The Soul's Garden

This morning I stood outside in the rain-soaked grass looking at a large toadstool that had sprung up in the center of my yard overnight. While I was sleeping it grew, large and poisonous.

Change is the juggernaut of life. If you don't tend your garden, in a year you'll hardly be able to recognize the spot anymore. The place which bore fruit for you and nourished your life will be wasted with weeds, invaded and taken over by noxious elements.

What's the point in working hard to resist change when it is inevitable? Why pull the weeds? Why enrich the soil? Why water the seeds and talk to the plants? Why cover them at night when the frost comes? Why not let the forces of nature do what they will?

When the first settlers came to New England the forests were so dense with trees that a squirrel could travel from Massachusetts to New York without ever touching the ground (I read that somewhere a long time ago and it impressed me).  Within a hundred years the landscape had been transformed to fields and farms. Now the farms are mostly gone and the trees have come back. When I walk deep in the woods do you know what I find? Stone fences. Field boundaries set in place by the hands of men two centuries ago. And, apple trees with small misshapen fruit.

In the suburban town where I live there is a coyote. I have seen her walk down our sidewalk at night. She looks a lot like the German Shepherd down the street. But, she's not a dog. A couple of weeks ago three wild turkeys flew into my neighbor's yard. They looked like dinosaurs foraging in my neighbor's well-manicured lawn. There are articles in the newspaper about this. People say, "It's a problem. We're not safe with all of these wild animals in our neighborhoods. They shouldn't be here."  Last week there was a bear in Westford.

(Stay with me, I'm coming to a point.)

I've been thinking about how far we've come and what change has brought us. If you study the statistics for war, disease, and violent crime it looks as though the world is becoming a better, healthier, safer place. Western societies are more tolerant and diverse than ever before. The United States is significant because it is a) large, and b) the most diverse nation in the world. In my own little neighborhood there are families who have emigrated from India, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Haiti, Canada, and Albania. There are Hindus, Muslims, Christians, and atheists. There are couples living together who aren't married, divorced families who share their children on weekends and holidays, homosexual unions, married couples who are childless by choice, married couples with children, etc. It's a world of diversity in two small cul-de-sacs.

We are able to live together by being tolerant of our differences and by never saying anything that hints at our beliefs or suggests that we hold them to be true. In fact, I would say that the current culture in the United States embraces the notion that all beliefs and ideas are equal--which is good for peaceful co-existence. And, who doesn't want peace?

But:

• If all beliefs and ideas are equal, then really, what is the point in believing in anything? 
• If you don't believe in anything, then what purpose or fulfillment does life hold for you?

Well there's bodily pleasure: sex, food, alcohol, drugs, thrill-seeking, exercise. The problem with pleasure seeking is that it doesn't last and always requires bigger and better and more to achieve the desired satisfaction (often at the expense of those around you).

Guess how many Americans are on anti-depressants (which are the most widely prescribed drugs for 18 to 44 year olds in the US) ?  One in ten or roughly thirty-two million (which is three times the population of Sweden or the entire population of Canada). That's a lot of sad people . That's a lot of people who are not leading fulfilling, purposeful lives.

Your heart is a garden. Good parents tend the hearts of their children and plant seeds of faith, love, and hope. They water and tend the garden so the roots will grow deep and produce good fruit when the child grows, providing him with purpose, nourishment, and fulfillment in his life.

When we are young we know that all things aren't equal, that there is good and there is bad. Some things will steal your joy and take your life if you let them in.

Don't stop tending your garden. Rake the dead leaves; pull up the weeds and pick out the pests; put it all in a pile and set a match to it. Nurture the good things that are planted. Be generous: share your fruit with others. Don't be afraid to ask for a new plant from a garden that you truly admire, but think hard about where that plant will fit-in. Always, protect what's good and established. Remember who you are. Believe.