Sacred Space

"We transform our gardens and yards into sacred space when we understand them as places of growth not only for plants and trees but for our inner selves." - Spiritual Gardening, Peg Streep

I spend too much time sometime indoors, surrounding myself with draining energies of computer and office lights. I forget how soul-restoring it can be too dig deep into the earth, to plant something, to pull weeds or to sit and listen to the fountain running in the pond.

Fortunately this afternoon I had a chance to rediscover that while planting the tomatoe plants and the rest of the bedding plants for the garden. The tomatoe plants are usually my husband's domain, but I thought I'd surprise him while he's away this weekend and get them in for him.

So for an hour I puttered in our little back garden, digging into the black earth, inhaling deeply the scent of tomatoe plants, and listening to the starling squawk at me from the garage roof protecting some nearby nest. The sun beat down and an occasional light breeze offered some respite from the heat.

"The garden can become a place where we can restore our emotional and spiritual balance and nourish our senses and souls, away from the noise of everyday life" - Spiritual Gardening, Peg Streep

It's been a stressful and somewhat mind numbing week. There are a still a million "things to be done" today and yet all I really want to do is sit outside, close my eyes and listen to the fountain bubble.

"Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow cycles of nature, is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace." May Sarton * o

Sacred Space