What about the soil?
By Shirley-Joy Barrow
"The soil is the greatest connector of lives, the source and destination of all, it is the healer and resurrector." – Wendell Berry.
Watching a TV1 programme called "A Perfect Planet" – a unique fusion of natural history and earth science that explains how our living operates the world, reminded me of the amazing planet we live on. It got me thinking about the earth. I started with the amazing things I see, some of which I can reach out and touch which are alive in my garden, in the soil around me. I began to wonder, what would life be like without the sun, the stars and the moon, without flowers and trees, the organisms, and the crops of vegetables growing in the warmth summer soil? Soil supplies the essential nutrients, water, oxygen and root support that our food-producing plants need to grow and flourish. Soil is a buffer that protects delicate plant roots from these drastic fluctuations in temperature caused by climate change, caused by us.
I thought about things that challenge the earth beneath our feet, earthquakes and volcanoes, hurricanes and tsunamis, droughts and fires. All horrors I haven't witnessed personally, but they have changed my life, and the lives of everyone I know, and many people I will never know.
Our Angels invite us to consider all the good things that we so easily take for granted. Well, we did up until a year ago. How quickly our world has changed, how frightened, how angry, and how frustrated we became. My Angels suggest we ask ourselves - What is good in our lives and what needs to be done? Things are different today and may change again tomorrow. The Dalai Lama said, "The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness." I know I will be practising seeing the goodness around me and finding appreciation for that goodness. Would you like to do this in the coming week? I have a great idea, let us do it together.
Arohanui. Shirley-Joy
