Gardening together
On Wednesday I started teaching a class at St Andrew’s Episcopal Church here in Seattle on Spirituality and Gardening. I always learn so much from what others share. This time some of our discussion revolved around how overwhelming getting underway in the garden can be. I know the feeling. I used to try to do it all myself and as I got busier (partly because of teaching these seminars) I found that both the garden and my spiritual wellbeing suffered.
I don’t think gardening is meant to be done alone. We all know the saying It takes a village to raise a child. well I think we should create another saying: It takes a community to run a garden.
On Saturday we will hold our first garden day at the Mustard Seed House and so I have been busy recruiting helpers. As someone commented to me this last week: It is becoming a mini community garden. We want to make sure this year that there is plenty to share not just amongst the garden helpers but also to the broader community. Its a great way to increase our gardening expertise and get a few home grown vegetables for those who do not have their own garden. This will be mainly a planning time & getting ready to plant (inside not out). If you would like to join the team let me know.
This is one way to grow food that can be very effective in an urban area. It is a win win situation – some of us have more room than we can effectively garden, others don’t have any room at all. Some of us have gardened for years, others are novices. We can all learn from each other and have some great fellowship in the process. There are a number of more formal programs like this city slicker farms that teach people to garden in their own yards. Sharing backyards is an organization that helps connect people who want to garden with places to do it. And here is a great article that lists a number of yard sharing organizations
To me, a less inviting but also good option is to offer your backyard for someone else to garden, and get a small share of the produce. (called lazy locavores by some)
Another possibility is to form a garden co-op. Gardening together is always more fun. Get a group of gardeners together, plan what will grow best in each of your gardens and work out a schedule so that you spend time together in each of the gardens involved. This is a little different from a community garden, a term which I think can be a misnomer because people often have their own patches and do very little together.
To live sustainably into the future we need to learn to co-operate and to form community. I know there are a lot of other ways to garden together and would love to hear your suggestions.
Last week I posted about what I discovered recently regarding the ownership of many of my favourite seed companies. This morning Bill Guerrant from White Flint Farm sent me a link to this very helpful article at Northwest Edible Life which I decided to post as a follow up. All is not how it seems on the surface and we often need to keep our minds open and continue researching to help us have a realistic perspective. I must say this is a huge relief to me because I love Territorial Seeds not just because it is local to the Pacific NW but because its catalogue also contains great planting advice on a broad array of vegetables.
People are under the impression that Territorial Seeds and other beloved seedhouses are owned by or otherwise eager to peddle Monsanto seed onto unsuspecting home gardeners. While this story line has found a lot of play on various websites, it’s inaccurate and, I believe, does a lot of harm to very ethical seed houses who are doing everything they can to provide the best product to their customers while making business decisions that allow them to stay in business. Read the entire article.
Bald eagle, Tsawwassen B.C.
A few days ago I walked along the beach in Tsawwassen B.C with my friend in Kim Balke. The breathtaking beauty of the mountains, the salty freshness of wind and the barrenness of the trees were all inspiring. In one tree sat 5 bald eagles, majestically surveying the morning scene. Not wanting to disturb the serenity of our walk, I decided to photograph them on the way back.
However as we headed back towards the car, the barren tree in which the eagles perched looked empty. I immediately started making fresh plans to return for a photo shoot. As we moved closer something remarkable happened however – suddenly the eagles came into view. How they had hidden from view in that barren tree I don’t know, but they had.
How often I wondered do I make new plans because I can’t see what I hope for? How often do I mess up and get ahead of what God is doing because I think I understand? A little like Abraham trying to get a son and not seeing how God could possibly accomplish it. How often is my vision limited because I have not walked far enough along God’s path to see what is there? Impatience, limited understanding, lack of faith, they all distort my perspective and make it hard for me to see life from God’s viewpoint. How often do we all mess up what God is wanting to accomplish in our lives because we don’t trust that God is able to accomplish all that is promised?
Hebrews 11:1 reminds us: Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. So lets all keep walking today along the path that God spreads out before us. Let’s hold onto God’s promises believing that in the right time and in the right place God’s perspective will burst in upon us and enable us to see.
I have been thinking a lot over the last few days about ways I should be engaged in helping to alleviate the world’s suffering in pain. I always feel so inadequate in this area and my heart aches for those who live in poverty. Wrote this prayer earlier in the week
God pierce our hearts with your love,
Break them open into greater capacity,
Break them open ,
That we might hold more of the world’s suffering and joy,
That we might share more of the world’s despair and hope.
Lord break our hearts,
As we stand in the gap between what is and what could be,
Break our hearts open to a largeness that holds the possibility of a better future for all the world’s people.
and just came across this TED talk (have not had time to listen yet but I thought some of you might be interested.
http://www.ted.com/playlists/67/the_quest_to_end_poverty.html
Fernando Gallego [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Part of what I have been thinking about today is – “What does it take to get us moving?” “What motivates us to get out into the world and be God’s light of healing, reconciliation and love?” I have reflected on this in a previous post from 2010 and my concerns have not changed. The light of God has not gone out of the world, but it certainly has not gone out into the world as God would desire either. How do you think we can change this?
Through Advent we have watched and waited,
In Christmas we have found the Messiah,
And we have been changed.
Now we must follow God’s guiding star,
Light to the world, redemption for all people.
We can no longer be satisfied with the old life,
We must journey deeper into God.
May we open our ears to listen,
So that we can hear God’s heartbeat.
May we open our eyes to watch,
So that we can see God’s presence.
May we open our minds to believe,
So that we can embrace God’s ways.
May we open our hearts to trust,
So that we can share God’s salvation.
Amen
You may also like to check out these posts from previous years:
The Eve of Epiphany – Saying Goodbye to Christmas
Eve of Epiphany – We have Come, We Have Seen Now We Must Follow
A few days ago I posted this prayer for New Year’s Day 2013. In the last few days however, there have been several beautiful prayers posted on the Light for the Journey Facebook page for the new year which I thought you might enjoy. I normally post all the prayers at once at the end of the week but thought that these needed to stand alone.
Lord Jesus Christ, pierce my soul with your love so that I may always long for you alone, who are the bread of angels and the fulfillment of the soul’s deepest desires.
May my heart always hunger and feed on you, so that my soul may be filled with sweetness in your presence.
May my soul thirst for you, who are the source of life, wisdom, knowledge, light and all the riches of God our Father.
May I always seek and find you, think about you, speak to you and do everything for the honour and glory of your name.
Be always my hope, my pece, my refuge and help in whom my heart is rooted so that I may never separate from you.
(Bonaventure – 13th Century)
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“This is the new year the new you. You can pass through another year, coasting on cruise control. Or you can step out of your comfort zone, trying things you have never done before, & make 2013 as the year that you elevate from where you are & soar high. Make it happen!”
― Pablo (posted by Micha Jazz of Contemplative Network)
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Every moment is a new beginning, every handshake a promise. I know that every quest implicates the other, just as every word can become prayer. If life is not a celebration, why remember it? If life — mine or that of my fellow man — is not an offering to the other, what are we doing on this earth?
— Elie Wiesel from “Open Heart”
Thanks to My Soul in Silence Waits.
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The God who breathed this world alive
and sustains it day by day,
whose hands flung stars into space
and controls our destiny
says, “Do not be afraid, for I am with you.”
The God who filled the ocean depths
and set tides on their way,
who caused mountains to be raised up
and rainbows to display
Says, “I have called you by name, you are mine.”
The God who made the fertile earth
and seed within to sow,
whose artistry creates butterflies
and the early morning dew
says, “You are precious in my sight.”
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God the eternal rock is with us,
From year’s beginning to its end,
In hard times and in good,
God is with us from year’s beginning to its end.
God almighty is faithful,
Present in each day and every moment,
Drawing close in every act and deed,
God is faithful through all eternity.
God is trustworthy,
Yesterday, today and forever,
Sustaining, enlivening, making all things new,
God the eternal rock is with us this day and evermore.
Olympic mountain view
It is the beginning of a new year with incredible potential. We have enjoyed the excitement of fireworks and New Year parties. All of us have hopes and expectations for the months that lie ahead. We eagerly make resolutions about what to eat, when to pray and how to live, knowing that most of these will be discarded before the month is out. Sitting here looking out my office window at the beautiful snow covered Olympic mountains, it is not hard for me to believe that this year holds incredible new possibilities. But I know that by the end of summer the snow will be gone and the hope and promise they offered may be gone too. So how do we make resolutions that stick?
For Tom and I, our refocusing prayer retreats which we take every three months are an important part of our yearly rhythm which helps keep us on the path we believe God wants us to follow. The end of year retreat we have just returned from was no exception.
Retreats are not just important for us as individuals, they are also important for us as an organization. Taking a retreat with your staff or ministry team is something I would highly encourage at this season. Over the years, our MSA staff retreats have totally reshaped the ways we function as an organization. They led us to develop a rule of life, helped us to reimagine ourselves as a community that discerns together the will of God for our organization and pointed us towards the discernment process we use each week in our team meetings. As you can imagine, how we prepare for the new year is a common theme for me at this time of the year. Next week I will share some of the insights I have gained from reading Parker Palmer’s book A Hidden Wholeness but today wanted to repost a revised version of the spiritual audit I have used for years to help me rethink my spiritual journey.
Look back over the last week or month
- Consolations: what has life gaining and deepened your sense of connection to God?
- Desolations: what has been life draining and made you lose that sense of intimacy with God?
- How is God speaking to you through this?
- What are the major pressures in your life? Where do you think the pressure comes from and what are the underlying causes?
- How do these affect your spiritual well being?
- In what ways could they be harnessed so that your heart could be broken open to new possibilities for a better future?
- What daily and weekly events set the rhythm for your life? Which of these contribute to your spiritual well being and which distract from it?
How well are you maintaining your spiritual life:
- What gives you joy in your spiritual journey at present?
- Where do you sense God is currently at work in your transformation? What would give God the most opportunity to continue that work?
- What do you do on a regular basis to nurture your spiritual life?
- What are the major distractions that interfere with regular spiritual disciplines?
How has God spoken to you in the last week:
- through prayer
- through scripture
- through the needs of others
- through the words of others
- through other means
What changes is God prompting you to make in order to further your spiritual growth:
- In your daily or weekly commitments and rhythms?
- In your spiritual routines?
How will you ensure that these changes are adhered to?
- What is one new practice you would like to institute to help maintain your new resolutions?
- What is one relationship you could nurture to provide accountability and encouragement as you walk this journey?
You may also like to revisit some of the other posts I have written in past years that address some of these issues.
Leading Spiritually – A Series on Leading with Discernment
Welcoming the New Year – What Do We Expect?
Tools for Prayer – Moving Beyond Chronic Randomness to Intentionality
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