Spring into Spiritual Growth

The Focus here at the Verbal Herbal is typically on physical and mental health and rarely addresses the importance of spiritual health. However, in order to live a truly healthy life, one must be balanced in all 5 areas of health: physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual. Spring is a wonderful time to take inventory of your spiritual stance and progress. In spring, as the world continues to grow and blossom around us, it is important to make sure the seeds within have been planted and continue to grow as well. 

In the book “The Circle of Life: The Hearts Journey Through the Seasons” the authors, Joyce Rupp and Macrina Wiederkehr, list “Questions for individual reflection” for the springtime. I recommend taking the time to contemplate your answers to the questions below. If you find you do not like your answers, Spring is a wonderful time for growth and change in all aspect of one’s life.  

1. What is the condition of your spiritual flower bulb? 
2. Who or What has planted you in the rich soil of growth? 
3. What helps you to wait with hope when growth is gestating in you? 
4. What is now blooming in your life? 
5. Can you sense anything that continues to be in the darkness, still awaiting birth? What might this be?  

Sources: 

Rupp, J., & Wiederkehr, M. (2005). The circle of life: the heart's journey through the seasons. Notre Dame, Ind.: Sorin Books.

Springtime

Springtime

Teardrops of Growth

April is soaking the world

with her spring tears.

They patter softly on the roof, 

clinging to the silent windows.

Gently they fall into soil

diligently turned 

and ready for watering.

A touch of sorrow and joy

mingle in the wet spring air. 

One part longs for sunshine,

the other accepts the patter

of April's mournful tears,

knowing this is what opens

hard shells of waiting seeds

and urges them to grow.

A patch of waiting soil in me

has also been turned over.

It, too, fights April teardrops

but knows it needs them

desperately. 

So much in me has yet

to accept

the waters of discomfort 

and disconnect

that come without a beckoning,

urging me insistently to open up

and grow.

So much in me has yet 

to be nurtured, broken open

and set free.

by Joyce Rupp

This poem resonated with me when I first read it. It reminds me that cleansing tears of rain not only encourage growth of the world around us but can also foster development of an internal and personal nature. This is so clearly demonstrated in springtime. Spring is a time for reawakening and growth; a time to shed the inactivity and inward contemplation of winter in exchange for the rising upward movement of energy and life. It is a celebration that we have survived icy desperation and as a reward, the world around us will grow and support life once again. 

Spring is also a transitional time for our bodies. The renewed light helps our metabolism to reawaken, but it is important that we provide the proper nutrition and healing to our system so that we can remain balanced in this time of change. Over the next few weeks, I would like to address issues associated with spring; including ways to detoxify for spring, green smoothies for the green season, ways to stop spring allergies and more. Follow the Verbal Herbal so your health can blossom with the flowers of spring!

 

Sources:

Rupp, J., & Wiederkehr, M. (2005). The circle of life: the heart's journey through the seasons. Notre Dame, Ind.: Sorin Books.