As I sit in meditation and prayer this morning, I am filled with a deep sense of appreciation for this beautiful planet and all that it so generously offers. I trust that we will each make time to spend time with, and give thanks to and for, our Mother today.
As I look out my living room window, into my backyard, I am filled with a sense of wonder. There is so much green! Mother Nature is in rare form this year, don’t you think? Or maybe it’s that I am paying more attention to the unfolding of Spring than I have in years. What I have realized lately is that I had lost my sense of true appreciation for my home. Of course I was grateful to have a place to come home to at the end of the day, but since moving into this particular house in 2011, I had been somewhat resistant to settle in. There are a string of reasons for my resistance, but they are not important to my message this morning. What is important is that I have dropped my resistance…I am fully embracing home like never before. For me, this has been a huge gift offered by this period of Sanctuary at Home.
If you don’t know this about me, I am a gardener. I love to play in the soil. I love to plant seeds and to nurture them as they grow into full-blown fruits and vegetables, and let’s not forget the flowers! With my time spent in school over the past three years, I had all but given up my time outdoors. And with the starting of a new Ministry, I was allowing myself to ignore a part of myself that is only fed by time in the dirt. What I have realized is that gardening is a form of prayer for me. I connect with God at a fundamental level when I am tending Its Creation. I offer my Love and Attention to each plant as I am tending it, and it responds by thriving. Growing a garden offers such a clear example of Spiritual Law. We can see, in a real and tangible way, that where attention goes, energy flows. As I watch my seedlings grow it becomes absolutely clear that seeds planted in fertile soil, kept free of weeds, watered and nourished, and left alone in faith that growth is happening, will thrive. Gardening is truly a great metaphor for how we walk the Spiritual Path.
There is another aspect to growing plants that reminds me of my spiritual journey. In one of my favorite books, The Sanctuary Garden, co-author Tricia Clark-McDowell says, “There is a theology to gardening that few of us consider, but to understand this theology means relinquishing much control – our arsenal of books, techniques, tools, chemicals, fertilizers, fancy hybrids, and expectations. Yet, that is exactly what we must do if we are to fully embrace a more spiritual form of gardening. As a part of Nature we must learn to enter our garden as if it were truly sacred, we must learn to enter with humility.” So must we approach our Journey of Spirit each day. Books are wonderful pointers to Truth and can serve to fertilize our minds and hearts; techniques and tools offer suggestions for how we might connect with the Divine in more profound ways; but we are best served by releasing expectations and entering our Practice with humility and a sense of surrender.
I would like to leave you with Three Devotions of a Reverential Way of Life, also taken from The Sanctuary Garden:
The Devotion to Peace – Peace is probably the final frontier that our soul seeks. It has been said that we must alter our lives in order to alter our hearts, for it is impossible to live one way and pray another. Indeed, it is this peace within our heart that can unlock the deep and abiding relationship possible with all other beings on Earth. You can understand, therefore, that your devotion to peace is reinforced by your commitment to finding sanctuary every day. You can find peace within sanctuary and you can carry that peace with you in your worldly activities.
The Devotion to Place – A sense of place is a deep dignifying component of life. Every human, animal, plant, structure, or object is enriched by having a significant relationship to place. You are already aware of this, to be sure. However, deepen your understanding of place through the eyes of sanctuary. Sanctuary is about place. This is why a special setting in your yard and garden or a nearby park or the mountains can be a sanctuary. It is certainly not out of the question that even a small area is a place worthy of sanctuary. Truly, a value of sanctuary is that it gets us in touch with places that have meaning to us – where we can be more ourselves than any other place – places that feel sacred.
The Devotion to Stewardship – Stewardship is the right action necessary to live peacefully in the world in whatever place we might find ourselves. Stewardship means “keeper of the place”. Therefore, stewardship is about relationship with whomever or whatever. Sanctuary elevates our awareness of the right types of behaviors and activities necessary to maintain honoring and peaceful relationships with all beings and objects we come into contact with. In sanctuary, we practice reverence and courtesy – noble behaviors that we can take back into our worldly activities and relationships.
Our world is a truly wonderous place. We are its caretakers. May we become ever-more conscious of how our actions impact the Earth. May each of us find sanctuary every day, and may it bring peace to our hearts. May we each know a deep sense of connection with at least one special place and feel its sacredness. May we walk in reverence for our Divine Mother and for all of Life.
May we all be well…stay in touch…know our unity…and thrive!
And may we know the Absolute Beauty and Wonder of this Grace-filled, once-in-a lifetime day…
