SINES OF THE TIMES CHRISTINE SINE
Gardening with God Gardening is an important part of the rhythm of my life. I have always loved creation and the natural world, but it is only in the last 10 years, since I settled in Seattle, that I have become an avid gardener. At this time of the year our front porch bulges with seedlings ready to be planted, and our side garden is already providing a feast of broccoli, cauliflower, and salad greens. Over the summer we hope to harvest a feast of over 150 pounds of red, yellow, and orange tomatoes and an endless supply of squash and zucchini, which always taxes my ingenuity in the kitchen! Part of our commitment to simplicity and self-sustainability is our effort to grow as much of our own fruit and vegetables as possible on our urban lot, and fortunately the climate in the Pacific Northwest is ideal for this venture. We start the year with spinach, mustard greens, lettuce, and snap peas and then progress to cauliflowers, cabbage, and a profusion of broccoli. Onions, garlic, Swiss chard, beets, and carrots thrive throughout the summer as do the squash, tomatoes, and beans. I have even managed to grow eggplants and hot peppers in what is considered to be a marginal climate for these hot weather species. I know of no more satisfying experience than to eat produce freshly harvested from the garden. When I am irritable or disgruntled, an hour in the garden transforms me: Tom says that my face glows when I come back inside. Celebrating God’s presence in the garden is one way I absorb the soothing rhythms intrinsic to the seasons of the year. I was delighted to discover that the early Egyptian monks recognized gardening as part of God’s mandate to care for
the earth.Throughout the Middle Ages, too, gardens were dearly loved by monastic communities and were considered an essential part of the rhythm of life. Gardening also enabled them to recreate the paradise man and woman once shared with God. Gardening not only brings renewal and refreshment to my life, it has also taught me important lessons about the God who created and cares for us. God is revealed through so many aspects of the created world. Harvest time in particular speaks to me of God’s overflowing generosity. When we diligently work the earth—sow the seed in its season, then fertilize, water, and nurture the crop—the harvest is often overwhelmingly abundant. It is so abundant, in fact, that we have no choice but to share our bounty with others if we don’t want any to go to waste. Gardening also reminds me that we are co-creators with the living God.We plant the seed and water the soil, but it is God who germinates and grows the plant. Even during the dark, cold days of winter God is still at work putting down roots, enriching the soil, and preparing the plant for growth. Similarly, God gives life to all our efforts.We plant the seed of God’s Word. Sometimes we have the privilege of seeing it burst into bloom, but it is God who breathes life into our efforts.Through the
Steve Erspamer, Religious Clip Art for the Liturgical Year (ltp.org)
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power of the Holy Spirit working in us and in those around us, God still grows mighty plants out of tiny mustard seeds. Gardening has also taught me to pay attention to the beauty, diversity, and creativity of God’s world. As I watch the days and the seasons follow in their expected patterns, I am reminded of the faithfulness of a God who comes to us in all seasons of our lives. I am also reminded that our God—who poured out his great love in the complexity, beauty, and diversity of creation—still cares for us and for all creation and will never abandon what he has made. Perhaps you don’t enjoy gardening as I do, but as we move into the summer and the rich abundant harvest of God’s provision you may enjoy spending time thinking about how God reveals himself to you through creation. In particular, think about and pray for those who earn their living through interaction with God’s creation. Farmers, forestry workers, landscape gardeners, and conservationists represent but a few of the professions that labor in God’s good creation, and they need our prayers. We all reap the benefits of their efforts as we eat their produce, admire their landscapes, and walk through the parks they preserve. If it is possible, spend a day working on a local farm picking apples or raspberries. Plan a harvest celebration and feast that include the produce you have picked. Make sure that the feast is composed completely of food that is in season. You may even consider sending a note of thanks to national park workers or local family farmers as a sign of appreciation for the efforts they put into preserving God’s creation and in providing you with the abundance of food for your table.An even more radical possibility is to visit migrant farm workers and share your feast with them. Their backbreaking work—often for very low pay and little thanks—keeps us provided with a rich array of inexpensive produce.
If you are an urban dweller who does not have the opportunity to get out of the city, make an effort to get outside into God’s creation during your lunch hour over the next week.Whether it is sunny or rainy, sit in a local park and reflect on God’s glory shining through the plants and animals around you. Visit a local farmer’s market; buy the foods that are in season and plan a feast with friends;
spend time praying for farmers around the world whose livelihood is in jeopardy because of environmental degradation or unjust trade agreements. Early Celtic Christians believed that creation was translucent and that the glory of God shone through it. They also believed that all of life reflected God’s creative presence and sustaining love. The wonder and glory of God are all around
us. May we all open our eyes to see and to experience God in new ways over this summer season. ■
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care for a parent or child, those blessings that so beautify and frame the tapestry of our lives? And where is my gratitude for the food I am blessed enough to cook or the clothes I have to wash, for the relationships I enjoy that require sacrifice and humility, or the forgiveness I have through Christ? But when, by grace, I see myself in proper relationship to God and his creation and recognize the larger story in which I play only a small (albeit beloved) part, even the most repetitive of daily tasks suddenly crack open to reveal a promise of joy. Life is indeed relentless —relentlessly good, because its Creator is relentlessly loving and eternally with us. When we are most overwhelmed or most bored, we are most blind. As G.K. Chesterton explains it,“A child
kicks its legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say,‘Do it again’; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough... It is possible that God says every morning, ‘Do it again,’ to the sun; and every evening, ‘Do it again,’ to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike: It may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that he has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” ■
on the subject of prison conditions. She also took up other causes: setting up District Visiting Societies to help the of her recommendations. Unfortunately, poor, libraries for the Coast Guard, and Peel’s reforms did not apply to debtors’ a nurse’s training school whose graduprisons or local jails, and Fry and her ates accompanied Florence Nightingale brother Joseph Gurney toured through- to the Crimea. She campaigned for the out the British Isles, gathering evidence London homeless, sought better treatto bring about further reform legislation. ment for patients in mental hospitals, By the 1820s Fry was a well-known and promoted the reform of workpersonality whose advice was often sought houses and hospitals.
The young Queen Victoria was a great admirer of Fry, writing in her journal that she considered her a “very superior person.” Fry continued her work until October 1845, when she succumbed to a brief illness. Over 1,000 people stood in silent respect as the “Angel of Newgate” was laid to rest in the Society of Friends graveyard at Barking. ■
veterans have observed, nearly once every day the Divine struggle for justice should make us laugh—for the juxtaposition of the grandness and glory of the calling with the quality of his recruits is sure evidence of a comic heart within the Sovereign. Harvest, fellowship, beauty, truth, joy, laughter, justice: these are just a few of God’s gifts that we celebrate in this issue. And this brings me back to the beginning of this reflection, which finds me whining about life’s relentlessness. It happens whenever I place myself on center stage —suddenly my privileges look strangely like burdens. But is it not an honor to
Not to Be Forgotten continued from page 3.
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Christine and Tom Sine share this column. Christine’s latest book is Sacred Rhythms: Finding a Peaceful Pace in a Hectic World (Baker Books, 2003).Visit their Mustard Seed Associates website at msainfo.org and join the discussion.
Leslie Hammond