Everybody needs beauty as well as bread,
places to play in and pray in,
where nature may heal
and give strength to body and soul.
~John Muir

Throughout the garden flow waters that teem with and nurture life, and above it, orbs golden and white speak of holy corridors in heavenly palaces.  The breath which moves within the listening, watching mortal here below speaks of holy beginnings.  In the quiet of her beating human heart she hears tales of holy presence and purpose.  Her soul, hungry for God-Ruach Elohim, turns to the similitude of her garden to Eden’s glory.  (Ruach is an ancient Hebrew word for God which literally means “wind.”  As such it was not observed as a being but rather as a “vitalizing force.”  Bishop J. S. Spong explains that “among the Hebrews the ruach or wind of God was said to bring forth life.  It emerged in the very mysterious wind, which the Jews felt on their faces.”)   So it is that here and now, day by day, hour after hour as spring winds blow through her garden, she longs to be touched by the mystery of the life-giving ruach on her face as zephyrs ruffle again and again through branch and leaf, touching thorn and flower, and creatures great and small.

“The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.” (Job 33:4)

When at last I took the time to look into the heart of a flower,
it opened up a whole new world–
a world where every country walk would be an adventure,
where every garden would be an enchanted one.
~Princess Grace of Monaco

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day. . .  ~Genesis 3:8   ✝

Miss Peony donned

petticoats the color of

ivory moonbeams.

While the Lady Pink

Azalea stippled her frills

with touches of red.

Sky blue clematis

opened up with touches of

luscious purpleness.

Alas Lady Rose

was not to be out shined by

none so fair as she.

Yet nothing is more

lovely than a small blossomed

cluster of sunshine.

“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin.  Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these.  If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?  So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’. . .Your heavenly Father knows that you need them.”  ~Matthew 6:28-32

And Spring arose on the garden fair,
Like the Spirit of Love felt everywhere;
And each flower and herb on Earth’s dark breast
rose from the dreams of its wintry rest.
~Percy Bysshe Shelley

What a fine spring indeed has risen on “the garden fair!”  Trees and shrubs that delighted us early on with their lovely flowering are now leafing out, more and more roses splits their buds each day, and a particularly perky, pink snapdragon standing tall looks like the scepter of an invisible sovereign reigning over all the other glorious pinkness.  One such pretty is a “surprise” pink poppy that appeared near one of the climbing pink roses.  From whence or where this poppy came, I know not, but a welcome guest it is all the same.  Pink Gerbera daisies are still going strong, and the leafing cherry tree continues to don its delicate pink blossoms.

[Beloved] My lover has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to browse in the gardens and to gather lilies.  ~Song of Solomon 6:2   ✝

With blossom purple and imperious

she beckons me, mauve, mysterious,

and draws me to her, mute and serious,

and wonderful and wild, wisterious.

~Gershon Hepner

Every spring I look forward to the pendulous racemes of purple deliciousness which fall from wisteria vines.   Their loveliness delights not only my eyes and nose with lavish pleasure but also my soul.  However, only the visual glory of wisteria can be imprisoned with my camera lens.  Sadly, to date I’ve not found a way to capture the sweet aroma that permeates the space all around the vines.  As it wafts outward on any available puff of air, the wondrously luscious fragrance intoxicates me and invites the constant hum of hungry bees.  If the nectar in them tastes as good as its flowers smell, what a delectable feast it must be for adoring insect paramours!  Besides their exquisite form and awesome aroma, wisteria blossoms are a mixture of rich deep purple and delicate light purple, an intriguing combination of red and blue that speaks of romance and passion.  Purple, long associated with nobility and spirituality, is said to have a “special, almost sacred place in nature,” and so it does in my garden or wherever I find it.  One author has even declared that “the spiritual and mystical qualities of purple satisfy the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”

May your inner eye see through the surfaces

And glean the real presence of everything that meets you.

May your soul beautify the desire of your eyes

That you might glimpse the infinity that hides

In the simple sights that seem worn to your usual eyes.

~John O’Donohue

Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!  Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad.  Let my lover come into his garden and taste its choice fruits. ~Song of Solomon 4:16

There be delights that will fetch the day about from sun to sun
and rock the tedious year as in a delighted dream. . .
It’s man’s bit of gaudy make-believe–his well-designed fiction
of an unvexed Paradise. . . a world where gayety knows no eclipse. . .
~John D. Sedding

And what delights “there be” to erase the tedium of winter!  They not only fetch the day but human hearts as well.  The deliciousness that started a few weeks ago is now beginning to enlarge and explode into the making of what Sedding called an “unvexed Paradise.”  Joy bubbles up from the heart of Creation to greet and honor the Christ so that it truly is “a world where gayety knows no eclipse.”  As earth spreads glorious sacraments on ancient and sacred altars, what is proffered there will sustain Creation for yet another year. Evidence of the Maker is evident at every turn, and each of our senses provide ways of knowing the Holy One who hovers close and loves what He has made.  In the temple of earth, sea, and sky, we see what His spoken word has done; in the temple of our soul we feel the stirring of His presence; and in the temple of our body we hear His heartbeat in the beating of our human hearts.  From the temple of fertile fields, we taste earth’s fruits, and in the temple of our minds, we are impacted by the touch of God’s grace and mercy.  So come, Lord Jesus, come, and in your coming cleanse us, renew our strength, and take us to the foot of Your cross to witness the agony and the ecstasy of Your magnanimous sacrifice.  Hosanna in the highest, Christ has risen and He, the Messiah, lives!  Together and through us the Father and His Son walk the earth while the Holy Spirit dwells within us.