Today We Build

 

They say every day holds challenges of its own. I don't know why 'they' are, but they are absolutely right. Today's challenge is building a garden where no garden has been built before. Today I walk onto a school campus armed with shovel and trowel, soil and cinder in preparation for intense physical and mental exertion.

 

Building a garden is challenging. Working with a school is challenging. Put them together and you face a double whammy. Get passed the forms, files, and red tape and you still need volunteers, staff participation and some strong grit. While the task seems quite daunting and the totality of it rather overwhelming one thing and only one thing drags me from that dark cloud. One thing pressing me to put one foot in front of the other. One thing makes me forget the crazy and get out there; the children.

 

Nothing compares to the smile on a child's face, the wonder in their eye, and the absolute freedom to be completely dirty without consequence. A garden holds the promise of wonder, of miracle, of things unseen and things to be seen. In a garden you are not judged; your clothing doesn't matter. Social parameters do not exist-  a garden doesn't judge. It doesn't discriminate. In a garden, color is beauty and natural is seen through new eyes. Every child has a place in the garden and every child is valued.

 

As I load my shovels and lug my wheelbarrows, the image of giggly girls and burly boys lugging buckets and toting soil pushes me onward. Today, we will unite; we will sweat; we will get dirt under our nails. Today we will chat about seeds and ponder the position of the sun. We will fret over levels and the slope of the earth. We will prepare a place where wonders abound and the glory of the Lord shouts the loudest. Today, we will build a garden.