Life Stirs In The Garden

The following is an excerpt from Sanislaus Kennedy’s book Garden The Soul:

After the long dark days of waiting, a miracle has happened. Yet again, perseverance has been rewarded; what has been hidden is now visible; our earlier attention to the invisible is being paid back with colorful surprises, one day after the other.

It’s brighter and lighter in the garden these days, with brighter mornings, longer evenings, cherry blossoms, birds in the trees, life budding into being—and it’s lighter too in our hearts.

For the gardener, practical work begins in earnest now. Shovels, rakes, and hoes are taken out of storage. The soil needs to be broken, aired and turned, tested for texture and food content. Plants that appear partly out of the ground need to be firmed back into place, while seedlings need to be planted outdoors in the places where they are to bloom.

March and April bring the season of Easter, with its time of waiting between Calvary and resurrection, between death and new life. The gift to pray for at this time of year is hope. We hope—we know that the dawn of the year will come, with brighter days, fresh growth, and color in the garden. And yet hope is beyond what we imagine, because although spring always comes, it is always different.

Spring is a time of change and openness to change.

As life stirs in the garden, as the gardener gets to work, so our inner stirrings awaken us to our own potential for change and growth. Our horizons are broadened, we can believe in the future, knowing that our lives will bring us all sorts of surprises as long as we leave space for new things to emerge, as long as we are open to the signs of the times.

Hope grows as life emerges from the darkness of the earth.

*     *     *

He asked her, “Why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out, “Teacher!”

—John 20.15-16