How To Make Your Garden A Sanctuary- Part 2

It’s finally finished! Well, “finished” enough for this year, anyway. You can read about the first phase of our backyard project here: How To Make Your Garden A Sactuary- Part 1.

The rest of the plants are in, and the rest of the mulch is down, and I finally got the couch cushions recovered. It was so much work, but so very worth it! Especially as I have come to appreciate it on a whole new level recently as so much more than a pretty space for hanging out and entertaining.

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Now I don’t know about you, but for me, finding quiet space to spend time alone with the Lord has been the toughest spiritual discipline to make a habit. Life is just so full of distractions, interruptions and noise! Maybe you can relate? Especially during the last few months of closures and kids being home all the time, it seems impossible. I had to get creative about how to make this time happen, (you can read about that here), but it didn’t always work (like this day).

After one such day I was watering my garden after the kids were in bed, enjoying the summer evening air and breathing in the stillness, when I had a revelation. It was quiet out here! I couldn’t hear the kids talking instead of going to sleep, or hear their footsteps getting up for “one last” trip to the bathroom for a drink of water. No phone ringing. Nothing but silence and solitude. I started to rethink the spaces available to me beyond the four walls of my home and realized that my little backyard garden could be my own private sanctuary.

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What is a sanctuary?

A sactuary is a place of refuge or safety. A haven, harbor or shelter. Of course that is what the presence of Jesus is, and he is present with me always, but I am not always present to him. Often I need a little help shedding the distractions of my environment so I can be fully aware of his presence with me. For me, this has become much easier in my garden.

How do I make my garden a sanctuary?

1. Find a space. It doesn’t have to be big or elaborate. My mom used to live in an apartment building with only a tiny balcony. She put a rug, 2 chairs and a planter of flowers out there. The next year she added a little plug-in fountain and an artificial tree with lights in it. It was beautiful, and my favourite place to sit when I went over for a visit. She lives somewhere else now, still with a tiny deck not much bigger than that balcony, and no garden, but her little deck still feels like an oasis, a pretty little spot to drink a cup of tea and unwind.
2. Plant what you like. No need to overthink it! Just plant what you like and see what grows! Last year I waited until the hanging baskets at superstore went on sale, bought 3 and transferred the flowers directly to my planters. Easy peasy.
3. Make a place to sit. Again, it doesn’t have to be fancy. Just a little chair tucked in somewhere close to your garden is enough. It’s just somewhere to sit so your body and your soul can rest.

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The Benefits of Having a Garden Sanctuary

Why have a garden sanctuary? I can pray anytime, anywhere, so why go to the effort of making a designated “space” for it?

I wish I had a quater for everytime I sat down with the intention of having a meaningful prayer time with the Lord, only to be interrupted moments later by children, or the phone, or my own thoughts. Have you ever started praying and half-way through realized you were making a mental to-do list? No? Just me? Alrighty then…

Creating and dedicating a space in your garden for prayer helps to remove some of the noise, chaos and distractions that can get in the way of our connecting with God.

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Here are 5 benefits to creating a garden sanctuary:

1. It helps clear your mind. Sitting in the beauty of God’s creation and noticing what he has made breathes life into the soul. Take a few minutes to appreciate the quiet. Take in the colors and sweet scent. Feel the sun on your skin. Breathe in the air. Feel the breeze. Listen to the sound of bees and rustling leaves.
2. It removes distractions and deterrs interruptions. No ringing phone, background TV or pile of unfolded laundry staring you down. It also has the added benefit of deterring interruptions from my kids. When I am in the garden, they assume I’m working and avoid coming out to pester me lest I make them pick weeds or clean up the dog poop. Suddenly, they are very self-sufficient, thank you very much 😉
3. It reminds us of God’s goodness. Everything God has made he has made for us to enjoy/benefit from. The incredible variety of colors, textures, shapes and sizes of plants alone is breathtaking!
4. Gardens connect us to Jesus. In the gospels, we read that Jesus often retreated to gardens to pray. Why? Maybe for all the reasons above. Maybe for his own reasons, but regardless, there is something spiritually significant about finding stillness and surrender in the beauty of a garden, just as Jesus knelt in a garden and surrendered his life for us.
5. Beauty heals. Did you know that many studies have shown over and over again that spending time in nature has a calming, healing and restorative effect on the mind and body? This article published in Time Magazine is fascinating! One study even found that surgical patients who had a window with a tree view recovered faster, had fewer complications and required less pain medication than patients without a tree view! (This makes me think maybe a Bible Study on the spiritual significance of gardens could be so good…. hmmmm…..)

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And just as an added case-in-point, I went outside with my laptop to write this blog post instead of sitting at the dining room table and was able to write twice as much in half the time it usually takes me, so I guess my office just moved… well, when it’s sunny, at least, lol. I may have to revisit this topic later with some indoor tips for during the winter months, as I definately do not feel the nearness of God outside when it’s 40 below!

Source list for our backyard project can be found at the end of this post.