The Gift of Garlic

I enjoy garlic. That unique spicy flavour is part of my food on nearly a daily basis –as a seasoning for my dried lentil snacks, fried in my eggs for a taste kick, roasted as a spread for crackers, sautéed with onions as a base for soup… garlic. Yum.

So it’s not unusual to find a bulb (or several) sitting on the kitchen counter.

This weekend, however, the bulb on the counter is sitting in pride-of-place.

This particular bulb was a gift: a homegrown bulb of garlic, gifted to me (alongside some snap peas and a squash!).

And so, the garlic has taken on a different meaning. I’ll still use it in the same ways as I would use any other garlic, obviously! This garlic will not go to waste.

But this garlic also serves to remind me of conversations in a friendly relationship; it speaks of companions on a journey together through psalms and prayers; it grew not only from the ground but of sharing book suggestions and life stories and jokes and struggles and celebrations and so much more.

The garlic is a gift of faith and friendship. It is so much more than just a plant, it is a testimony to connection and community.

In a time when we have all endured COVID restrictions and isolations, when we are all at different comfort levels for returning to group activities, when we are re-learning how to be society again, and when we are still hesitant for potential variants and ‘waves’, the garlic is a gift of reaching out – and for that I give thanks to God!