Gardening in my Soul

I really enjoy working in the garden even though it can be hard work! I don’t mind digging out the weeds and I like to plant new vegetables and flowers each year. The soil is often hard after winter though and I have to dig deep and turn it, but if I keep on, it becomes softer and the next time I am out there, it’s a bit easier to get things done

For me it’s like our spiritual journey, if growth is to happen we need to do some preparation work. This can be a challenge and so often we say we don’t have time and would rather leave it. The spiritual garden though can then become overgrown and we become discouraged and drift. We can have questions, doubt ourselves too and have unspoken expectations about who we ought to be and who others think we are?

Yet, God asks us to be open and to receive, to dare to look at our spiritual lives as if they were a garden, to plan to dig, to nourish, to water, to feed and to have courage to lovingly deal with what we find? 

Can I invite us all be real, look at the inner garden of our lives and to walk or to sit quietly, asking ourselves:  

Where does the water flow freely?

Where are the signs of growth, birth, hope?

What is being raised to life in you?

God is with us, the rains will come and go and as we try, gently and simply to open ourselves up, we hold onto the hope that the digging will be fruitful and transforming

You might like to pray this prayer and then reflect on the Thomas Merton quote:

Father, give me courage to be open and to look at my spiritual life, help me to build on where I already am and to trust you for the way ahead, Amen

A quote to reflect on:

“Ask me not where I live or what I like to eat . . . Ask me what I am living for and what I think is keeping me from living it more fully"

                                                                                          Sharon Seal