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…
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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“Planting a seed is believing in resurrection” - such a good reminder! I love this. I’ve been meditating a lot lately on the overlapping of Heaven & Earth. On Earth as it is in Heaven. Earth may not yet be fully restored, but Heaven does overlap in places and we can choose to plant seeds of Heaven. The more seeds of Heaven we plant here in this Earth, the less hold hell has! So, we choose HOPE for tomorrow when Heaven & Earth will be one and all will be restored. 🙌🌿
The phrase "holy cloister of silent activity" really sticks with me. It reminds me of what's going on when we pray: outwardly nothing seems to be happening, but in the unseen heavens divine forces are stirring! Beautiful word pictures here.