“he dug his garden or read and wrote and for him both kinds of work bore the same name; both he called gardening. ‘The spirit is a garden,’ he said.”
p. 33
And
“‘Monseigneur, you believe in making use of everything, but this fourth plot is wasted. Salads are more useful than flowers.’
‘You are wrong,’ replied the bishop, ‘The beautiful is as useful as the useful.’ Then after a pause, he added, ‘More so, perhaps.’”
p. 38
Gardening, reading, writing. What use?—to our spirit that it may be nourished to do the useful to this world. We cultivate the ground and the mind that we might cultivate faithfulness. Ps. 37:3
Lingering Over Leaves 