During Lent, I remember to slow down and pay attention to my garden. Lent teaches me to make use of all my senses. Lent speaks to me with the quiet, insistent voice of God in the wind.
Lent urges me to notice and appreciate the subtlest of colors, like the many shades of green in the vegetable sprouts as they nod and dance above the soil. Lent teachers me to treasure the sweetness of the first peas from the garden.
It is appropriate that we do our planting on our knees in the dirt, the posture of submission. Kneeling encourages me to pray as I plant. An old proverb says: “When you hoe a garden, you are simply cutting off the tops of the weeds. To get to the roots, you have to bend your knee and dig deep.” As I pray, I bend my knee and dig deep.
We feel the warm earth under our fingers, reminding us that the sun will shine, and the wind will blow whether our seeds are planted or not. Planting is an exercise in faith.
This message is excerpted from “The wind and the sun” by Terry L. Bowes in the March 2017 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Joseph, guardian of Jesus. Today is the Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere.
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