Being the extrovert I am (and knowing that Mark Winter will submit a comment or two about this particular practice he and I both share) . . . gardening has become a way for me to draw closer to God.
I have two flower beds in my front yard, and larger flower bed in the back yard, along with a small vegetable garden, and an area where my wife and I have about a dozen potted plants that love shade.
Second only to singing . . . I find that watering my garden every morning is a very peaceful and contemplative time . . . as I tend to the plants, I find I understand better, in my own particular way, what stewardship of the land can mean.
When I water or fertilize my plants . . . I always seem to think about God's grace falling on my life, and the nourishment and strength God's grace gives me.
Don't know if I hear God's voice like I do when I am singing . . . but I sure feel his presence. Most of my flowers are hostas and other shade loving plants. However, I do have some Texas native perennials like crepe myrtles, Mountain Laurel, Vitek Chaste, Turk's Cap, hybrid Bluebonnets that are still producing flowers, Coreopsis, Guara, Autum Sage, Silver Sage, Esperanza and Rosemary. These are hardy plants that do well in our Texas heat.
They remind me that I do pretty well when I am tuned in to God's will.
I like gardening . . . it is a good spiritual practice.
Ever forward . . . ><>
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Man, do you know me! I can't pass up a post on gardening.
Our back yard looked naked after I cut down a junk tree (fruitless mulberry) and spring storms uprooted my mesquite tree a few years ago. Recently I planted a Celeste fig and Braeburn apple tree. They are doing well in the Texas heat, but I have to deep-water them every day.
I am also tending basil, a green bell pepper plant, petunias, zinnas, clematis, marigolds and cannas. In addition, one Big Boy tomato plant is flourishing in the corner of my yard. With the recent salmonella outbreak, I'm sittin' pretty.
Ditto on your comments about the spiritual side of gardening. After 9/11, I drew quiet comfort from tending a square-foot vegetable garden in my backyard. In watching tiny shoots break through the ground, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper that life would go on. Gardening is truly a gift from God.
In fact, a garden was one of the first gifts from God to man and woman!
I haven't even planted my garden yet! It is a pond of mud right now. I only plant flowers and green beans, but if I don't get them in the ground soon. I won't need to bother.
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