I love March in the garden for the sheer lack of predictability of the month. No two days are ever the same. Where I live in Colorado, we follow the tradition of planting peas, potatoes and other cold-weather vegetables on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. One year, we planted in short sleeves. The next, we may be bundled in parkas.
March is also a time to remember the sacred season of Lent. During Lent, I remember to slow down and pay attention in the 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 teaches me to treasure the sweetness of the first green peas from the garden.
This message is excerpted from “The wind and the sun” by Terry L. Bowes in the March 2017 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Patrick, bishop, missionary to Ireland, 461.
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