Abbey of the Arts

Transformative Living through Contemplative & Expressive Arts

  • Welcome
    • Prayer Cycle
      • Introduction to the Earth Monastery Prayer Cycle
      • Day 1 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Cathedral
      • Day 2 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Scriptures
      • Day 3 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Saints
      • Day 4 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Spiritual Directors
      • Day 5 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Icon
      • Day 6 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Sacrament
      • Day 7 Morning & Evening Prayer:
        Earth as the Original Liturgy
      • Prayer Cycle Leader Resources
    • About the Abbey
    • About Christine Valters Paintner
    • About John Valters Paintner
    • About the Wisdom Council
    • Monk Manifesto
    • Join the Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks
    • Subscribe to Our Love Notes
    • Website privacy notice
  • Books
    • Sacred Time:
      Embracing an Intentional Way of Life
    • The Wisdom of Wild Grace: Poems
    • Earth, Our Original Monastery:
      Cultivating Wonder and Gratitude through Intimacy with Nature
    • Dreaming of Stones: Poems
    • The Soul's Slow Ripening:
      12 Celtic Practices for Seeking the Sacred
    • The Wisdom of the Body:
      A Contemplative Journey to Wholeness for Women
    • Illuminating the Way:
      Embracing the Wisdom of Monks and Mystics
    • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
      Eight Practices for the Journey Within
    • Eyes of the Heart:
      Photography as a Christian Contemplative Practice
    • The Artist's Rule: Nurturing Your Creative Soul with Monastic Wisdom
    • Desert Mothers and Fathers: Early Christian Wisdom Sayings Annotated & Explained
    • Lectio Divina–The Sacred Art: Transforming Words and Images into Heart-Centered Prayer
    • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire: The Christian Practice of Praying with the Elements
    • Awakening the Creative Spirit:
      Bringing the Arts to Spiritual Direction
    • Lectio Divina: Contemplative Awakening & Awareness
  • Poetry | Art | Music
    • Music + DVD
    • Poetry by Christine Valters Paintner
    • Poetry Videos
    • Dancing Monk Icons
    • Other Art Collaborations
      • Monk in the World art series by Kristin Noelle
      • Saints & Animals art series by David Hollington
      • Sacred Time art series by Alexi Francis
      • Mary block print art series by Kreg Yingst
  • Programs
    • Live Programs: Pilgrimage & Retreats
      • Monk in the World (Ireland)
      • Writing on the Wild Edges (Ireland)
      • Vienna Monk in the World (Austria)
      • Hildegard of Bingen (Germany)
      • Awakening the Creative Spirit: Experiential Education for Spiritual Directors in the Expressive Arts (Northwest)
    • Lift Every Voice: Contemplative Writers of Color Book Club
    • Community Online Retreats
      • The Spiral Way:
        Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination
      • Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Lent 2021)
      • Dancing with Fear in Troubled Times
      • Novena for Times of Unraveling
      • The Two HT’s-Harriet Tubman and Howard Thurman-on Being Free
      • Writing Into Bloom
        with Christine Valters Paintner
      • Sacred Time: Embracing an Intentional Way of Life (Spring 2021)
      • Poetry and the Sacred Garden of the World:
        An Online Writing Retreat
    • Self-Study Online Spiritual Retreats
      • Creative Flourishing in the Heart of the Desert:
        An Online Retreat with St. Hildegard of Bingen
      • Dreaming of the Sea:
        A women’s discernment journey through the story of the Selkie
      • Earth, Our Original Monastery
        A Companion Retreat to the Book (SELF-STUDY)
      • Exile and Coming Home:
        An Archetypal Journey through the Scriptures
      • Eyes of the Heart:
        Photography as Contemplative Practice
        (Companion retreat to the book)
      • Honoring Saints and Ancestors:
        Online Retreat for the Season of Remembrance
      • Lectio Divina:
        The Sacred Art of Reading the World
      • A Midwinter God:
        Making a Conscious Underworld Journey
      • Sacred Rhythms of Sky, Sun, Sea & Stone:
        A Creative Retreat with the Elements (SELF-STUDY)
      • Sacred Seasons:
        A Yearlong Journey through the Celtic Wheel of the Year
      • The Soul of a Pilgrim:
        Eight Practices for the Journey Within
        (a companion retreat to the book)
      • The Soul's Slow Ripening: 12 Celtic Practices for Seekers of the Sacred (a companion retreat to the book)
      • Water, Wind, Earth & Fire
      • Watershed Moments
        in the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures
      • Way of the Monk, Path of the Artist:
        A 12-Week Companion Retreat to The Artist's Rule
      • The Wisdom of the Body:
        A 10-Week Online Companion Retreat to the Book
      • The Wisdom of Mary and the Sacred Feminine
  • Calendar
  • Reflections
  • Contact

Monk in the World Guest Post Series

Monk in the World Guest Post: Kimberly Knowle-Zeller

I am delighted to share another beautiful submission for the Monk in the World guest post series from the community. Read on for Kimberly Knowle-Zeller's reflection on weeding for life.

I’ve never been a gardener. But don’t say my mother never tried to cultivate a love of the dirt and growth and soil and plants. She tried her hardest. She lived in the garden and hoped her daughter would similarly follow suit. Yet, I’ve heard her repeat over to me, “You barely pulled one weed growing up.” Perhaps it was the hard work. Or the heat. Or my impatience.

But I didn’t pull many weeds nor did I plant much as a child. So the fact that I have a garden now is quite amusing to my mother. And to be honest, it’s pretty amusing to myself as well. Because I still am impatient. I still run away from hard work at times. And I still am not a fan of the heat. But gardening I am.

In the interest of full disclosure, my mother actually planted our first bed of plants. She created the raised beds. She weeded. She watered. She nurtured. Then she went back home to Ohio. Leaving us with our new garden and the work of nourishing the plants. To my surprise, I found myself weeding at night. After our daughter was in bed and the heat subsided I would go and weed. I would pull and pull some more.

With all this rain, there have been plenty of weeds. I hear my mother’s voice, “A weed isn’t bad in and of itself. A weed is just that which we don’t want.” The weeds in my garden are those plants that aren’t life giving to the rest of my garden. They are getting in the way of full growth for my strawberry and tomato and pepper plants. Many nights I keep pulling. It’s a never ending task. I remove the weeds to make way for more growth that is sustaining.

One night as I weeded, I thought to myself, “What are the weeds in my life that I need to remove?” What are those things that aren’t necessarily bad for me, but are keeping me from truly living?” Too often I have too much and I’m not able to remember that nothing belongs to me. Too often I fail to remember that everything is a gift from God. Too often I recite the Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread,” and I forget that my neighbor, too, needs daily bread to survive. Too often I give to Open Door Food Pantry that which I don’t want and that which is left over rather than giving from my abundance. I have plenty of weeds that are keeping me from really experiencing life.

When I pull these weeds each night and reflect on what I have, I get uncomfortable. “From everyone to whom much has been given, much will be required; and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, even more will be demanded” (Luke 12:48).

I pull and pull and pull some more. I have been given much. I have been entrusted much. In shedding my attachment to things and stuff, in removing myself from the busyness and the drive to compete and gain notoriety, I begin to see myself as God sees me — a loved Child of God. When we’ve been stripped down to not needing to be defined by what we’ve accumulated, then, only then, can we really see ourselves and our neighbors for who we are — children of God. Nothing more and nothing less.

Much of the time my thinking of how much stuff I have is just that – thinking. But it’s a start. Maybe it’s enough to keep pulling those weeds. Giving thanks for the One who sustains all of life. Maybe it’s enough to sit and rest in the garden. To be still and know that God is God. Someday soon, I pray, I will start pulling those weeds in my life that are keeping me from fully living and loving and serving. For I know that my life and the life of my neighbor depends on it.


Kimberly Knowle-ZellerKimberly Knowle-Zeller is an ELCA pastor, spouse of a pastor, and mother to a one-year-old.  She currently lives in Cole Camp, MO. In her free time, Kim enjoys serving on the board of the Sedalia Area Farmer's Market.

 

 

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Leave a Comment September 28, 2016

Upcoming Programs

The Spiral Way:
Celtic Spirituality and the Creative Imagination

Hosted by the Rowe Center
February 1-21, 2021
with Christine Valters Paintner, PhD

Journey with the Desert Mothers and Fathers
Retreat for Lent 2021

February 17-April 1, 2021
with Christine & John Valters Paintner and Betsey Beckman

Recent Reflections

  • Celtic Spirituality and the Spiral Way ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 3: Ní heolas go haontíos ~ by John Valters Paintner
  • Humility + Join us today for live prayer! ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess
  • Hildy Tales 2: Tús maith leath na hoibre – by John Valters Paintner
  • New Book Club for 2021: Lift Every Voice ~ A Love Note from Your Online Abbess

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