The word cultivate has particular significance and beauty to me. It not only represents the deep love that I hold for gardening but also in a single word it describes the deepest value of how I choose to live: affirming, nurturing and defending what is Good, True and Beautiful.
To cultivate with deliberate intention is an act of choice, courage and creative hope. It is an act of love and a step of faith. By definition it means to break up hard ground, to prepare for planting, to nurture. By practice it means to choose what I focus on, what I invest my life, energy, heart and strength in, and what I then to pass on to others. It also means guarding against those elements that threaten what I have chosen to nurture.
I cultivate as an offering of worship to our Creator and obedience to Him as my God and King. Essential tenets of what I believe are that good will always overcome evil — even when we do not live to see that in this world; Light overcomes the darkness and the darkness will NEVER put it out; Beauty triumphs over destruction; He Who is Life has prevailed over death, and this great Story in which we are privileged to play a part has the very best of endings.
I am inspired by Philippians 4:8 ~
“For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].”
And grounded on Deuteronomy 30:19 ~
“I call heaven and earth to witness this day against you that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life, that you and your descendants may live …”
Life is good. Cultivate it!
The image above is copyright of Lancia E. Smith.
White geraniums and Creme Brûlée petunias are among my favourite flowers
and these are grown with love in our gardens at House on the Way.
Lancia E. Smith is an author, photographer, teacher, and publisher. She is the founder of Cultivating Oaks Press, Cultivating Magazine, and its fellowship of writers and makers, The Maker’s Project. She has been honoured to serve in executive management, church leadership, school boards, and Art & Faith organizations throughout her career.
Now empty-nesters, Lancia & her husband Peter make their home in the Black Forest of Colorado, keeping company with 200 Ponderosa Pine trees, a herd of mule deer, two beautiful black cats, a wild fox, and an ever expanding library. Lancia loves land reclamation, website and print design, beautiful typography, road trips, being read aloud to by Peter, and cherishes the works of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and George MacDonald. She lives with daily wonder of the mercies of the Triune God and in constant gratitude for the beloved company of Cultivators.
Her newest endeavours will be released in the autumn of 2026. Bearing Witness: Conversations with Malcolm Guite, and its companion guide book, Recovering Witness.
You can follow Lancia here in Cultivating, on her website for Lancia E. Smith, and on her Substack Cultivating A Writer’s Life.
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