Like many other Canadians I spent some of my long weekend time getting down and dirty. By that I mean down on my knees and digging in the garden working the dirt, adding some dirt, moving some dirt. Really at this time of year it is all about the dirt!
Over the thirty years of my marriage my beloved was the chief gardener. He enjoyed it very much and I was content to leave it to him as I directed my attention to other things. But as his health declined I inherited more and more of the yard work. I have always enjoyed gardening but I was equally happy for it to be his area of of shared living. Since his death, this has become both a responsibility and a new preoccupation for me.
Gardening is a way to connect with nature but even more a way to appreciate the Creator. William Wilberforce said, “Lovely flowers are the smiles of God’s goodness.” and over the weekend as I rooted out weeds, lots and lots of weeds, I did question why God’s goodness seems so much more prolific with weeds than flowers! (I also wondered about the wisdom of black flies but I am sure God had a plan in that little annoying insect!!!!).
Jesus grew up and lived in his life in a rural, agrarian society. His occasional trips to Jerusalem were his urban experience. Nazareth was a small town. Galilee was farm country. Galilee is still the rich, productive farming area of Israel filled fruit groves, olive gardens and vineyards. It is no surprise that many of Jesus’ stories and metaphors focus on things of the earth. Grain fields, fig trees, mustard seeds are all part of his library of illustrations to tell of God’s love, compassion and abounding grace. So, when I am digging in the dirt it takes me to that place of deep connection with God known through the richness of the natural world.
Gardening also unleashes in me something that I am not good it in any other medium – being artistic! Elizabeth Murray wrote, “Gardening is the art that uses flowers and plants as the paint, and the soil and the sky as the canvas – working with nature provides the technique.” I like that thought. Moving this day lily over there and transplanting that fall mum to this part of the garden is my working with the canvas of God’s prodigality.
I know that gardening is not everyone’s thing but we all can look out our window and see around us the bursting of creation as spring unfolds. In these uncertain days it is good to have the certainty of the turning of the season and the unleashing of God’s smile on the earth. Happy digging!
