Anyone who knows me understands that I have a deep and abiding love of gardening. It is what heals my soul, provides stress relief and gives me a sense of pride. I am so obsessed that I sometimes have to remind myself that my family won’t, in fact, starve in the event that the slugs gobble up all my cucumber starts or early tomato blight takes out a plant or two.
One of my greatest garden treasurers is a small collection of Hellebores. This plant is often referred to as the “Lenten Rose.” Every year during the Lenten season, I splurge and purchase one new plant to add to my treasure trove. My favorite is Hellebore Night Coaster – a gorgeous plant with deep, dark flowers.
What is so special about these plants? Is it the fact that, like the Crocus that pops up unexpectedly when the days are still short and wet and miserable, it manages to provide beauty in a time of darkness? Is it that their understated elegance stands alone without being overshadowed because nothing else can be bothered to bloom?
For me, I think the answer is summed up by a beautiful quote from Pope Benedict XVI. “Lent stimulates us to let the Word of God penetrate our life and in this way to know the fundamental truth: who we are, where we come from, where we must go, what path we must take in life.”
I think the garden is a good example of the path – the seasons of change that we experience in life. Like people have done since the beginning of time, I plant in faith.
I take my bare hands and dig deep into the soil and deposit a tiny bit of life in the form of a vegetable seed. With a quick prayer and a little water, I help the seed begin its short life cycle. The little plant pops up, weathers storms, drought, pests and any number of things that should take it down. Against all odds, it produces. After production, it can’t be ignored because it wants desperately to keep growing and thriving. It soaks up the warm sunshine and feeds itself with nutrients from the soil. I eat the fruits of this labor of love and hand out the extra to my neighbors. When I gather enough, I get out my giant pressure canner and get to work so that I can enjoy the harvest later. Some long winter’s day, I will take out the jar from the cupboard and get to appreciate the season of bounty at a time when the garden is quiet and dormant. This small act provides a tiny reminder of how the hope and faith planted during the months of sun carry us through the periods of darkness. When the season is over and the rain returns, I pull the plants, throw them in my compost bin, and go inside to read a book.
While I warm myself by the fire, that little Hellebores is still outside. It soaks up the inches and inches of rain and dreary days. It handles the unexpected cold snaps and inches of snow that make all the other plants wither, die, and hibernate. It doesn’t even seem to mind that I completely ignore it. In the darkness, against ridiculous odds, it decides to bloom. I love the Lenten Rose because it reminds me of God’s abiding love. It is a concrete demonstration that His love remains with us in all seasons no matter which path we choose. It is a love that will carry us through our stormy seasons until we can warm our faces in the sunshine and plant that next set of seeds in faith.
Bio: Christy Freriks is a legal editor who lives outside of Seattle, Washington. She is a wife, a mother of two beautiful boys and an avid gardener who loves to encourage others in the practice of creating sustainable spaces of beauty and productivity.
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