Those of you who know me from college would know that one of the things I was really looking forward to doing once in placement was establishing a vegetable garden - I suppose three years of surviving on institutional food can do that to you!
So, over the last few weeks (Wow, it's been that long already!) I have been working on establishing a vegetable garden. As you can see, it actually has two beds, the first (the one at the back) was established in my first week here and I was finally happy to start planting in it yesterday. The second is only a few days old at this stage, and hopefully I will be able to raise some seedlings to plant in it in a few weeks' time.
So, what is this doing in my faith-based blog? For me, gardening is a beautiful and spiritual. It is a uniting of my physicality with my mind, and a time where I can get dirty and sweaty as I use my hands. It is a time which is so different to the creativity of words that form the majority of my days. Yet still, my mind and spirit are engaged in a different way.
The first point I would like to make is the sheer wonder of creation. The scientist in me knows all about semi-permeable membranes, genetic reproduction and the like, but there is still something wonderful about the anticipation and the sights of first sprouts rising from the ground with the variation between the explosion of a new bean shoot and the tentative searchings of something like chives. The sheer act of relating this wonder to eating reminds me of our reliance on the creative power of God in the world around us in a way that picking up a bag from the supermarket never can. In this way, I am also connecting with the spirituality of many of my congregation who are farmers - at least I am not as dependent on the weather as they are, you can see the tank in the background!
We often have the image of God as a gardener. Yet we can forget how violent an action gardening is. I know Linda's father the sheep rancher refers to himself as a grower of grass, but the vegetable garden needed to be wrestled clod by clod out of the grass lawn. To gain a reasonable depth for the side walls, all of the soil needed to be removed from the whole and then replaced. Additives like manures and mulches need to be worked through the soil before you can even think about planting a crop. A gardener is intimately involved with the garden, the first watering is sweat from the brow. It is far too easy for us to see God as removed and detached, but in the image of Christ crucified we see the ultimate in price paid for creation.
I often see Christian leadership as a gardening function. The image of the trellis in the background is one point in case. When people are asked to do things for the first time, they often need to be lent support and structure, but the same structures can become choking as they grow and develop.
The final thing gardening (and other events in my life at the moment) is teaching me at the moment is how to relax. This morning, after taking the photo, I watched a wasp hunting in the mature bed for about five minutes. Gardening is an activity of attempting to create opportunities for life that many creatures enjoy (indeed, a sterile garden is a dead garden). So this little disruption in the environment at my hands gives me tho opportunity to see life on a smaller scale and relate it to the bigger picture of my faith life and that of my community.
May you all find opportunities for similar moments of connectedness with God, and I'll try to keep you in touch with developments. Please feel free to jump in with the insight you get from your hobbies also.
