Since purchasing our first house last summer, I’ve taken up a new hobby: gardening.
My mother, too, is an avid gardener, and her mother before her. Growing up I remember spending what seemed like endless hours wandering greenhouses and nurseries, and while I was allowed to pick my favorite flowers to add to the mix (for some reason I always reached for Marigolds), surprisingly, I was never that interested in gardening itself.
I say “surprisingly” because now that we have our own home, gardening has become one of my treasured hobbies. It has also become one of my most natural and cherished spiritual practices. In fact, the deepening of my spiritual journey and my growing interest in gardening seem to be parallel, and I don’t think that’s a coincidence. Gardening requires the same traits as many of the most formative spiritual practices—patience, attentiveness, diligence, self-control—and in turn cultivates in us many of the postures that draw us closer to the Divine, including mindfulness, creativity, and curiosity.
That’s why, when it came time to plant my own garden, I wanted the guidance of someone who felt the same way about the hobby-turned-spiritual practice. Luckily, I knew of a woman at my church who did garden consultation—Gretchen Champoux of Sacred Spaces Design. Together, we were able to create a garden that has quickly become one of my favorite places, and I look forward to continuing to cultivate it as both a garden and a Sacred space as the years go on. (Because we’re always cultivating—in gardens and in life.)
As summer slowly fades into fall into the Northern Hemisphere, I wanted to share some of Gretchen’s reflections on gardening as a spiritual practice as well as tips on how to use nature to create a Sacred space—no matter the season. Read my interview with Gretchen below.