Our Sisterhood: What does it mean to be a Soul Gardener?
We women are nourishers and healers; and whether mothering takes spiritual forms or physical ones, we are all Soul Gardeners with gardens to grow! To grow them, large or small, with one plant or many, we have serious work to do. Our work involves a number of things: soil to cultivate, plants to nurture and care for. It involves being sure there is enough sunlight and watering, keeping the nutrients in the soil by mulching the ground around the plant. The work of a gardener must be careful, patient, diligent, attentive, watchful. If there is a storm, plants need to be covered and protected. If there is a disease or a fungus, careful measures are taken to ensure that it doesn't kill the plant entirely. Weeds that stifle the growing of the plant are pulled out. Particular plants need to be helped along, guided in how they grow and the direction in which they wind and twist around their surroundings. And so the gardener must water, weed, watch, nourish, guide. It's a tedious process, this gardening thing-- but oh-so-rich, and oh-so-satisfying! And oh the fruits that will come from the diligent, careful gardener! The bright ruby red cherry tomatoes, the hearty, vibrant zinnia, the gentle, wispy, fragile cosmos, the cheerful tall sunflower, the humble violet, the stocky and strong rhubarb.
The gardener must be strong, and have faith and knowledge of what each plant needs. The gardener must ensure the soil is nourished. The gardener cannot just happily gaze at her garden beds expecting it to grow on it's own. No, there is hard work to be done and mother earth, the gardener, and God the Creator all must work together, hand in hand. The gardener cannot just let the weeds take over, expecting it to all be okay or that it will bear good fruit. She cannot expect these normal plants to thrive amid the infestations or the floods. She cannot just throw some seeds into the ground and walk away. No, the gardener has to be there every step of the way: actively gardening, with the intention of cultivating healthy, strong plants.
But this gardening business takes strength. We mothers may want our gardens of souls to have a nourishing atmosphere with rich fertile soil and for our gardens to thrive and bloom. So what can we do to stay strong for the task? To be educated and ready for the storms? What can we do to ensure that we have watered gardens with ample sunlight? What can we do to ensure that we are there to be active, diligent gardeners? Sometimes heart and love for the process is not enough to carry us through the grueling work. After all, the brambles that can creep in are a force to be reckoned with, so we must be even stronger than them. Sometimes our gardens take off at speeds we cannot keep up with, the weeds, pests, thorns and brambles all creeping in... and there we are, frantically trying to keep up with the gardening in the hot sun, getting burnt, tired and handicapped. If we begin to get crippled in the process then we need to take a big step back to look at our own hands, tools and at our own nourishment so that we can be better gardeners. And then our gardens, somehow, with our patience and perseverance, just may get a little greener and a little less wild every day. As we become wiser, seasoned, stronger and more whole again, we can do better and better work; our gardens can get a little more cleaned up and the weeds get thinner.
So from our gardens to yours, in the spirit of faithfulness and patience and perseverance, and trust in the process of it all, we welcome you to this little community, bringing your own greenness and freshness. In eternity we will all be sitting around in the garden of gardens, surrounded by all that is rich, lush, abundant and fruitful, and there will be no more toil and suffering. This is our passing home, and in Heaven there will our treasure be! There we will see the fruit of our hard work, even if amid the hard work here it is grueling and backbreaking. May we be the best gardeners that we can be! May we all, one day, be master gardeners, and see our gardens in all their beautiful varieties bear an abundance of fruit!
Onward and Upward, sisters!