Gardening has been a major theme in my life lately, including my spiritual life. The whole concept of gardening overflows with rich metaphors and Biblical references. How do you visualize God? When I look back over my spiritual journey, I know the mental image of God that guides me differed at various point of my life. Right how I see him as a gardener. I see God on his knees in my backyard, cultivating, working the soil. He wears a floppy straw hat that looks like it has had better days. He is working hard, preparing the soil and tenderly setting new plants. He is intent and focused on the job in front of him. Where am I in this picture? I want to say I am on my knees next to him, but that doesn’t feel right. I am on the deck just watching him work. Every time my ego wants to join him, something stops me and says quietly – “watch me.” So I wait. Waiting is hard, but the image is so strong I feel I have no choice. I wait. I watch. I learn. I learn God focuses on whatever … [Read more...]

  My husband and I camped out west for three weeks last summer seeing many of beautiful national parks. While we traveled, enjoying the trip, my perennial backyard garden grew and grew unsupervised. Since no one ‘deheaded’ the plants, many went to seed and multiplied huge new root systems. With a new growing seasons starting, I now have a jungle instead of a garden. Though I love fresh mint in my ice tea, the spring batch is producing enough already to flavor a Pacific Ocean supersized glass. Sometimes too much of a good thing is not healthy. Did you ever watch “The Trouble with Tribbles” on the old television show Star Trek? The more they killed the fuzzy little fur balls, the more they multiplied. Like the tribbles, my lilac bush decided to reproduce itself, sending up millions of shoots. Cutting them all back last year must have angered the plant as it definitely is seeking revenge this spring. I love my black eyes Susans which have expanded their roots and are showing … [Read more...]

What are God Winks? I have a friend whose 19 year old daughter died a year ago from cancer. In talking with her about her grieving, she mentioned she is discovering blessings in her pain. In my feeble attempt to comfort her, I offered the platitude that God often will send us comfort when we least expect it during a time of loss. “Oh, no, Jeanie,” she sternly responded, “God sends us blessings all the time. I was just too busy earlier, too blind, to see them.” The truth in the statement that God drenches us with his gifts all the time and we “are too busy, too blind” to see them lingers in my heart and mind. That conversation also reminded me of a book I recently read, God Winks by Squire Runsnell. He writes, “Most of the day to day coincidences that happen to you are not big and significant. Generally they’re the small, sometimes whimsical little winks that make you quietly ask: does that mean something? Little winks do mean something; that you are not alone, that there … [Read more...]

  Springtime Gardening My backyard bursts with new growth and springtime gardening. Tiny seedlings emerge through the dark earth with green eagerness and daily surprising transformations. Spring is a time of awakening. One section near the fence is covered with a multitude of small sprouts extending their teeny arms upward. It reminds me of baby birds all stretching their heads up, screaming feed me, feed me. As a gardener I see a problem in this area – I need to thin out these new growths for a healthier batch of flowers later in the summer. The dandelions are also quite healthy in my garden. With deep roots and bright yellow faces, they are the first to bloom. They taunt me: “Ha, see we are back again. No use trying to get rid of us. We will return to take over your precious garden bed!” Then there is the issue of “What is growing there anyway?” Is it a weed or is it a fogotten bloom I planted a long time ago? Do I let it grow and later regret not digging it out … [Read more...]

Spiritual Directors International Conference The Spiritual Directors International Conference last week exceeded my expectations. Throughout my career I have attended numerous national and international conferences. Unfortunately most of the time I leave the workshops disappointed with generalities, gaining little tools to use helping others, and an inner sense that I wasted my time.   So loaded down with low expectations, last week I traveled to Houston to attend the Spiritual Directors International (SDI) conference for the first time. The quality and depth of this conference surprised me and in the following list of expectations for anyone going to this particular conference I share some of the treasures I discovered there:   1. Expect to be surprised. This conference exceeded all my expectations in multiple ways. 2. Expect to be surrounded by God’s spirit. The prayers, décor, music, silence, discussions and networking all opened my heart and eyes to see God’s … [Read more...]