By James Julian (From Seeds September – October 2022)

I do voluntary work at Redhall Gardens, which is a SAMH project (Scottish Association for Mental Health) intending to help people with mental health issues.

It is a sacred place to me. It is somewhere I find peace and tranquillity as part of God’s garden.

On the 1st of August, during my tea break, sitting quietly by myself on the bench, I was looking at a flower in a pot, which had a bright yellow centre and pink petals. A bee flew past and landed right in the middle of the flower. It was only a few inches from me. It was beautiful and wonderful to watch God’s little creation moving around at the centre of the flower.

I don’t know how long it was there, but eventually, it flew off. I was left with a sense of how fortunate I was to have had that connection with nature and the little bee. It made my afternoon special along with watering the tomato plants in the polytunnel and the hanging baskets that we had made.

When I received the AUC August News Sheet from Fiona, only a few days later, I realised that God is always with us. Fiona had included a postcard of eight British bees. There was also a little bee on the back of the postcard and a blessing:

May the Spirit bless you …
not with easy roads
but strong steps;
not with certainties and proofs
but with leaps of faith;
not with happiness for an hour,
but peace and joy forever.