Come to the Garden

Today I am inviting you to join me in strolling through gardens of faith.

What does that mean?

I am writing a book whose working title is "Flowers From Gardens of Faith"--the same title as the one for this blog.

My intention is to share my journey as I prepare to enter various gardens of faith, and find there flowers of beauty and truth which I can pick to make a spiritual bouquet. These flowers include readings, prayers, quotes, reflections, and pictures---mostly of flowers, perhaps some of temples, shrines, mosques, synagogues, churches, and the like.

I am doing this because I want to provide a resource for many people to use which will offer them the beauty and wisdom of seven of the most ancient and universal of the world's religious traditions, namely; Native American, Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim/Sufi. I want to put these in a daily devotional format that provides for suggested rituals, readings, music, and prayers.

This blog is to "prepare the way" for this endeavor.

I want to begin by posting pictures of "flowers of faith" and quotes that are inspiring me now and , I hope, will inspire you too. If you wish to comment, and have any ideas or resources to share, I welcome your input.

On this first day of this new blog, I am posting a picture of a trillium, which is still blooming on the bank behind our house in Michigan. What does it reveal to you? To me, it reveals a three-fold way of seeing God as the Christian Trinity, the Hindu Trinity, the human trinity of body, soul, and spirit, the trinity of past, present, and future, the Ancient picture of the Upper, Middle, and Lower worlds---and more.

I close with a quote from Wayne Teasdale's wonderful book "The Mystic Heart."

" To be spiritual means essentially to take responsibility for our inner journey, while using all the resources from all the traditions available to us. They are our common heritage; they belong to each one of us. All we require to tap into them is the capacity to do so, the requisite generosity of spirit. These great treasures are part of a universal mystical tradition, and our growth in the future depends on our willingness to integrate them into our own experience." (p. 19)