Church Stuff

16 February 2009

Tending the Garden

"The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it." Genesis 2
It was really quiet when I got the the Center this morning at 8:30. I took advantage of an interruption in internet access to do some puttering and pottering around the Center.

One of my projects here is to 'green the place up,' for lack of a better word. It's a pretty sterile building, so I've kept my eyes on plant sales and picked up a few over the past few months. We started with some palms for the sanctuary, and a pothos which is currently taking off like crazy. Then about a month ago I was at Lowe's and saw a rack of spider plant hanging baskets on sale for $5. I snapped two of those bad boys up, one for the Center and one for the house.

Here's two great things about both pothos (pothoi?) and the spider plants: they are almost impossible to kill, and they both produce lots of opportunities for offspring. The spider plant was ready to be split when I bought it, and finally last Friday one of our students stopped by, split the plant and showed me how to pinch off and prepare plantings for the next generation of spider plants. Soon, I hope, we'll be greening up a storm around here.

There is something wonderful about tending plants like this. I watch them grow around our house (if I can keep the cats out of them, that is) and marvel and the variety and power of what God creates. I feel, very strongly, the call to stewarding the creation which God made part of our very being, according to Genesis 2. Some of my best days are those in which I can tend to this little corner of creation God has entrusted to Kristin and me: pruning, planting, watering, mowing, weeding, composting - all of that work is balm for my soul. Today I spent some time tending to this place's need for life, too - and I hope that as we support the growth of the plant life around here, it will reciprocate and help us feel as if this is a growing place for people, too. I want that very much, and I don't think it's out of the question to hope it might happen just like that.

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