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.
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