Monet's Garden

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece”

― Claude Monet – French Painter

I have on my library desk a weekly calendar – Monet’s Passion The Gardens at Giverny.  I feel incredible joy at I gaze the photographs.  Gardens, especially those painted by Monet have been my inspiration ever since I received my first print twenty-four years ago of a little girl in a garden outside Monet’s home in Giverny.  Twenty years ago as I was struggling with a diagnosis of mental illness, I visited Borders Bookstore to browse their bargain section, which was filled with gardening books.  Although I didn’t possess the concentration necessary to read the books, the fact that they were lined up on my bookshelf with titles like Gardening in a Small Space, Window Gardening, Gardening in the Shade, the Well-Planned Garden and Garden Dreams gave me comfort because I was surrounding myself with beautiful gardens and it gave respite to my mind.

Twenty year’s later, my home and walls are filled with the colors of that first Monet’s print – yellows, greens, blues, purples, gold, and pink.  My bookshelf has over thirty-five gardening books, which I now read.   I now know that gardens are a sign of God’s love, promise and renewal each spring when Easter arrives.  Even when I struggled to find God, God was always with me in my gardening books.