I relate much of my life to gardening. Summer is a sabbatical, a take-a-break, a time-to-rest season. Autumn is a new beginning because it’s planting season once again. How blessed we are that planting season happens multiple times in the Sonoran Desert!
The essence of being rooted, perhaps, is in knowing that who you are is okay. It takes most of us a lifetime to come to that conclusion, and many never do. What a blessing; the knowledge that whether you are tall, purple, female, gay, poor, or sarcastic, you are a miracle with a myriad of opportunities to explore what it all means and which gifts only you can offer to the universe.
In many ways, we start out as seeds. Even those of us who fall from time to time on asphalt adapt like dandelions pushing us up in cracks. Hopefully we’re transplanted to a sheltered corner, where someone nourishes and waters our spirits. Eventually we’ll have the chance to move out into open fields, and here’s where we are blessed. This time we get to choose the location. To produce our best and brighter blooms we’ll need healthy soil where compatible plants can provide support and shelter.
I’ve done my best to bloom where I’m planted but landing in the wrong garden patch a time or two certainly stunted my growth for a while. At The Palms you can be who you are and that’s better than okay; it’s fantastic! Be you! Be the church! Be yourself and bloom!
Shalom, Paul