This June day was cool and cloudy. It felt like autumn rather than summer and I felt disconnected from the rest of the world without regret or apology. It was early morning. The wind was gently blowing. The seeds of summer were growing into leaves and blossoms while the seeds of my soul were reaching further into the depths of darkness and the expanse of light. I wondered at the distance I’d traveled from last year’s summer and the why of this present flowering. A calm settled within, generating a new spark that fired my imagination. The moment was expansive and clear.

Somehow with all the conflict, fear and antagonism in the world, I felt as if I was standing outside looking in. The dis-ease and upheaval in the cities across the nations seemed far away and out of time and space for me. I’d become an observer rather than a participant; a gardener rather than a harvester, a peacemaker rather than a fighter. I found myself pruning the hedges in front of the house, clearing out the dead branches to facilitate new growth. It was then I realized how we’re all seeds of Love flowering on a pathless path of care, concern and contemplation. 

From this place of toil and sweat, we shower in the water of rejoice and regret. We find our way everyday while getting loss in the dross of our own making. Why, I ask. Why don’t we learn the lessons of love that teach us thousands of ways to look, listen and be gracious with one another? Why can’t we prune the dead withered plants to make room for the  new growth that needs and wants to be? Why is the pruning of the old so difficult when it hinders the new growth that it once knew? New flowering comes every season. In life’s cycles, the old must give way to the new. 

Can you affirm the life that’s flowing in, around and through you? How do you perceive yourself and others when you’re stuck in a place that hinders your growth? How do you clear out the dead branches in your garden? How do you affirm the life within you and others? How connected and disconnected are you from the new growth that wants to come forth through you? The love that has been and still is longs for your attention to be birthed. It’s the gift of this summer season of soul and eagerly awaits the pruning and watering that is essential for the new life of the world.

• Ponder the old prejudices you’ve had; where they’ve come from, how they’ve outlived their usefulness and how they’re needing to be pruned. . . .
• Reflect on how unconditional Love brings growth to the soul and experiment with adding more love to everything you think, speak and do. . . .
• Take a look into your inner garden. How long has it been since you’ve pruned the bushes, the hedges, the trees? What’s stopped growing that needs to be pruned and what new growth wants to come forth? Identify what might be hindering new growth in you. . . .