Reverence, especially for simple things, grows your soul, nourishes your heart and brings harmony to your emotions and well-being to your body.
My mother-in-law, Peggy, came from many generations of champion gardeners. Everything she grew flourished beautifully under her care. When she and my father-in-law moved to Calgary in 2001, she enthusiastically helped us plan our gardens around our home and I became her apprentice gardener.
We would peruse the garden and seed catalogs in January and February like children do over toy catalogs at Christmastime. Narrowing down the flowers we wanted to grow wasn’t easy. To help, we drew maps of the garden spaces and where every group of blooms would go.
Once the seeds came in and our sprouting schedule made, we set up our seed sprouting shelves and lights in the living room. It was a process! When the seedlings in the flats sprouted their second set of leaves, it was time to transplant the baby plants and our kitchen table turned into a garden centre.
“Don’t grab them by their stems!” she would exclaim. “The stems are too fragile. Grab them by their leaves.” Well, to me, this seemed too much like grabbing a child by their ears when they have been misbehaving, like the scene that you might see in very old movies. But I listened, and grabbed each little plant by one of its leaves and tucked it into a new little pot where I had prepared a finger hole just the right size.
It was fascinating watching her transplanting these tiny plants. She would tuck them into their new pot telling them to ‘grow big and strong. You are going to love it here.’ She did that with each little plant. And after a couple of weeks, her plants were twice the size of the same plants that I had transplanted sitting beside her.
Her reverence and joy in caring for these little seedlings was inspiring! Every time she came over, every little seedling was inspected to make sure it had been given just the right amount of water. She would grab a leaf, give it a little pull and watch as the plant bounced back. “Nice and strong!” she would say.
I believe that she was more my model and teacher for reverence than she was for gardening! As I continue to plan and plant, it is the lesson that really stayed with me.
Reverence and appreciation reminds you that everything is sacred.
A garden is a beautiful metaphor for your inner world. That place where you plant seeds of intention for what you wish to create in your life. Meaning and purpose is the inner soil you plant those seed in. Reverence and appreciation is the nourishment that helps your seeds to grow strong and abundant.
As you settle into the energy of the growing season, contemplate the condition of your inner soil.
Is it dry? Is it cracked? Is it full of weeds?
Is it moist? Is it loose? Is it nourished by how you live your daily life?
The Universe uses your inner soil as fuel for creation. As you continue to nurture your own inner soil, you will nourish your soul work in powerful ways. And as you nourish your soul work, remember reverence and appreciation.
In Health and Harmony,
