Tag: garden

To Be Patient

To Be Patient

I, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace… (Ephesians 4: 1-3)

“Are you patient?”

Mass had just concluded in the prison and the guy next to me posed this question. I thought for a second and replied with the affirmative. I think I am typically a patient person although I sometimes have my moments of losing my calm and forbearance.

“Are you patient?” I asked, turning the question back to him. Then for a while we discussed his gradual growth in patience as well as his desire to share this knowledge and growth with those near him.

Yet despite the simple question and my quick reply, the question remained lingering in my mind throughout the day.

Am I patient?

I kept trying to reassure myself that by many accounts I am incredibly patient. Sometimes students, a group of people generally not prone to throw out random compliments to their teachers, will even comment on my great patience. Occasionally this is in comparison to other teachers and at other times it is just a general statement that they think I am incredibly patient.

Regardless of these affirmations, I kept the question before me. As I started pulling up weeds and thistles in my yard, I knew I should patiently and tenderly extricate the roots from the ground. Yet I recognized that sometimes I just plucked off the visible part of the thistle, leaving the roots to simply grow and flourish again.

So maybe I’m just not very patient with weeds.

Seeing this, I found myself trying to be a bit more gentle, wiggling the leaves and slowly pulling up the long, burrowing root. It was impressive how small the weed could be above the surface and yet how long and spindly the roots could be. Several times I was amazed at what was hidden from view, what energy and strength the weed had poured into what would sustain it and not simply what I found as a nuisance in my yard.

Almost necessarily, I made the connection between these weeds and my heart.

Continue reading “To Be Patient” →

Into the Wilderness

Into the Wilderness

“A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…'” (Isaiah 40: 1)

For some reason, Jesus is really intent on going into forests and deserts.  As I am looking at this passage, one I have heard numerous times, I am struck by His desire to go to the wild places.  A bit comically, I begin to imagine Jesus delving into the thick underbrush of a forest or having a road built into a stretching expanse of sand.

What is that wilderness He wants to dive into?

Ah.  My heart.  

It is a wild place, overgrown with weeds and bad habits.  Other places are deserts, barren and uninhabited.  Jesus wants to enter into those places.

I find myself attempting to redirect Him.  “Look, Jesus, a lovely little valley!  Come admire this place that has it all together, a place that isn’t messy….Oh, a lively garden, teeming with life.  Isn’t this nice, Jesus?”  He looks at these places, smiles at me, and then heads back into the desert.

But, Jesus, there is nothing to see there. Continue reading “Into the Wilderness” →