Live a Rooted Life

My mom’s bubblegum petunias.

My mom marked the change of seasons by looking out her picture window to see what was growing around her. She sent emails about the crab apple tree flowering in spring. About her overflowing bubblegum petunias and the tiger lilies in her summer garden. About the neighbor’s cornfields ready for harvest. About the long winters where nothing grew at all.

When I was in the throes of raising four kids, I thought mom’s attention to flowers was odd. Who had time for flower pictures?

I never saw the deeper meaning, the gift my mother demonstrated with her life.

My mom’s life was a rooted life. Not just in people and relationships, but in the land and place where she lived. She paid attention to her surroundings. Those annual markers called her to a deeper sense of belonging, a deeper sense of home.

In Christie Purifoy’s new book, Seedtime and Harvest, she writes:

“A rooted life is not a life in which we never move, never say goodbye, never begin again. Change is inevitable, even for a deeply rooted tree. But a rooted life is opposed to the superficial life, in which we are always skating over surfaces, our way smoothed by an ubiquitous consumerism….

“…But it does not take much to crack open the perfect bubble of a superficial life. Only attempt to grow a container of herbs or flowers by the back door, and you will begin to watch for rain, you will fear the wind that knocks your container over, you will notice the angle of the sun as you adjust your plant for more light, you will observe the smallest bee who comes to visit, and suddenly it matters that you are exactly where you are.

“And—before you even know it—you are rooted.”

This month you are invited to crack open the perfect bubble of a superficial life as you pay attention to the world where you live, in all its unexpected beauty. It matters that you are exactly where you are!

As always, there is a giveaway at the end, so keep reading!

Welcome to Wonder*FULL May.