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[/b] Words borrowed from Phyllo … dropped at my feet by the Holy Spirit???
My recent common daily experiences involve helping my wife with her vegetable garden. She farms 2-3 acres … mostly by hand … and her garden is not one contiguous plot of ground … rather several disjointed plots … a remnant of the land reforms in China about 70 years ago, where each rural household was given enough land to feed their family.
My wife literally dragged me into her enterprise, yet the more I participated the more I understand my life and life in general. My initial reluctance has morphed into enthusiastic participation. The following thoughts are the fruit of my gardening efforts.
Anyone who works to create a garden has an investment in the outcome … whether it be the asthetic beauty of a flower garden or the enjoyment of nutritious vegetables fresh from the garden. Initially, with no personal investment in the outcome of my wife’s gardening enterprise … the work was difficult and unpleasant. Currently, and quite by accident, interest, enthusiasm and excitment have surfaced.
Creating a garden has 4 stages:
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Cultivate the soil.
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Plant the seeds, seedlings.
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Nurture the emerging plants.
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Protect the growing plants.
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Cultivate the soil.[/b]
Some machinery was used to cultivate my wife's garden plots yet enough was done by hand to learn that this stage is bloody hard work. Ditto for individuals engaged in promoting spirituality within the human family.
2) Plant the seeds, seedlings
Again some machinery was used ... planting the winter wheat ... though much of the work was done by hand. Certainly, after the seeds are planted, there is an overwhelming expectation that they will all germinate and sprout. I learned this is not always the case ... ditto for scattering spiritual thoughts (seeds). Observing her peanut seeds germinate and sprout was particularly informative and exciting.
The peanut seed seems to create a white ‘stem’ (for lack of a better word) that pushes down into the earth or … perhaps simply creates an anchor … that serves to push the peanut to the surface. For many of the seedlings the peanut seed breaks through the surface of the earth … intact. The peanut seed later opens … exposing it’s two independent halves … the colour changes to green and leaves start sprouting from the base of where the peanut split into it’s two halves. For me, absolutely fascinating … the only plant I know of that pushes the seed to the surface before sprouting leaves.
The peanut seed … the genesis of it’s symbiotic relationship with the soil occurs in the ground … in the dark … unseen … dancing alone with the soil. Reminds me of the book “Dark Night of the Soul” by St John of the Cross. According to St John the genesis of our symbiotic relationship with God starts in the dark … in the unknown … the unseen … some part of our being is dancing with God and we’re not consciously aware of the dance.
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The peanut seed now on the surface of the soil splits into it’s two halves … exposing each half to the sun. The sun joins the dance the peanut seed is having with the soil … the peanut seed turns green … and tiny leaves begin to sprout. The sun … the light … is an integral partner in the growth of the seed plant. Perhaps answers why the sun … the light … figures so prominently in many world religions.
The corn plants … it’s not over until the fat lady sings. Her young corn plants started to whither … the first leaves had been eaten off by bugs. People … like the young unhealthy corn shoots … are full of holes … a portion of our being has been eaten or chewed off. Not to worry … there is something within our being that has the power to overcome these ‘attacks’ and we can grow into a healthy productive life.
3) Nurture the emerging plants
As if on cue ... nature withheld it's life giving rain. We have had very little rain in the past month or so ... the soil is like a dust bowl The young unhealthy plants seemed to be crying out ... water ... water ... water ... please! The seeds that have yet to germinate and sprout seem to be uttering the same plea.
Shortly after this observation I experienced a gut-wrenching feeling of angst. On reflection I understood my feelings to be rooted in how much we take food for granted. For most of the people in the world food security is a trip to the local supermarket. This wasn’t always the case … and today’s supermarkets may not always exist.
Reflected on the feast still celebrated in the West … Thanksgiving. I felt … at a much deeper level … the underlying intentions of the first instances of celebrating Thanksgiving Day. The feast is a relic of the past with no significance today. Western people might better celebrate a Zuckerberg proclamation … since he embodies what almost all people in the world aspire to achieve. Namely … fortune and fame … and by association the power that comes in it’s wake.
I better understand why more than one billion Chinese people work so hard every day … it’s in their jeans. Their ancestors survived generation after generation of hardship(s) … and that impressive survival was largely the fruit of hard physical labour.
Creating a garden requires constant nurturing … ditto for the individual attempting to promote spirituality.
4) Protect the growing plants.
Seems protection is an integral component of all life ... certainly personal security is dear to the hearts of all humans. How is this manifested in our gardens. All gardens have unwanted guests ... Mr and Mrs Weed and family! It's a mystery that the Weed family ... left unattended ... will outgrow and smother to death all cultivated flowers and vegetables. Pulling the weed family out of our gardens is a difficult and never ending task.
What are some examples of the Weed family in our spiritual life …
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