I quite literally would not feel human without nature, wild or managed, all about me. We moved to the lovely, historic town of Beaufort, SC which is on the intercoastal waterway and so we have water and marsh all around us plus an abundance of these elegant, towering, moss-covered live oaks that are often 100-200 years old. Against this backdrop we felt led to have a really vibrant garden, with box hedges all around, palm trees, crepe myrtle, irises, flax lilly, ginger plants, and lots of deer-proof flowering things like copper canyon daisy, mexican sage and society garlic. It soothes and delights the spirit to have so much green and color all around.

There is something about the presence of God and Spirit that has for many years made me teary. I remember not having gone to church for
a long time and then attending a Eucharist service at my brother and sister-in-law’s Episcopal church in Beaufort, SC. I was kneeling at the communion railing with my hands outstretched to receive the host when the first of several sobs just seemed to break through my chest.The seeds of spirit had been planted in me many years before at a then all-boys Episcopal school in New Hampshire. I used to sing in the choir as a soprano in the 6th and 7th grades, and was also an acolyte assisting the priest with communion. In some wonderful and mysterious way the ritual of the Eucharist got into my DNA and deep memory. Such is the way of Spirit.

I have been pondering lately about a truth and reality that is so profound my mind can’t really encompass it. That is that everything in my life, in the world about me, in the universe is a miracle and a mystery. I look at the simplest thing like a flower or a tree, I wonder how does this grow? Now we have all the science and biology, but that doesn’t explain why things are the way they are, why does something start from a seed and become as huge and marvelous as the live oak tree in my backyard.? The interconnectedness of everything is a holy mystery. These thoughts are part of my renewed understanding of God as in a way but hardwiring undergirding reality. The ocean and intentional field of gravity/attraction/inter connectivity love which permeates all and out of which all arises, how can I not feel blessed beyond words to express.