A Leaf between my Toes: Finding Wonder

My garden was so lovely
this morning
but I couldn’t linger.
I returned to it
just now
after a shower of rain,
walking the grass
in bare feet,
saying hello
to the new flowers
while leaning
into the wet leaves.
I came back to the house
with a leaf between my toes
and a freshness in my heart.

Published by Onwards & Upwards Publishers
Available from Janeupchurch Books
or Contact Jane

Wonder is a discovery that transforms a dull day.

It enlarges our hearts so that they fill with the qualities we honour. It is a link with what is sacred, a way of worship. If we take time to notice, to listen, to wonder, we are called out of ourselves. It can happen as we drive to work, or sit quietly at home. It can happen on holiday, or as we walk the dog. It can happen in our garden.

Jane Upchurch’s insightful pieces flow naturally from a heart of wonder as she observes the natural world around her. From her ‘garden sanctuary’ she shows that the gifts we take for granted often hold secrets of remarkable wisdom.

Jane’s writing links a love of this planet, its rocks and oceans, trees and bees, with awareness of the intimacy and wildness of God. It is a way of growing closer to the things she writes about, it is a way of growing in love.

To use Jane’s own words, her writing is a bit like her garden, ‘tended and loved, but wild at the edges’. Her pieces are deceptively simple, manifesting as imaginative and thoughtful descriptions of the nature she observes with wonder and love, but they have a way of creeping up on your deeper senses and surprising them with profound insights about life, the world and God. This is a book to be savoured, truly a place ‘where the mundane and the sacred meet’.

Penny Pedley, Adviser in Ministry & Development, Willesden

Read pieces from A Leaf between my Toes