The other day in the garden at Richmond Hill, I had the joy of working alongside a team of youth volunteers who came to spend Ash Wednesday with us in service to Earth and the community. We focussed on removing invasive plant species- nandina and thorny olive mostly. In the midst of the wild and barbed branches of a particularly wicked thicket of thorny olive, one of the youth found this bird’s nest. What a delightful find!

On days when I’m more focussed on getting a job done than musing on garden finds, I set things aside to return to them later, or I snap a photo. If you visit the Richmond Hill garden soon, you’ll find this nest tucked amongst a pot of blooming daffodils on the patio.

I receive these garden finds as message from my soul or the Divine, but most often a blend of both. They feel like knocks on the door of my busy life, and when I open the door ready to welcome God in, ready to listen to what my soul has to say, I hear a message that was very much meant for me in that time, in that place. Rather than a random bit of nature, it becomes a portal through which I enter into communion with the very fabric of Love that holds us both and grounds us in to a steady rhythm of support.

It never ceases to amaze me how interacting with a bit of nature allows me to tap into what has been stirring within me. Today I asked myself a series of questions and was both astounded and not surprised to hear a message about shaking off old patterns and beliefs, as I’ve been moving through a series of transformations within this theme for several years now. My intention going forward? To notice tension within me that arises when I encounter what I no longer need but feel the need to hold on to, and to trust that I am carried forward, with support at each stage of this process, just as the baby bird was in it’s.

An Invitation to Connection: Garden Finds as Prompts for Reflection

I invite you to consider this nest for yourself. Sit with the photo, allow it to draw you in and open you up to what it may say to you. Then, ask yourself these questions….

What do I see?

What do I feel?

What does it remind me of?

And for further exploration…

Is there a connection between this and what is happening in my life right now?

Is there an intention I’d like to carry forward into my life from this moment?