Lessons From the Garden - Seeds of Daily Inspiration

CHAPTER ONE

ACTS OF BEAUTY

Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart,…

~1 Peter 3:3

Oh, there you are, my friend said as she made her way to my garden. What do you do all day out here?

She isn’t a gardener or she would know the answer, I’m writing. Can’t you tell?

In the dirt? she looked puzzled.

No, I laughed, this is where I come to think before I write.

OK, she raised an eyebrow, as if she ought to call the authorities to have me locked up.

When life presses in on me, I spend more time in my garden. Once, while visiting the Chinese Gardens in Portland, OR, I was told that, the Chinese believe the more responsibility a leader has in their country the larger their garden is; believing the beauty of the garden re-focuses the soul.

Practicing this philosophy, I find the garden speaks powerfully to the inner places of my soul like nothing else can do. So, I garden often. I head to my garden to bring order to the chaos in my life. Somehow, contentment seeps through my body once I have dirt under my nails. Don’t ask me what the connection is, it just is. When I crawl into bed, stooped over from weeding all day, I feel deeply satisfied.

I used to think I just liked flowers, but through the years I’ve realized it is much more than that. Beauty summons calmness in me. It might be the birth place for joy and connects me with my creator.

God instructs me within the canvas of my garden. His greatness can be seen through the expression of splendor when green leaves transform into pink spring blossoms and golden fall colors. And beauty matters to God.

Like the miraculous leaves turning sunlight to oxygen, we ought to find a way to transform our gift of beauty. We need to embrace beauty to ourselves and interpret it to others like the photosynthesis of the trees.

In this world today, we can no longer be spectators in the garden of our life; we must be co-creators of beauty. Majesty speaks in so many ways to inspire the gifts that exist in all of us.

If each one of us could do what we do best and then share it with others, imagine how amazing this world might be.

Perhaps beauty is as simple as a well-written narrative that spurs the reader to act in a positive way, an art piece refreshing the spirit, a song sung to comfort a heart, a well-tended garden that brings beauty into the eye or feeds a hungry family, a play that causes growth or gives an actor a voice.

Beauty might be an encouraging sermon, an honest mechanic, a sensitive doctor, a wise police officer, a note to a shut in, a smiling professional, an obedient teen, a cooperative bill collector or a friendly neighbor. It doesn’t take great sums of money, or large quantities of time; but it does take a commitment to doing our best at whatever we have the gift to give.

Most of us miss our cues to participate. Spectators ignore cues and are often distracted by trivial tasks. When I started practicing ‘paying attention’, I began to notice I noticed more! It wasn’t long before I learned to recognize the opportunities to inspire beauty.

One summer, I taught a young man who’d been struck by lightning and lived to tell about it. It was his goal to return to his regular classes, so he worked hard to catch up. On a particularly tough day, when his frustration reached a peak, he turned to me and said, Sometimes I feel like I’m shattered glass!

I said, Good! His mouth dropped open with disbelief at my words, so I continued, I don’t know about you but when I’m in a church and see stained glass windows, they inspire me in a way regular glass can’t, and they are made up entirely of broken pieces of glass. His eyes welled-up and, although school still wasn’t easy, he had a renewed fervor for the challenge ahead of him.

A teacher doing her ‘real’ job encourages her students to do their best. So it is with artists, poets, firemen, doctors, parents, mechanics, cashiers, grandparents, waitresses, trainers, bakers, window cleaners and the coffee makers.

As a writer, one of my goals is to point my readers to new ideas and new ways of thinking. Daily I ask myself, How can I share beauty with others today?

It is my hope that you will see beauty and perform ‘acts of beauty’ as gifts to others and embrace the beauty within you.

CHAPTER TWO

BALANCE DISORDER

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.

~John 10:10 (NIV)

Your garden is beautiful. I always feel so peaceful here, my friend complimented. Is there a technique I need to know so mine will feel the same?

"I always say old gardens are more appealing than new gardens—the reason is what you see here. Old gardens are tried and tested, so plants have been moved around. I’ve had years to figure out what grows well where, and which plants off-set others. I know how tall foliage will be and how wide the shrubbery will grow. This knowledge brings a sense of balance to each