Gardening Your Life Series #1

I’ve wanted to write a series on Gardening Life for a while now.  That sounds like I have something really magnificent to say about the process of gardening.  I really don’t.  But after working with my own literal garden and learning things about how it all works I had a thought: 

Life itself is full of all sorts of variety of gardens and we must do our part, our best, to cultivate the gardens given to us.

After chewing on this thought for a while I discovered that in my own life I have several metaphorical gardens of my own:  family, friendships (both near and far), creativie, spiritual, emotional, my own physical well being, learning, etc.  Every “garden” has its own plot of land within me needing special soil and care uniquely made for its constitution.  I feel like this list could be quite long.  Your list can look totally different from mine as well.  That’s the beauty of gardening.  We plant our seeds, whatever they may be, and then we must do our part to nurture the crop.  I have also discovered that at times my various gardens are flourishing while at others they are wilting or even dying.  The leaves droop or the fruit doesn’t come to life.  Sometimes my gardens are overflowing with life and vitality and I could sit and be content with all the colors and flavors I feel with my senses.  The point is, how do I/we do our very best to take care of our individual gardens?

That’s what I will be writing about over the next couple of weeks.

I am not saying that I have the answers only that I want to delve deeper into my crops.  I want to examine my beds and see where they are.  What needs to be pruned?  What needs to be watered?  What needs a little extra attention or perhaps several long hours of work?  What is my role?  Have I done all that needs to be done in order for my gardens to thrive?  Maybe some of my beds need to be excavated and given time before the next planting season. 

As you can see, there are lots of questions and few answers.  I’m okay with that.  I am learning to live in the question.  I am seeing how fruitful experimentation can be.  I don’t have to know the why’s and why not’s right now.  Neither do you.

Let us step into the garden and see how it grows.