Spring Is Near! Meditating on the Spiritual Side of Gardening

Today we were blessed with brilliant sunshine, strong winds, and temperatures in the 50's, and already my heart is celebrating garden season! Realistically I know that here in Central Ohio we are still a good 6 weeks from any in-depth planting and such, but hey, a girl can dream....  I celebrated by starting some in-door seedlings, cleaning out some old dead stems and such from the garden area, checking my compost, and spending much time mulling over what I will plant, and where.

These practical considerations aside, however, I was reminded today of the more spiritual side of gardening. I know we don't talk much about spirituality here, but regardless of your belief system (I am a Christian), one has got to admit that part of the reason we love to garden is that it ties us into a greater whole - the cycle of life, contributing to the life and health of the planet, and such. Sustainable gardening is one way to bring us into a closer connection with the life of the planet we live on - something that many of us in modern life are really missing out on.

Image by easegill via FlickrThink about it - most of us live in a warm house built of various materials that separate us from the outside world, we drive to work (rather than having our feet meet the earth), work in an enclosed office space with sealed windows and no connection to the outdoors, and come home to sit in front of the TV and watch fictional stories about other people whom we have never met.

Our connection to the natural world for most of us (and I'm including myself) is for the most part non-existent.  We no longer have to work the land - to dig into the earth, feed it, water it, nourish it, maintain it in order to feed ourselves and our families. We no longer rely on a close-knit community to help each other grow and produce the goods we use (we get them shipped on trucks from thousands of miles away, grown and produced people we never meet or talk to). We watch the weather forecast for signs of what to wear, or what the morning commute will be like - we don't check the outside conditions for optimal growing and planting. We may open the windows on our way to work, or think what a beautiful day it is, as we head to the shopping mall, or lie beside a concrete swimming pool. And while all these luxuries and freedoms may be a blessing in some ways, in other ways, we have let them cut us off from the world that God made for us to live in and be stewards over.

I think gardening gives us a way to tap into this - to find that missing connection in some way. What do you think?