Keeping The Faith

I'm beginning to think that this new garden is never going to happen! I wait for the weekend to come so the grandkids can help me with the heavy work (and the whole getting-on-the-knees thing) and, of course, it rains. Not that is hasn't been raining during the week as well. If we get two or three sunny days out of seven, we feel blessed! I can't start putting plants in until the ground dries up a little. Mud is  not conducive to plants taking root! On the other hand, I have to have faith that Mother Nature knows what she's doing.

One of my all-time heroes, and the reason I picked up stakes and moved up here 25 years ago, is Henry David Thoreau. I, along with millions of other people all over the world, fell in love with Walden and have dreamed of  running away to live in the woods, far from people, and stress, and live off the land. Thoreau, however, is also known for the research he did while he was living at Walden Pond, much of which is contained in his book "Faith In A Seed." While is it much heavier reading than Walden, and filled with scientific analysis, it does point to Thoreau's basic belief and faith in the workings of nature ... if you have faith in a seed, you can grow anything.

These days it's hard to have faith in anyone or anything. Except for our own tightly knit group of family and friends, it's hard to believe sometimes that we can make anything grow in this terror filled world. That's where faith comes in. I'm not necessarily talking about religious dogma. I'm talking about slowing down and looking for the things that do work in our world, the things we can have faith in: the sun comes up every day, the seasons come and go on cue (even though it always feels as if winter will last forever), no storm lasts forever (which I've been telling myself every weekend), and if you plant a seed in the right soil, with sunshine and care, it will grow.

So while the rain keeps coming down around me, and the world keeps raining tears and sadness, I'm going to start planting my seeds of love, kindness, compassion and joy anyway even if I have to start them in small plots inside my heart. As long as I have faith that the storms will eventually come to an end, and the sun will, indeed, shine again, I can also have faith that my garden will grow so that everyone who sees it will benefit from what blossoms.

Keep the faith, baby! And so it is.