Covered In Dirt, Glue and God's Graces

"Weeds are flowers, too, you know, once you get to know them."

- A. A. Milne

"When you see someone putting on their Big Boots, you can be pretty sure an Adventure is going to happen."

- A. A. Milne

    When I woke up this morning, I could barely move my arms or my legs. In a quick second of panic, I wondered: "What on earth did I do yesterday that I .... oh." Then, I remembered. And when I remembered, I thought that physical pain never felt so good. 

    Let's start with the email I got a week or so ago from one of my Sisters. Her email read, "If you can help, just know that you will probably get pretty dirty." Right away I assumed we would be gardening since she is the Sister who loves the garden and the earth more than anyone I've ever met. So, I arrived at the convent at our designated time in shorts and an old t-shirt. I had my hair braid back and had a headband on. Usually when I arrive at the convent I look a little more put together than that but we were going to get dirty.

     Now there was one little thing about my Sister that I had forgotten about. When she pulled out the list of tasks we were attempting to accomplish for the day, gardening was last on the list. Re-assembling the garden benches was number one. I forgot that my dear Sister was very handy with power tools and hardware. I knew then that I was in for a big adventure! Actually no, the realization came after she asked if I had brought with me a change of clothes. This was serious adventure business. 

     We wound up going to the garden first where we spent two hours pulling weeds and bug picking. Sound exciting?! Actually, while it may not be many people's cup of tea, I love it. There is something so wonderful about feeling beautiful, cool, moist dirt between my fingers and toes. As a child, I would dig and dig and dig in my back yard (and then blame the holes on the dog...) because I loved the feeling of being so one with the earth. So, I absolutely loved being on my hands and knees, pulling the weeds. And since I love bugs, bug picking was pretty awesome, too. For a good fifteen minutes, I felt like the nuns in Sister Act when the Convent bells rang their noontime hymns. I felt perfectly nunny. 

     Being in the garden also gave us some pleasant wildlife experiences. When we first pulled up, we found a precious little baby fox. He wasn't shy at all, and just casually went along his way as we entered the garden. We also found a cute little toad chillin' in the weeds so we didn't destroy his little home. And then there was the butterfly garden, filled with buzzing bees and beautiful butterflies! It was soooo wonderful just to be so surrounded by nature and covered in dirt.

      Our adventure didn't stop there, however. We cooked up the veggies we scored from the garden and had a DELICIOUS MEAL! We sat around my favorite table in the kitchen which casually was filled with other sisters as they came and went. I just love that table so much! 

      Soon enough, our energy was being put into moving boxes and boxes and boxes of stuff from the second floor to the basement simply because there was an extra set of "young legs" in the house and the elevator has been broken for weeks (that's a whole other story...and i'm soooooo upset the elevator is STILL broken). So, since some of the sisters are moving around, we helped them out and it was, of course, great!

      Finally, our adventurous day took a turn for manual labor. Yes, my friends, sister and I reassembled from pieces the two benches that used to be in the garden outside. We were literally using so much wo"man" power with our use of hardware and power tools. Yes, I realized that even in the convent, it's good to know how to do a "man's work." Pshh...please, I can use a nail gun better than my dad and he knows it!! So, after two hours of gluing and piecing together, we had ourselves two almost brand new benches. I've never felt like I had accomplished so much in one day.

      We ended our adventure in Chapel, covered in dirt, glue and God's graces, by praying evening prayer together. We spent most of our time in Chapel laughing during our faith sharing at all the funny things our psalms said that matched what we did that day! Yes, it truly was so beautiful. I never truly expected being given the opportunity to discern over manual labor and gardening, and yet, I had such a wonderful experience. God used the dirt and glue to show me that even if I don't realize it, I'm covered in it, and I'll always find more on myself somewhere, just like God's graces. They stick to you and get into the tiniest crevices...like the heart.