gardening – Spirituality & Healing

As I mentioned in a previous blog post, my husband and I are doing some landscaping. One thing that has been particularly challenging is the irrigation (sprinkler) system we have. It wasn’t installed very well so ever since we moved in to our house we have tried to remedy this.

The biggest challenge is that we know nothing about irrigation systems! We’ve had estimates from technicians to come out and fix it, but they are too expensive. So, while we were working on this system yesterday, I was growing increasingly frustrated and feeling helpless.

As I prayed about this, I realized the situation was frustrating because I didn’t have the knowledge or skill set to do something about it. In humility, I saw that God, the only source of knowledge and intelligence, is the Mind the governs each builder, landscaper and home owner with the guidance and understanding of what to do. The same Mind that guided each individual in installing an irrigation system, is the same Mind that is with me right now.

At that moment, our neighbor came over and asked if we needed some help. He is a builder and very knowledgeable in landscaping and irrigation. He built his house and has helped the previous owners of our house with many aspects of our home.

He was able to tell us what we needed to fix, the items we needed to get from Home Depot, and he loaned us his tools so we could fix it the next day.

I am overjoyed! We are now well-equipped with the knowledge and resources that we need, feeling confident, and even able to expand our irrigation system to a new area where it is needed.

Humbly acknowledging God, the divine Mind, as the source of all ideas provides solutions for all our needs. These ideas may come directly to your consciousness, through a neighbor (like in our case), or in some other creative outlet. They always come when we let God lead us, and when we are humble, listening, and ready to receive them.

My husband and I are continuing a landscaping project we started last fall. When we initially considered this project it was overwhelming. There was the space we had to consider as well as the aesthetic look, practical needs and our budget. How could we get the best results without exceeding our budget, or making mistakes and having to redo the landscaping?

We had a landscape consultant helps us with the big picture. We wanted to do the planting, expanding and decorating ourselves to save on cost and to learn more about the value and skills of homeownership.

We could then focus on priorities. This was very important because we didn’t have the time or money to do the whole project at once.

This reminded me of man’s spiritual journey through life. If we look at ourself, our understanding, the world and all that needs to be accomplished, we might feel overwhelmed. Feeling this way often prevents us from even getting started, being apathetic or feeling like what we have to offer is of little value compared to the all that needs to be done. But as I’m learning through this landscape project – planting a tree here and there, fertilizing and watching it grow – we see how each part that we accomplish affects the whole. In fact, with each part that we accomplish we can step back, look at the big picture again, and see if any adjustments need to be made. What have we learned? Can we adjust our route or strategy?

And then we see that each part is actually a valuable, integral part of the whole. Each part is needed to help us see the full picture. And with each part we gain the ideas, lessons and skills we need to continue in a more productive, effective way.

I think about all that the prophets and spiritual leaders have accomplished to help humanity gain a clearer sense of the allness and tangible presence of Spirit, Life, Truth and Love. They each had a spiritual journey of learning and growing – of God’s nature being revealed to their consciousness. If they had stopped, or failed to get started, we wouldn’t have the spiritual understanding of being that we do today.

Mary Baker Eddy, a Christian healer and teacher from the late 1800’s – early 1900’s wrote:

“[Divine] Science reveals the possibility of achieving all good, and sets mortals at work to discover what God has already done; but distrust of one’s ability to gain the goodness desired and to bring out better and higher results, often hampers the trial of one’s wings and ensures failure at the outset.”¹

“We must form perfect models in thought and look at them continually, or we shall never carve them out in grand and noble lives. Let unselfishness, goodness, mercy, justice, health, holiness, love — the kingdom of heaven — reign within us, and sin, disease, and death will diminish until they finally disappear.”²

Even though we have a lot of growing to do, like my garden, we can still succeed with each step we take along the way.

¹ Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 260
² Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 248

Tag: gardening

Lessons on humility

Life lessons from landscaping