The Garden is Good Therapy

 In the spring and summer months, the garden is the first place I go every morning.The energy there is soothing and refreshing and no matter what mood I wake up in, the garden restores my soul. If I wake up sleepy and foggy headed, it is uplifting and refreshing to be among the flowers and green, growing things. If I am sad, I find the beauty of small things brings me joy: a butterfly or hummingbird; a flower bud on a plant that had seemed to be stubbornly barren; the wash of color in the early morning light. If I am angry about something, I attack the black spot and rust on leaves or the weeds that are trying to take control.

 The therapeutic value of a garden has scientific backing: there are micro-organisms in the soil that are beneficial to our physical and mental health. Christopher Lowry, a researcher at the University of Bristol in the UK, discovered that a micro-organism in soil, known as Mycobacterium vaccae, can boost our immune systems and relieve anxiety and depression. Children raised on farms, with plenty of dirt to play in, have healthier immune systems and are less prone to illness than their city raised counterparts.

I'm happy that science affirms what I already know: that working in the garden makes me feel good.  Aside from the physical benefits, tending to plants and flowers is spiritually renewing: it connects us to God in a way that is intimate and real.  It brings us peace in a world often gone amok.

 Praise for the morning!

Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven
Like the first dewfall on the first grass
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass...

 

Cat Stevens, "Morning Has Broken"