Lessons from My Garden

BERNIE CUEVAS

My little balcony garden is my favored sacred space. On my balcony are pots of bougainvilleas in various colors. Even though walls and roofs of houses surround it, I can see the top of the trees by day, a patch of the sky, and the stars at night. When the moon is positioned unobstructed by structures at night, I enjoy it as it changes from a no moon to a quarter moon and a full moon. But even when it is obstructed, I can see how it lights up the sky on a full moon and how its light is reflected sometimes across the clouds in a burst of colors, sometimes mimicking the sunset. 

In my sacred time, I connect to God in the beauty of His creation.  

Insights from my bougainvillea

1. By allowing it to grow untrimmed, it bloomed in ways I have never seen before. It grew tall, bent to the left and right, it bent low, and at the end of each branch, beautiful clusters of flowers bloomed. 

God’s message to me: Allow things to grow where they want to. Do not try to control ( trim) all the time. Appreciate how it naturally follows its tendencies. They are also directed by the God who created them beautifully. Try to follow the nature of the flower. God has given me a unique character, and he gives me the grace to discover how and where to bloom best.

2. God recreates. I love colorful bougainvillea, so I have them in different colors with the pots placed side by side. I notice that some bees and caterpillars soon become butterflies flitting here and there among the flowers. Today, I noticed that there was a natural cross-pollination that happened. It seems that the previously light yellow blooms have somehow become more vibrant and bright, and within the cluster of golden yellows were two pink flowers. I also noticed that the colors of the pinks and reds have somehow blended, and some flowers now look more red-orange. 

God’s message:  There is beauty in diversity. The more you allow yourself to mingle, share what is good about each other, and develop closeness, soon the beauty of the people around you rub on each other and make each other shine brighter.

       The lesson from the sky

I went to the balcony tonight to be refreshed, de-stress, and pray. Looking up at the sky, it was at first covered by clouds, yet it was not a dark sky. Although I could not see the moon, its brightness made the sky light despite the cloud cover. After some reflection, I went in but felt my conversation with God was not yet done, so I went out again. This time, the cloud cover was drawn like a curtain, and I could see the blue sky surrounded by some light clouds at the far end of the sky. For a while, I also saw the “sunset” as part of the sky that did not stay long, and it felt that God just wanted me to see it as a special treat only for me.

God’s message: I may not always sense His presence, especially when my thoughts and feelings are overwhelmed by many concerns and even mundane matters, but it does not mean He is not there. He invites me to look, stop, even for a few moments, stay still and quiet, look up to the sky, connect and “hear, feel, see, touch and smell” his messages written all over creation. In that still, quiet moment, God invites me to meet Him in my heart where He dwells, where I can rest in Him, tell Him what is happening, my thoughts, my feelings, and my longings. He invites me to focus on Him as I gaze at the stars and the moon and see and know His beauty. 

We have a God who is everywhere, and if we cultivate sensitivity to this presence in creation, we might discover not only the beauty of the sky, the stars, the moon, the clouds, the flowers, and the trees but the hidden ways that God speaks. We can ask for the grace to desire and learn to pause from our busyness, stop a little longer, look around, and appreciate what is before us. Spend time talking to the Lord, not in the usual way we do in prayer, where we speak all the time, but time to listen. 

Listen to Him through His creation, including the beating of our heart, the sound of our breathing, the rustling of the leaves, the rain, the thunder, and lightning. Gaze at His face through the colors, shape, and texture of leaves and flowers. Smell God’s fragrance in the freshly cut grass and the fragrant flowers, and bask in the love of God. We are invited to encounter Him in our hearts and our senses in His creation.