Quite a Mystery

Planting a garden is walking midst mystery.   I was reminded of this after yesterday's work in the freshly turned dirt.  When the last of the potatoes were covered, I thought about the mystery that was beginning to unfold under my feet.  The potato cuttings were like the lettuce seed planted in seed cups and put aside while waiting for the seed to become seedlings to be planted.  Gardening is about working, but it is also about waiting.  It is about waiting for divine mystery.  There is nothing more we can do when the seed is cast in the dirt, but wait on God to do His unique and mysterious work.   

The sense of mystery is something we largely live without in our normal living.  Maybe the loss of mystery has to do with our disconnect from dependence on the dirt, or maybe we fall prey to the false idea that whatever happens is a result of our hard work, or maybe we get so busy going from one thing to another that there is no time to stand for even the briefest of moments and ponder the mystery which is present and unfolding in all that we do.   

Harder than work is waiting.  Waiting seems like such a waste when there is so much to do.  But, the reality is that the more there is to do, the more the need for the discipline of waiting.  Waiting is like pushing the pause button on our life for a moment of seeing and knowing that life is not all about us, but is instead something lived in partnership with our Creator.  He is the One who put us in the midst of His creation and He has not put us where we are to forget us, but to bring about the change of growth in our lives.  Always He is at work within us to bring us to a point where our inner being and our living reflects not our own disposition, but the heart and spirit of Jesus which is surely quite a mystery.