Kathleen and Ron Bailey have had many such epiphanies in their gardens, which are laid out around their home at the foot of what they call Serenity Hill, along Route 401 in Chester Springs.
For them, everything begins with . . . soil.
"The health of the soil is what gives life to the plants and allows a space for deep roots to grow," says Kathleen, a social worker with a master's degree in divinity. "In the same way, God provides for us to allow our spiritual roots to grow deep and strong."
This "soil" is formed by "how we relate to one another, the choices we make in relationships, how we treat each other with justice and compassion, and how we open ourselves to God's influence."
Kathleen Bailey will share her thoughts on spirituality in the garden in a sermon on Sunday at the 9:30 a.m. service at Central Baptist Church in Wayne. A visit to the Baileys' garden will follow.
The public is invited to this and other sermons by the church's gardening congregants on Aug. 19, Aug. 26 and Sept. 2. The idea was conceived by the church's pastoral team, the Rev. Marcus Pomeroy and the Rev. Laurie Sweigard, after hearing some of their members' extraordinary gardening tales.
"Gardening brings you naturally to God," Pomeroy says. "It's very cool."
Carol Kortsch will speak Aug. 26 about her garden along King of Prussia Road in Radnor, an unusual mix of water, rocks and plantings that evoke tranquillity and energy, sadness and joy.
Kortsch, a psychotherapist; her husband, Uli, an international finance consultant; and their three children built a natural pond and waterfall, along with memorials to the tragedies of the Sept. 11 attacks and Kosovo. They are interspersed with wild, romantic flower beds overflowing with the bold colors and tropical leaves of Carol's childhood in Angola.
For all its variety, the look is pure English cottage garden, to which Kortsch has a legitimate claim. Her "Mum" was British.
