Hi friends! While I’m still looking for a job I’ve been able to build more structure and routine in my life in the last few weeks, mainly through tending my backyard garden and joining a new church community. Here are a few of my thoughts on these new developments and how they overlap.

I live in a house with a heck of a garden. My mom has lived in this house for 30 years, and we’ve had our garden as long as I can remember. My mom has been a Garden Master my entire life, but in the last two summers I’ve taken more initiative to learn and help grow our beautiful food and flowers. Here are a few observations I’ve made recently.

It’s pretty interesting that lately (like in the last 10-20 years), there’s been an increased interest in gardening, and more scientific and detailed approaches. Don’t get me wrong, more interest in gardening is awesome and optimization is good. But our ancestors just… intuitively knew what to plant when, and they knew to plant a dead fish next to the vegetable patch. They might not have known why, or maybe they did. But the wisdom of gardening has been preserved through generations in various forms, and I think that’s beautiful.

My passion for gardening really kicked in last year, at a different garden. On our family farm, we have a raspberry patch that I, my mother, and my ex spent two days rehabilitating last year. It only two and a half hours to do all of this trip’s required maintenance. I was surprised by my passion last year for removing every last burning weed clogging the patch. The farm itself is large, and lots of people manage different areas. I like having ownership over this small plot of raspberries.

This summer, I’m able to carry that sense of ownership and responsibility back to my own backyard. There’s a serenity in watering each flower pot, hanging basket, and vegetable plot. I wonder whether I’m watering the flowers, or the flowers are watering me. I think the correct answer is just “yes”. And even being sweaty from head to toe is its own blessing; it brings me back into my body the same way a workout does. I’m considering adding some rose bushes in the backyad, so I will always have one of my favorite flowers close by.

I’ve also been re-examining my relationship to the Bible and my Christian faith. I grew up in a Christian family – my grandfather was a pastor, my aunt is a pastor, and faith is a cornerstone of our extended family’s values. I went to a Christian high school and college, and enjoyed both for the most part. I grew up attending Woodland Hills Church for ten years, and I loved it. Greg Boyd is the most scholarly pastor I’ve ever come across, and his passion for making a tangible difference in the world is tangible. We stopped going to WHC in 2020, but I will always have an admiration for the church.

I recently joined a young adult group at Eagle Brook Church, and I’ve also checked out some of the services. It’s fascinating- Eagle Brook is a megachurch with ten campuses and a coffee shop in each, while WHC is a grassroots movement that has a job-training program at the movie theater next door. I don’t mean to bash either church; there are infinte ways to serve God and reach people. But I’m immensely enjoying meeting other young adults and hearing motivational sermons. i may not stay at Eagle Btook long-term, but right now it’s a lovely source of inspiration, structure, and community.

I allowed myself to fall into a lethargic spiral for the last six weeks, but the simple things have been slowly bringing me back: gardening, time with friends, church. There are so many ways to connect with God and others, and I’m happy to be exploring so many options and finding what works for me. That’s all from me for now, but. I’ll catch you on the flip side.