“Learning”
is
a word that, at 57 years old, I relish and embrace. As a matter of fact, the
older I get the more I have an expansive curiosity about the world around me
and the desire to learn about it. My
learning is sometimes random and sometimes intentional, sometimes it leads to
more and more interest and then other times I just scratch the surface and move
on. I am learning to embrace this rhythm in my life and, the more I accept it,
the more lighthearted and playful is my soul.
What I truly love is when my learning comes full circle! For
example, I remember the first time I bought a house and inherited all these
plants and a garden. I frankly couldn’t tell or know if it was a weed or a
flower. As a child I was too busy riding a bike, swimming or playing softball
in the summer to learn about plants or a garden. Except I knew I loved fresh
green beans from the garden and that was just taken for granted. Now the rhythm
of curious learning beset me and my master-teacher was my best friend who
taught me and continues to teach me about plants, gardens, and the art of
canning. And on my curvy path of learning I’ve had success and, of course,
failure but I learned through both methods! The gift my friend gave me was the
love of gardening.
This year I have had the opportunity to share my love of
gardening with some neighbors who bought their first house. As we journeyed
together to figure out what was a plant and weed, why deadheading was
important, and which plants needed and wanted shade I began to see the love of
learning to garden being seeded in my neighbor and my soul sang and skipped
with joy. I also knew a paced learning and tending to the garden would
cultivate motivation rather than overwhelming her with a “learn it all now”
approach. I understood this from the Rule
of St. Benedict, chapter 64: 13, where we are advised wanted to avoid
extremes, in case, by rubbing too hard to remove the rust, we may break the
vessel. When we were working in the
garden one evening my neighbor asked me, “How do you know all this stuff?” I replied, “The same way you are learning,
from a friend who helped when I acquired my first home.” And then I added, “Someday
you will opportunity to teach someone else.”
“Really?” And I replied wholeheartedly,
“Yes!”
This is the joy of coming full circle in learning, but more
importantly the call of the Gospel for each of us – go and make disciples,
mentor, teach, and pass the baton of the gift of your knowledge to the next
generation. St. Benedict intuitively understood the Gospel and discipleship as
important parts of living the Rule. He
called his community a” school of the Lord’s service”. He wants us to learn
from one another. He also refers to his community as a workshop where we use
the tool of good works.
I encourage all of us to look, listen and share generously and
graciously the gifts and knowledge bestowed on us by the Spirit so that we may
experience the joy of giving and the beauty of empowering – soul
gardening.
Trish Dick, OSB
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