STEP ONE: BREATHE

Take a deep, cleansing breath. Allow the air to fill your lungs and expand your body. Exhale and empty yourself into the room. Repeat three times - once for the one who Created you, once for the Incarnate One who walks beside you, and once for the Spirit whose life fills your being.

STEP TWO: DWELL IN WORD

The Parable of the Surprise Seeds:

There once was a father who loved to garden. Each night, after he came home from work, he tended his vegetables that grew in his backyard. Most of the plants he grew from seed, starting some indoors in plastic trays. Still others he planted directly into the soil.

Every year the amateur farmer ordered his seeds from a catalog. He did this in the waning days of winter when the snow was still covering the ground. With anticipation, he scanned the pages of the catalog looking for the plants that would work best in his garden. It always took some discernment before he placed a seed order.

The father had a son who enjoyed working with his father in the garden. Together they would care for the plants at each stage of growth. With hoes and watering cans, they weeded and watered all through the summer.

One year, when the seed catalog arrived, the father noticed that kids could get a package of mystery seeds for a penny. The son was excited and offered to pay for the package all by himself. When the father's seed order arrived, so did his boy's mystery seeds.

The son opened the package of seeds with great wonder. Inside the paper envelope were a variety of sizes and colors. Carefully, he shook the packet into his hand. The son had a hard time counting all the seeds! He couldn't wait until it was time to plant them. Only then would he know what he was growing—the process was exciting.

Although the arrival of planting season tested the young boy's patience, it eventually arrived. Soon the son planted all of his mystery seeds in the ground. Each night when the father came home from work, the two gardeners went to work: watering, watching, and weeding. Within a short time, the first sprouts appeared.

The rows that the Father planted were uniform and straight. You could see the result of years of practice sowing. The furrows were straight and in order. Each row was marked with a little sign so that when the sprouts appeared, he would know what kind of plant it would become.

On the other hand, the rows that the son planted wandered. Although he followed the same procedure of stretching a string from end to end of the growing space to lay out the seeds in a straight line, inexperience and exuberance caused his line to waver.

The son planted the seeds in the crooked furrows without regard to variety; big seeds were next to small seeds. He didn’t bother marking the rows because he didn’t know what he had planted. Still, the son looked upon his garden with the same hopeful pride as the father viewed his own.

Weeks passed and both gardens grew; the father and the son continued their nightly regimen of watering, watching, and weeding. Throughout the summer, the plants flourished. The father's plants did so in order while the son's plants remained in disarray.

In due time, blossoms appeared on the vegetable plants. Tiny white and yellow flowers announced to the patient backyard farmers that some vegetables would develop. Sure enough, they did! Among the orderly rows that the father planted, edible delights were abundant. Night after night, baskets of fresh vegetables waited for him to harvest.

Vegetables also appeared in the son's garden. The sense of mystery continued as the boy searched each night among the disorderly and variant leaves. It was unknown exactly what he would find. One night, the son discovered a few beans. On another evening, the boy found a cucumber. Some of the plants didn't produce anything at all—they were crowded out by neighboring leaves. Within the chaos of the son's garden, disguising themselves as potential veggies, a weed or two escaped pulling.

Although the size, scope, and productivity of the father and son's gardens differed, they shared precious things in common. Both enjoyed the contact with the soil that the experience entailed. There was the delight and satisfaction that come from nurturing and growing something. Gardening together also brought both the parent and child closer together in their relationship. Each experienced a vegetable harvest. A bonus for the son was the whole mystery and wonder of it all!

A Question to Ponder:

What role do mystery and wonder play in your life of faith?

STEP THREE: PRAY

Mysterious God,

you are bigger than I can even begin to imagine. You are higher than the mountains and farther than the most distant star. Let me dwell on the wonder and mystery of your existence so that awe fills my being. When I reach the capacity of my limited imagination for your majesty and grandeur, remind me that you are as close as my next breath. Create within my heart a deep reverence for both your transcendence and your intimacy.

Through Jesus Christ, amen.