My Little Garden

Sometimes, as I sit in our chapel, my mind begins to wander. I take notice of the style of the building -- how everything is open and well-lighted, how one's attention is naturally funneled toward the front. I notice the colors in the sandstone wall in the front and the grain of the wood in the pews. The building was constructed in the '60s and it is a beautiful building in its own way. But something seems to be missing. And in my mind, I've slowly added it as I've sat waiting for a meeting to begin (or end!).

In the northeast corner of the chapel area is a door, covered by a curtain. Beyond that is the lawn and beyond that, the street. The first time I was in this particular chapel was in the spring and everything was already in bloom. My mental meanderings have led me to wonder how the chapel area would look with the addition of a small garden beyond that door.

With the proper permission and resources, I would enlarge that doorway so that it's as wide as it is high. Beyond that, I would build a wall approximately six feet high -- high enough to keep out the distractions of the outside world, but not high enough to block out the light. In the space I've created, I would plant a small garden and fill it with indigenous plants. Some wisteria or goldenrod would go in the far corner. Perhaps an apricot or cherry tree in the other corner. Some marigolds, maybe, or daffodils. Possibly a few roses. And, naturally, some grass.

Aside from adding a crowning touch of beauty to our chapel, I believe there are some lessons we could learn as we meet there week after week:

-- God's course is an eternal circle. In spring, we see the buds begin to nudge their way toward the sunlight and slowly turn into leaves and flowers. In summer, the foliage is full and the plants cast forth their seed to perpetuate the cycle of life. As autumn arrives, the leaves fall and flowers and trees withdraw into themselves in preparation for winter, when they lie dormant, waiting for the arrival of spring and the start of a new cycle. So it has been for centuries and so it continues; the sequence is always the same. Our Heavenly Father's way of doing things is constant. Winter never follows spring; summer does not follow autumn.


-- Everything happens in its own time. When conditions are right, the grass will grow, the wisteria will bloom, and apricots will appear on the apricot tree. We can wait patiently, or we can wait impatiently. But wait we will.


-- The world fulfills the measure of its creation. If we plant wisteria, roses will not bloom.


-- Things have a way of happening on their own, even when we are not aware of it. There is an old Zen poem from China:

Sitting quietly,
doing no thing;
Spring comes
and the grass grows of itself.

If we take care of the small things, the large things take care of themselves.

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