Digging in the Dirt

What is there that is so basic about digging in the dirt that we are drawn back to it again and again?  Weeding, clipping, deadheading, admiring -- so the work of the gardener goes on while waiting for that one or two tomato flowers to do what you have waited so long to see.  The beginnings of fruit.

I promised a report on the CDs from the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles.  It plays as I write this posting.  From my earliest ear report, it was a worthwhile purchase.  With the music on one of those small players and earphones, the task of gardening would be no task anymore.  The peaceful sound rivals those that nature produces so effortlessly -- birds calling to each other over the trees, the rustle of leaves waving in a slight breeze, the quickened movements of a small animal in the brush.

If you are looking for something that you can play in the car after a really rough day, something that would certainly be interesting for children to hear, then the Sisters got it right.  The kind of noise that kids hear from far too early of an age can be partly erased by the sounds of these dedicated Benedictine nuns.

Their first peace, "O God of Loveliness," is a melody you will probably know already.  Once the lower voices enter in, the bliss of their harmony comes around complete.

There is an ad that I loathe.  It is for rather hideous shoes that must appeal to someone, but I can't think of many who would venture in that direction.  These shoes are surely for someone who wants a badly sprained ankle in the worst way.  At any rate the silly song goes something like this, "I crashed my car into a bridge -- and I don't care."  (I had to turn off the nuns' music in order to try and remember this trashy, stupid song.)  So let's for a moment contrast this girly band music to that of the nuns and imagine to ourselves -- which will last?  Which will inspire?  Which draws one towards God and not away from Him?

You are what you eat, they say.  You are what you read.  You are what you hear.  You are what you see.  A little too simple, sure.  But there is absolutely no doubt that we can certainly fall under the influence of food, reading material, sounds, and sights.  Do we want to reach for the Divine or not?

A section in the Bible deals with temptation, and it suggests in a very graphic way that if our eye is the problem, then pluck it out.  Some people spend inordinate amounts of time deciding what they will eat.  Is it organic?  Who grew it?  What did they use for fertilizer?  What kind of life did the hens have that laid the eggs?  A little too much scrupulousness for me.  A little too much "me."  A little too much worrying about how long I will live rather than HOW I will live.

How much time do we put into the things we read, hear, and see?  These are worthwhile questions.

"O God of Loveliness," teach me your ways.