The wonders of the digital age are never ending. It seems every day I hear of some new advancement being tested and released. Apparently more ways to be smarter and better at keeping up with our lives. The lives we are now living that depend heavily on this digital age.
Yet lately I feel the effects of this “plugged in” life and I’m not feeling smarter or better for it. The access to all the information just fills me with sad, bad and despairing news. Seeing the images of the unjust Russian war on Ukraine. Reading that Covid and Long Covid continue their assault on the world stage, taking and/or altering lives in spite of the efforts of continually developing vaccines. Hearing experts warn of our planet’s inevitable environmental catastrophe as we see with our own eyes, half of Europe’s waterways dry up while more than 80 million people across Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, South Sudan, Uganda and Djibouti face the worst famine in their lifetime. There’s so much information and at times it feels all too heavy!
When I feel the heaviness of life like today and admit that I can’t process one more digitally supplied detail, I remember I still have one sweet “old style” non-digital escape I can embrace and turn to, in my garden!
No sprinkler system, just me and my hose. No timers, just me and my internal sensor. No automatic daily schedule, just me, the forecast and the gift of time.
Time to retreat to the garden, away from my digital world and the news that overwhelms me with sadness, to an hour or more among the plants and flowers and yes even weeds that overwhelm me with hope.
God meets me in the garden and it’s my place to reflect and pray. Sometimes I don’t even have words to speak how heavy my heart is but He’s there, calming me, lifting my spirit and I’m pretty sure He likes that I’m quiet so we can just be present, together.
And with the sound of water spraying, with the bees busy doing their thing, with His calming still small voice that is often not a voice at all, He speaks to me in His gift of presence.
Today was a good day to water!
“Come, let’s take a break and find a secluded place where you can rest a while.” Mark 6:31
Gardens are such healing places. Your flowers are gorgeous!