Peace in the Depths

a devotional for spring

Photo by Neslihan Gunaydin on Unsplash

Thank you for joining us! Before we begin our devotional, I wanted to share a Comment Highlight from last week:

Arjan Tupan wrote on our devotional, “The Virtue of Difference”:

“I like the idea of our uniqueness and celebrating differences. They make us see a complete picture. I like how you use flowers to make this point. Lovely poem.”

Thank you, Arjan! Arjan writes a Substack devoted to sharing beautiful poetry. Check it out!

If you want to be featured in next week’s Comment Highlight, all you have to do is post a comment on any of this week’s posts or threads. That’s it!

Now, on with this week’s devotional…

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reaching below 
deep into the soil
one finds
a holy cloister 
of silent activity;

chambers of tiny feet
and trails--
of monklike moles
and worshipping worms
and abbeys
of ants;

peace
leaves dirt-stains on your hands,
a lingering fragrance
of earth
you can taste;

this peace
curls like a seed
in the darkness, 

complete in itself,
only awaiting warmth
to grow.

In the northern hemisphere, this is the season when gardeners begin to rejoice, as slowly the snow and frosts recede leaving more and more stretches of warmth and sun.

Every year, as spring approaches and takes root, gardeners must make a choice: given what I know of the world, will I still plant and nurture seeds into young plants, and young plants into harvest, and harvest into pleasure? Knowing what I know, will I continue to do so?

Because we all know that the world is not a place of peace. Not now, and not ever as long as humans feel we own it. While pockets of peace are possible, we all feel a yearning for peace that lasts. That never fades. That no one can destroy with a word, a stroke of the pen, or a split-second decision.

It can be easy to despair, knowing that every peace we find here is temporary. It can be just as easy to give up in the face of constant horrors and injustice and suffering. But planting a seed is planting a hope into the God-blessed soil where life always begins again. Planting a seed is believing in resurrection, believing that each seed contains everything it needs in order to grow. Each seed a tiny portrait of the Trinity, complete in itself. Nourishing itself, and by extension us.

Peace is found deep in the depths of the earth, in those silent cloisters where life begins. May we always seek it, even knowing what we know.

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