I have been spending a fair amount of time recently with my vegetables. I have three separate spaces they are in…. one large summer garden, one pretty big planter and a bed at the side of my house. Two are ones I can plant early with cool crops, while the large one waits until May. And it has been gratifying this year to see things growing (at least the plants, even though not much harvest yet) much better than last year. I have been out there staking the climbers, caging the tomatoes, laying straw down as mulch, planting a second round of beans and beets, weeding and pruning, and so far I have been rewarded with some really sweet peas! But the other day I was doing some work when I spotted something amongst the leaves. My first zucchini had seemingly sprung up overnight and grown to almost ready to pick stage! I was excited and gave thanks, searched for anything else that might be hiding (nothing) and continued to work, letting this first zucchini grow to maturity. It occurred to me, seeing that zucchini, that gardening is the same as doing our spiritual, healing work. We can work and weed… doing all those unpleasant, sweaty, dirty things that need to be done. We can water and plant and fertilize, trying to draw out the goodness and encourage the things we want to grow. We can struggle to find time to really do the work, or avoid some of it all together. We can get frustrated when unwanted beings and bugs get into the garden. But then All of a sudden When we least expect it We spot new hope! Sometimes it is hidden, hard to see. Sometimes we play that game of showing it to the world now or risking the wait until it matures, hoping that something doesn’t come in to get it. Often it takes us by surprise, seeing all that hard work pay off in one quick new swoop. For me, gardening is also an issue of justice. We must take care of the earth we have been given, creating spaces for butterflies and bees and squirrels. Planting for future generations, both human and other than human. Sharing the bounty with others. And, again, this too is our healing work. We don’t just do it for us. We do it for those around us, those who have come before us and those who will come after us. For the very creation that, as a peoples, we seem to be destroying, but also for our communities and families. What in your life needs weeding? What needs watering and nurturing? What needs to be pruned? What seeds of hope and justice need to be sown? What needs to be mulched to keep that moisture of love in? What simply needs to be left alone to mature? What is ready to surprise you!
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