“Thus the Lord brought the desire tree of devotional service to this earth and became its gardener. He sowed the seed and sprinkled upon it the water of His will.
“PURPORT
“In many places devotional service has been compared to a creeper. One has to sow the seed of the devotional creeper, bhakti-lata, within his heart. As he regularly hears and chants, the seed will fructify and gradually grow into a mature plant and then produce the fruit of devotional service, namely love of Godhead, which the gardener (mala-kara) can then enjoy without impediments.”
Chaitanya Caritamrta Adi 9.9
“Grace, which is charity, contains in itself all virtues in a hidden and potential manner, like the leaves and the branches of the oak hidden in the meat of an acorn. To be an acorn is to have a taste for being an oak tree. Habitual grace brings with it all the Christian virtues in their seed.”
Thomas Merton. Thoughts in Solitude. (New York: Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 1999).
P 20
Thought for the Day
“Actual graces move us to actualize these hidden powers and to realize what they mean: Christ acting in us.”
Thoughts in Solitude: 20.
January 28, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Very nice post. I like these. On the other hand, my next guest blog, this one on “poop” is almost finished…
January 29, 2010 at 5:34 am
My mother’s uncle, who grew all their fresh vegetables had a motto hanging on the wall of his garden shed “You are closer to God in a garden than in any place on earth”
I think gardeners quickly realize that they are at the mercy of the elements and without the Lord all their efforts will count for very little