A few months ago, an old friend, a college friend, of mine posted a clip of Joni Mitchell singing her anthem "Woodstock."  In posting it, my friend stated that, in this dark age (politically, culturally, and otherwise) listening to this song gave her hope.

     Maybe not all of us believe we are living in dark times.  But all of us can connect to the thrust of Mitchell's song, that we are "stardust and golden," and that we've got to "get back to the garden."
     Are we golden?  Absolutely.  We shine with wonder and marvel.  Are we stardust?  A literal six day creation account notwithstanding, yes, we are stardust, our origins buried deeply in the primordial plasma out of which the cosmos came.  Although we are made in the image of a creator, we are, as countless religious traditions attest, ultimately dust, be it from the earth, the stars, or both.

     Why do we long for the garden?  Amidst the technological and cultural fracturing of our age, we long for an experience of something pristine, something untouched, something beyond the chaotic machinations of our day.  We long for restoration, we long for greater meaning.  And somehow, for many of us, we sense that this is to be found in a garden, a paradise (the Persian word from which the English word comes) of floral verdancy, equanimity and abundance, harmony and rest.
     

    And why not?  Created and personal creatures that we are, we long to be connected with that out of which we came:  infinite abundance.