We have the potential to become like a tree planted by the stream.
Like the tree, we need nurturance — both of water and of sun if
we are to blossom. We need nurturance from all the elements;
without the soil, the sun, and the air, our food will not grow.
We need nurturance from the plants. We all need human nurturance
in the form of friendship and love, and we need God's own divine
nurturance which empowers us to trust in the Author of creation.
"Peacemakers who sow in peace
raise a harvest of righteousness" (James 3:18)
We lay down our seeds in the dark.
Spring has been exceptionally cold
this year. Reluctant daffodils
have done little to convince me.
But we do the work of the faithful
farmer, rising in the pre-dawn hours.
It is a chosen hiddenness, a subtle
stretching over time, ear bent to listen
to the ground, ready for instruction.
Slow rhythmic movements are best.
Sometimes we simply show up,
holding borrowed pain, applying tears
or not. With a gentle
but demanding attention
to detail, we prepare the soil.
We plant. We wait.
~ Nancy Thomas from "Secret Sowers" in CLOSE TO THE GROUND
