Morning meditations

For the beauty of the earth

For the glory of the skies

For the love which from our birth over and around us lies

Christ our God, to Thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.

During the last year, I've begun to practice (albeit sporadically) what some call meditation and some call centering prayer. It involves quieting my mind, concentrating only on breathing, and listening for the voice of God. This time of year I find it especially nice to do this outdoors, although I really must keep my eyes closed or I will see something I need to do, like pulling weeds or thinning peaches. Today it was the words of this old hymn which came to my mind. I think we often tend to get so bogged down in "doing" rather than "being" that we forget to appreciate the simple things in life, and to be grateful.

I think of this spot under the key lime tree as my "lilies-of-the-field garden". Last spring and summer, as annuals succumbed to the heat, I threw their corpses in a pile under this tree and left them alone until the spent flowers, seedheads, and leaves dropped off. I didn't do anything else here, other than add the revamped grid drip system we've been installing all over the yard, and try to stay ahead of the weeds by pulling them out as I saw them arise. And right now, this spot is the most colorful one in the yard, with very little effort on my part.

And now it's time to go and thin the peaches, pull out a few weeds, and pick some asparagus for tonight's dinner.