Friday, March 16, 2012

Still...with Me



Active Gardening can be profound. Especially.. when you pay attention, the hidden secrets in the continous chatter of your mind can have a whole different meaning. This happens to me and i guess to everyone when involved in an activity, an activity that you love and enjoy at that moment. Uninterrupted, Silently, on your own. In such situation, there is a state I believe when you are connected with God.

A bird flew by me, chirping and singing. It interrupted my thoughts. It landed on the bird feeder and began picking the grains as I watched. After a few minutes it flew away, and disappeared into the bushes.

I closed my eyes again. A gust of wind blew, which caused my wind chimes to dance. They made a joyful sound, but again I lost my concentration on God. I squirmed and wiggled on my knee and continued to fill in the pots. I looked up toward the blue sky and saw the clouds moving slowly toward the horizon. The wind died down. My wind chimes finally became quiet.

In a few minutes, I realized i Ias close to the fence and the neighbor's dog was sniffing me through the fence. I almost jumped out of my skin.I smiled, happy that he cared when there was someone around and guraded my house equally. I quickly tried once again to settle down, repeating the familiar song in my mind. I thought..Be still and know that YOU are around...

"I'm trying God. I really am," I whispered to the chatter in my brain.

The backdoor opened. My son walked outside. "What are you planting," he asked. "I was wondering where you were." I just chuckled... as he came over, stood around, observed me... turned around and went back inside to enjoy his TV time.

"Where's the quiet time?" I seemed to think to myself with these constant distractions, while still being completely involved in what I was doing. Then, I imagined my hearbeats as I picked up the heavy pot and positioned it closer to the door. There was no pain, only a beat that interrupted me yet again. This is impossible, I thought. There's no time to be STILL and to know that God is with me. There's too much going on in the world and entirely too much activity all around me.

I kept working on the annuals as my thoughts were churning. It continued as I saw the little red, orange,yellow, violet colored flowers adorning my pots and planted them in quick succession. "These little plants are going to be awake when I sleep", I thought. As I tuned behind,the neighbor passed by and waived his hand in acknowledgemnt.

I stood up, gazed at the finished assembly of my little pot pourri of annuals for my sweet heart, proud of myself...at that moment everything was STILL...That is when it suddenly flashed....to me.

God has been communicating with me this entire time...He sent the sparrows to enlighten me, thrill me,amaze me. He sent them over to be around us...when they built their nest in our little garden for their spring babies. He sent the Dog to remind me he is always guarding me from the evil, and provding me the security.

He sent that gentle breeze to remind me, that hope is on its way. Time is a healer and spring will bring new blooms, reminding me that HE exists. HE sent the neighbor to remind me I have friends....good friends, lovely friends...amazing friends.

HE sent my son, to remind me he has given me such a lovely family. HE let me imagine my 'heartbeats' to remind me the life he has given me..and here I am trying to find out if he was STILL around...while HE was busy reminding me that he is with me ALL the time.

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