Photo was taken at the weekend at Tooreenbawn, Millstreet, Co.Cork (Irl)
A newborn calf gets a little closer to the camera, just wondering what it might be!
Thought on Thursday – January – 26/01/2017
‘When you recover or discover something that nourishes your soul and brings joy – care enough about yourself to make room for it in your life.’ ~Jean Bolen
Whatever gift or gifts you got for Christmas, I hope it was something practical and useful. It is surprising the amount of gifts people get that are never used and get put away never to be seen again. I gave my mum 10 bags of ‘Gee Up’ which is basically horse manure! It is classed as organic and is a beautiful soil enricher. It releases its goodness not all at once but with time. My Mum is big into her gardening and always looks forward to a garden full of colour, particularly during the spring and summer months. She was happy to get her 10 bags of organic horse manure and I was happy to provide such a practical gift.
We were at my sister’s home for dinner at the start of the New Year. She had friends visiting from Cork city and the conversation turned to what we gave each other for Christmas. When they heard that I gave my mother 10 bags of horse manure they were in complete horror and rolled in laughter and amusement that I could do such a thing! The more I explained that it was an investment, that the results will come with time and that the end result will be beautiful colourful flowers, failed to make an impact. They just couldn’t get the concept of giving ‘horse manure’ as a gift to someone! The moral of the story is you just can’t win!
But adding manure to shrubs, plants, flowers and young trees does make sense. The manure slowly releases valuable nutrients that are slowly soaked up. Over time the plant flourishes, it grows, it thrives and it flowers abundantly. There is a deeper spiritual meaning too. Like adding manure, every time we nourish our spirit/soul is time well spent. It can be done in a variety of ways, from a simple quiet prayer, visiting a church, going to Mass, attending a prayer service, going for a walk, taking time to be silent, reading scripture, being mindful and lots of other ways.
But whatever we do it’s like adding the manure. We may not feel the effects right away even though we sometimes do. But the real effects are revealed with time and the flowers/blessings that follow, do make it all worthwhile. Even when hit with a crisis or some challenge in life, we are in a better position to deal with it. Some may say that taking time to nourish ourselves spiritually isn’t worth the effort, but many can and will say it makes all the difference. How are you going to nourish your spirit/soul this week?
