This is a great time of year for someone like me. I love flowering plants, and I especially love trees. Unfortunately, I live in a second-floor city apartment with a small back porch. But every spring I shop for plants. And I fill planters and pots.
Once in a while, I wonder why I spend my (limited) time, money, and energy on this. Why do I work so hard to do something that almost no one can see or appreciate and that lasts for just a few months?
There is no practical reason. I don’t relish getting dirty, sweaty, and tired, but every summer I do it. I love to see plants grow. Writer Anne Lamott once wrote, “puttering is my yoga.” Well, gardening is my yoga. I don’t have a great venue for it, but even with the limitations, I am grateful for what I can do and what it gives back. I feel closer to God when I am in the presence of trees and leaves, flowers, dirt, and rain. I feel relaxed, connected, and refreshed.
Do you have a hobby that gives you joy, connects you to God, and helps you stay centered?
This message is an excerpt from a Women of the ELCA blog by Kate Sprutta Elliott. Today we remember Onesimos Nesib, translator, evangelist, who died in 1931.
Daily Grace has been offering you things to ponder and things to pray about for more than 10 years. For free. Women of the ELCA provides many other free online resources, too—see welca.org/resources. Please support Women of the ELCA at welca.org/give.
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