Gifts of the garden

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Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Philip Blackledge of Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Melrose. Script: Good morning. We are at the beginning of May this week, and there’s a phrase which, as a keen gardener, I am very mindful of: “Ne’er cast a clout till may is oot!”. Which means, don’t take off your winter clothes until the hawthorn blossom, the may blossom, is blooming. It’s almost always used when talking about gardening – don’t plant your seeds until the frosts are done. Living where I do in the Scottish Borders, I am constantly aware of the presence of those early monks who inhabited the land around me, who brought their monasteries here fifteen hundred years ago. And growing things is a way of feeling an intense communion with those early Christians. When you grow vegetables, you realise that however much work you are doing, most of the success or failure is in God’s hands. They would pray with every seed sown. They would pray for rain, and for fair weather, and they would pray as they threshed the wheat and milled the flour. They knew the intimate connection God has with his good earth. For me it’s just a hobby but for people living then, and for some people living now, it is literally life or death. You had to plant generously, because you knew the wildlife would take some, you had to let the butterflies and the mice have their share. And because God was abundant, so we had to be abundant too. God of the turning earth and of the changing seasons, we thank you that the time of singing of birds is come, and the larks hover above us like angels in the sky. Give us we pray a knowledge of the greatness of your gifts, that we may have a new understanding of our connection with the earth, and of the generosity of your giving. Amen.