Month: June 2013

“For me, gardening is a form of prayer. Most people have an awareness of life and death, but few have an awareness of life, death, and life again. Gardeners do, though.” –Kaya McLaren

What form of prayer gives you an awareness of life being reborn?

We think of flowers as the purpose of a blooming plant, and the color and scent of a blossom as the truly desirable part of a plant’s life cycle. But what matters to the plant are the seeds that remain after the blossom is gone, for that is where creation resides.

What do you love all the better now that its shine has worn off?

Some days clouds seem like the lightest things imaginable: the thin wisps of cirrus or the cotton-ball fluffiness of cumulus. But on other days clouds advance with oppressive gravity, the threat of flooding moving in across the sky.

What is the weather like in your personal system today?

If you look at these twisted rocks the right way, you might see the shape of two alligators kissing. Or not. It all depends on the shape of your imagination.

What flight of fancy has struck you lately?

There’s a well-known story of the cracked pot which feels bad for losing water all along the path back from the river where it was filled. But it turns out that, unbeknownst to the flawed pot, it has been watering wildflowers all along the way.

What do you nurture without ever really trying to?