In the garden I find peace and contentment with God because of fragrant flowers, rich greenery, and cultivated landscapes. I can feel God’s presence in what I see and cultivate. I used to admire gardens and didn’t think I had a green thumb. I am flipping that script and becoming a gardener.
I started with house plants: a spider plant and a Zamioculcas zamiifolia plant (“ZZ” is the shorter nickname). The ZZ is a tropical plant that has beautiful shiny green leaves. These first plants stayed healthy even with a couple of moves across cities.
Digging in the dirt, the smell of earthworms and cut grass filled my nostrils. I sat in the sun moving rocks out of the garden bed to make room for new plants and shrubs. I envisioned beautiful blooms and imagined the scent of roses surrounding me.
“The garden reconciles human art and wild nature, hard work and deep pleasure, spiritual practice and the material world,” wrote St. Thomas More. “It is a magical place because it is not divided.”
I find being out in nature relaxing and rejuvenating. My mood calms when I’m among trees, flowers, and other plants. Some of my favourite outings are to visit nurseries to see what they have and admire the colours and abundance of the vegetation.
I have seen and tasted the benefits of growing your own vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees. Now, I want to start planting some of my own to harvest. Many seasoned gardeners have told me it takes hard work.
The work of trimming topiaries, weeding, watering, fertilizing, and growing plants is more than a hobby. It’s a lifestyle of living with the land and caring for it daily.
“Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help,” said May Sarton. “Gardening is an instrument of grace.”
The joy I find in nature is also a reset for my physical and mental health. Being in the sunshine, hands in the dirt, I can experience a beautiful collaboration with God’s creation.
It is a blessing to live in a climate where I can enjoy gardening and grow a variety of flora and fauna.
“Flowers always make people better, happier, and more helpful; they are sunshine, food and medicine for the soul,” said Luther Burbank.
I am learning to be more patient with the progress of growing, and in the process I try to be as trusting with God as these plants are to him and the elements.
I use imaginative prayer to place myself in Jesus’ presence. I picture him walking through a garden with grape vines and an array of colourful flowers: roses, ranunculus, freesia, camellia, lavender, and dahlias.
There, I listen to his voice intensely. He tells me that he loves me and not to worry about anything.
It says in the Book of Matthew: “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt 6:26)
In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were given life and the responsibility of cultivating the garden. As a couple, they were to work together to make the garden grow. When they were banished from the garden because of sin, the work became toil.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, the apostles were called to watch and pray with Jesus. He prayed intensely and asked the Father to take away his burden. Then, Jesus accepted the will of God to fulfill his purpose to save us from sin and death. The garden can be a place for prayer and gardening.
“The best place to find God is in a garden,” wrote George Bernard Shaw. “You can dig for him there.”
I will continue to nurture the plants in the garden, which in turn nurtures my soul. God’s creation is good and can bring about healing.