Day 11: Reaching for light

One of the few pleasures I try to carve out time for is gardening. There is something for me that is absolutely holy and refreshing about working in the dirt and growing plants. It is a way for me to meditate in the sunlight while the kids enjoy the fresh air. I have found that is one time that I can authentically be with them while only being half present. I rake. I weed. I till dirt. I plant with Eddie and the activities are so rhythmic that a whole part of my brain can disengage and I can breath deeply and find Sabbath time.

One of the best part of gardening is that even on the days and weeks where life is too busy to attend to them, the plants grow. Day by day they shoot out new buds, new flowers, new fruit. They grow. They fill an empty space with green. With life.

Plants show the tenacity of life. Though they can't move or defend themselves, they fight to live. They come back after being trampled on. If the place where they are growing doesn't have enough light, they send out shoots searching for the light. Bending and shaping themselves to be in the light.

They offer us an image of living faith. Silent tenacity to search out life. To reach for light and allow themselves to be shaped by it.