent shimmer to them as well…like a wisp of glitter. That’s the oldest flower and I think it’s the most beautiful. It has the most depth and interest to me.
It makes me think of the way we are discounted by society as women, according to our age. According to our society, we’re only “the right age” for just a glimmer of a moment; at first too young to be useful and then in the blink of an eye, too old to be of value.
But what if we honored ourselves and each other according to what we can truly offer, not just how plump our skin and perky our breasts are? What if we admired the depth and wisdom we’ve acquired and celebrated the way our petals are beginning to shimmer instead?
And I also just wanted to point out…take a look at which flower the bee has chosen…
