LifeTIMES
A monthly ministry of Lord of Life Lutheran Church of Maple Grove, Minnesota
May 2014
What’s Your Favorite Place on Earth? by Alice Woodard, Director of Worship and LifeGARDEN
L
ast summer, a friend told me that her husband’s favorite place on earth is the deck of their cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota. While sitting there he can relax, watch the sun set, listen to loons, smell the piney woods, feel the cool breeze through the trees, and chat with family and friends. It is calm and peaceful. He feels connected to his parents and his childhood, as this cabin has been in his family for many years and he has spent many summers there. Wondering about favorite places, I conducted an informal poll among my colleagues (aka Lord of Life staff), asking them the question, “What is your favorite place on earth, and why?” Their answers varied from home to cabin to boat to camp to a certain football field in a state to the east of Minnesota. Many mentioned lakes and forests, and several said it didn’t really matter where they were as long as they were with people (or memories of people) they loved.
Like most folks, I’m happiest wherever I am if I’m with my family, who now range in age from 3 months to 93 years. But if I had to choose the place alone, it would definitely be within the gates of LifeGARDEN, the community garden at the northeast corner of Lord of Life’s property. Stepping into the garden, there is an immediate sense of tranquility and order. The large fields are laid out in rows and sections, with a dozen crops growing and producing abundantly. The smaller plots are arranged in grids and each one is as different from the next as the gardeners themselves. There is usually some wildlife about, some of it more welcome than others. Each year a killdeer has built a nest somewhere in the garden and gardeners mark it off and work around it until the babies have left the nest. And the smell—ah, the smell—of garden dirt, herbs, cutting flowers, even tomato plants! The garden is a wonderful place to be alone, to put in an hour’s work, to stroll around and observe how the crops are doing, or just to lounge and enjoy God’s presence in a natural setting. But it is also the place to go to meet hard-working, honest, friendly gardeners who share horticultural wisdom as well as everyday cares. Many new friendships have begun there, and much spiritual, as well as agricultural, growth has taken place. And it’s been said that you don’t have a garden just for yourself; you have it to share. So I’d like to invite you to step into the garden anytime this summer to experience my favorite place on earth. You might even find God there, as George Bernard Shaw once said, “The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for Him there.” Maple Grove Magazine chose our LifeGARDEN as the ‘Best Place to Commune with Nature’ in its ‘Best of Maple Grove’ issue. More details on Page 7 and at lordoflife.org/lifegarden. May 2014 “For me to live is Christ” Philippians 1:21a