A gardener's vocation

Once upon a time there was a lawn...
but now it's a garden.

Thinning the delphiniums (delphinia?) in my messy front yard yesterday, I decided that being a gardener and nurturing earthy growing things is a definite vocation. It seems that not everyone is called to be a gardener, anymore than everyone is called to be an accountant, lawyer, or parent...

So what is the gardener's vocation all about?

Gardeners are called to participate in creation through providing positive conditions for life to bloom and flourish.

Gardeners are called to plan their plots and pots with hope for the future, though they live fully in the present moment, tending what is before their eyes.

Gardeners are called to embrace the physical labour required to change landscapes from barren to bountiful.

Gardeners are called to work within nature's plan to spread beauty and productivity, sometimes moving things around a wee bit.

Gardeners are often called to bring order out of chaos, or chaos out of order (our formerly mono-culture front lawn is a pretty chaotic but happy place for pollinators these days).

Gardeners are called to create pleasing habitat for others to enjoy, especially bees, birds, butterflies, other bugs, bacteria, (and bunnies, in my yard).

Gardeners are called to reduce waste and conserve resources by using available organic materials for compost or mulch, and saving seeds when plants offer them. 

Gardeners are called to teach friends, neighbours, passersby, and especially, young people and children, about how to green our world, our lives, and our plates with nature's good gifts.

Gardeners are called to notice and appreciate the littlest things: the light on a bumble bee's wings, the sudden appearance of a bud or fruit, the detail in markings on a leaf, the change in light as a cloud goes by, the tiny chirps of new life in nearby nests...

Everything is planted. June 3, 2020.

Gardeners are called to leave room for creation to "do its thing," recognizing that the value of all growing things depends upon a certain point of view. A weed can have its good qualities, and every bug has a purpose and place in the food chain.

Gardeners are called to see themselves and all creatures as small but positive parts of the great web of life.

Gardeners are called to welcome both sun and rain, and forgive hail and damaging winds... eventually.

Gardeners are called to practice patience. And to rejoice when it is rewarded.

Gardeners are called to enjoy the bounty that nature provides and share it, knowing that all things are gifts from the universe, meant to be shared by all.

Gardeners are, quite simply, an extension of the Creator's hand. As are we all.