There's a reason I keep coming back to the garden. Every time I'm out there with my hands in the soil, God shows me something about wholeness I needed to hear. I'll go out planning to water a few containers and come back in with a lesson for my mind, body, and spirit. I don't think that's an accident. Scripture is full of seeds and soil and fruit for a reason, because the way things grow in the dirt is the same way they grow in us.

Before a garden yields anything beautiful, someone has to tend the soil. That's true of the ground beneath your feet, and it's true of your soul. Prayer is that work. It is the quiet, faithful act of turning the earth of your inner life toward God- making space for roots to go deep, for fruit to grow slowly, for the Spirit to move in ways you won't always see right away.