Welcome to Spring
Here are some cool things to think about, maybe even take a small step this spring, along with maybe a long-term vision. Here goes…
What Is A Contemplative Garden?
It’s a place of rest in a weary world
A place of joy that lifts our spirit
A place where we can just breathe
A place of retreat and solitude
A place to walk and talk with God
A place of focus in a world of distraction
A place that embodies restoration
A place of peace and quiet in a world of noise
A place of meditation and contemplation
A place of provision
A place we get to create with our spirit
A place where we actually reap what we sow
He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul
Psalm 23
So What Is An American Garden?
The American Garden is a garden of order, structure, and provision; but it’s a place of hard work and not a place of rest.
I heard the story of an African Missionary who came to Gulf Breeze. After a meeting one Saturday afternoon, his host was driving him around, showing him all the beautiful neighborhoods.
People were outside trimming their shrubs and mowing their yards when the young African turned and asked his host, “What are they reaping?”
His astute host thought a moment and replied, “Pride, They’re reaping pride.”
Now that's funny and painfully true, but let’s take it a little deeper. We live in a society of constant consumerism and little rest. In fact, we live in a drunken orgy of marketing that pulls us from one thing to the next new thing. We live a life of rushing this way and that, of trying to make ends meet and they never do...as we rush off into the fading promise that our needs will someday, all be met. We fall into the bed exhausted and sleep-deprived from all our endless grapplings.
We All Need Places of Rest and Refuge To Get Away From It All
In a Contemplative Garden, we get to create an atmosphere of rest for our restoration. A place for our imagination and wonder. A place to create with our creator.
A Contemplative Garden, like the Garden of Eden, mirrors the beauty of God in a thousand different ways.
It's a place where we get to feast and soak in wonders.
A place where we can contemplate in the atmosphere of grace, rest, and peace.
It is a place of embodied spirituality, where we get to work it out.
How Can You Create A Contemplative Garden?
A Contemplative Garden can be as small as a potted plant on your window seal, or a vast acreage of wonders. Size isn’t important.
A contemplative garden is primarily a place we’ve set aside for meditation, contemplation, and worship, along with a lot of digging, watering, and pulling weeds.
Style isn’t important. What is important is that we get to create a place that fully engages us with meaning, rest, and growth.
*It can also be a place of provision.
*It can be self-sustainable.
*It can feed you, your family, and provide food for the hungry.
A Contemplative Garden is a pungent and visible connection to God’s Grace as we create with our creator, a garden of meaning, rest, and growth. A place of meditation, contemplation, and worship.
Be Creative and Start Small
However you do it, make it fun. Gardening is a lifelong passion and process, and it grows as we grow.
Create your own little corner of heaven, a place of refuge, peace, and rest in a world of noise. Create your own sacred place.
~ We are creating a Community Page To share each other's ideas, wisdom, and pictures in our journey creating a contemplative garden, and you don't have to have a St. Francis Birdbath.