By Father Eugene Hemrick | Catholic News Service

Roman Senator Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote, "If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need."

Why is a garden precious?

One reason is it produces life-sustaining food. It can also produce the life-enhancing spirit of beautiful flowers. Most mysterious and even more precious is its secretive powers of growth without which life wouldn't exist.  

Among its other mind-boggling mysteries is watching old dormant seeds come to life when planted. It is as if within them there is a consciousness that knows when to go into action.

Ironically, the smaller a seed is, the more its powers of growth sometimes can be. And too, the way a garden's plant life complements our physical life with the nutrients we need is astonishing.

Capitol Hill in Washington, where I live, is a vast botanical garden adorned with flowers whose shapes and shades of colors are breathtaking. During moments when things look dark, I make it a practice to walk among them and drink in their uplifting beauty. Better therapy doesn't exist!

Horticulturist and botanist Liberty Hyde Bailey wrote, "A garden requires patient labor and attention. Plants do not grow merely to satisfy ambitions or to fulfill good intentions. They thrive because someone expended effort on them."

A reason people plant gardens is the labor and attention they require. But why is this so?

When our minds become jumbled, focusing on something outside of ourselves is an excellent way to regain composure. Ralph Waldo Emerson knew the power of composure well in stating, "Concentration is the secret of strength."

Poet Alfred Austin adds a poetical side to gardening in saying, "The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just on the body, but the soul."

George Bernard Shaw takes us into the divine side of gardening in declaring, "The best place to find God is in a garden. You can dig for him there."

One more reason a garden is precious needs stating: It teaches trust. There have been times I planted with nothing coming up for weeks. The thought would arise, "Maybe the soil or seeds were bad," but as one seasoned gardener counseled, "Be patient, and most of all have faith."

Next time you garden or happen to see one, take a second peek; it contains inspiring lessons that are precious.