Settle into a comfortable position,
Closing your eyes and taking a cleansing breath.
As you release tension from your body,
Picture a gardener lovingly tending the soil.
See their weathered hands,
Straw hat shielding kind eyes,
The creases of a smile as they dig into the earth.
This gardener represents the compassion and wisdom within each of us.
As you inhale deeply,
Catch the sweet scent of the fertile soil.
The blooms of resilience that brighten this nurtured land despite storms past.
With bare feet,
Feel the soft grass alive with the care poured into this place over seasons.
You begin walking slowly down a winding path following the gardener.
On either side,
Vivid flowers lean happily towards the sunlight.
Fruit trees line the trail,
Their branches heavy with the promises of harvests still to come.
Listen for the buzzing bees,
Dancing from flower to flower,
Tranquil doves nestled in the orchard boughs.
Up ahead you notice young shoots poking up in a freshly turned garden plot,
So new and tender yet so full of untapped potential.
Some sprouts look especially small and fragile amidst the rich soil,
Fighting to reach the light.
Yet under this attentive gardener's devotion,
Given proper care,
Their prosperous futures unfold clearly in your mind's eye.
You watch as weathered hands scoop one precious seedling,
Cradling it lovingly into waiting earth.
As dirt blankets bear roots still so delicate and exposed,
Trust in the telling moisture left
Glistening on nearby leaves.
The coming showers that will nourish,
Strengthen,
Let life bloom
In technicolour detail,
Bearing such sweet fruit in due season,
As you crest a little hill.
Smile as downhill the rows progress,
Through every phase from newly turned soil waiting to receive,
To tiny saplings stretching for their first taste of sun,
To mature stands tall and proud.
Their arms heavy now with the ripening bunches soon to be harvested.
Pause by a still pool,
Its clear surface reflecting blue skies,
Which still smile over all that happens here.
Glance back appreciatively over the landscape that has emerged through such care over long days,
Longer nights.
From one small seed,
A garden beyond imagination,
Through the consistent gifts of nourishing belief,
As your gaze returns from the horizons back to the path beneath your feet.
Take comfort in knowing that however long the journey or narrow,
The way ahead may seem,
You do not walk alone.
For beyond the turnings of each season,
The careful gardener remains,
Coaxing for sustenance,
Sheltering tender shoots from tempests,
Shining light into places that yet await their awakening dawn,
When doubts or shadows threaten to dim your sight.
Pause and breathe deeply once more of the living air.
Listen for the melody of moving water over stones,
Let your burdened heart be latched by the chorus of woollen wings ascending
Towards some far off promised land.
Have faith that winter too gives way.
The gardener watches,
Waits,
His working wonders just beneath the surface of surrender.
A new life takes root when the timing is made right,
And you will know rebirth again.
As you open your eyes,
May you glimpse your own reflection in each rising blade of grass
Fighting for the light.
Feel,
In that shared struggle,
The hope that makes meaning of all
Mystery in the end.
And when you are ready,
Slowly open your eyes and take a few moments
To reorient yourself back into the room around you.
Have a wonderful day.
