reverb13: day 18
inhale
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This post is part of Reverb 13:
Day 18: In the midst of living, did you find moments to breathe?
Were there moments that held you in the embrace of peace and quiet and
pure contentment? Did these moments catch you by surprise or
did you create the space for peace to find you?
How will you make space for greater peace in 2014?
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I’ve learned to find peace in many places. In books and in words, through running and simple, repetitive chores.
But my favorite place for peace is in my garden, which is just a bit ironic because the truth is, it’s always in a state of chaos, as any garden that doesn’t have a full-time caretaker will be.
But no matter… I still find peace there. Most mornings in early summer, I head out there for my first cup of tea, sit in a favorite spot to sip and listen to the birds.
I fight the urge to get up and weed, or deadhead, or control, and try to just enjoy this place that used to be lawn and driveway and mud and is now my very own postage stamp of paradise.
Even the work of gardening brings me peace, a day spent in the sun with nothing to do but plant and weed and tidy restores my very soul. (Mulching, not so much.)
The lessons I have learned in my garden spill over into my life, daily. Patience, of course, being the most obvious.
The cycle of life. The force of nature. Rest and renewal. Death.
True love.
It’s all there, in amongst the chaos.
Now that it’s winter, I will find my peace in front of the fire, dreaming of spring and green and my garden.
Waiting to inhale.
December 18th, 2013 at 8:04 am
Gardening has always been something I long but don’t know if I have the fortitude for. My Poppy used to keep a garden of what I estimate to be about a half acre of every fruit and vegetable you can think of; hot peppers abounded. Our neighbor Hank Hank kept neat rows and mounds of lush tomatoes and corn. I covet an old craftsman with a seemingly haphazard but actually perfectly planned ‘secret garden’ with the perfect combination of wildflowers and roses that brush hands and thighs as it’s walked through. Gardeners seem to have this peace that you talk about and I search for. I envy you that.
December 18th, 2013 at 8:24 am
Yes, it’s all there amongst the chaos. Inhale! xo
December 18th, 2013 at 10:20 am
waiting to inhale says much…it is there in the chaos and sometimes we have to sit through it in order to find it…but it is there…
December 18th, 2013 at 10:55 am
I agree, there is something so compelling about watching the garden. Especially in reflection, now that the snow has covered the flat spot that used to be green. Can’t wait to start watching the real thing again. Nice post.
Steve K.
December 18th, 2013 at 9:34 pm
Postage stamp of paradise… which you mail to us through your words and images.
Sigh.
Beautiful!
December 19th, 2013 at 11:26 am
“It’s all there, in amongst the chaos.” exactly.