Gardening is Life
In 2018, we bought our first home and I, a bona fide city girl, began gardening. I use the term gardening very lightly because those first couple of years I did more killing than growing. I bought pretty plants, put them outside and then proceeded to overwater, underwater, over fertilize, scorch and basically slowly torture each poor plantita. Nevertheless, I persisted. Admittedly, it was mostly because my husband took playful jabs at my black thumb and if we aren't proving naysayers wrong, are we even living? With a little too much pride, I accepted the imaginary challenge to not only plant things, but actually see them through to thriving and abundance. I would become a gardener!
Here I am, in spring 2023 and amiga, can I tell you, I am not so bad at this gardening thing. Even as I type this I have rows of seedlings under grow lights, being nurtured until I transition them out to the elements at the appointed time. I am looking out my window at a container brimming with tulip leaves coming up slowly, announcing the advent of a new season. My clematis is awake from its winter slumber and its vines are slowly climbing and gaining the strength to flower in the next weeks. This is one of my favorite times of the year, spring fighting her way through blustery winds and rainy days with the promise of bright days and warmth ahead. I would say that the best part of all of this is that my husband has acquiesced and acknowledged my botanical prowess. He even buys me gardening gifts. You know you’re onto something when the hubby invests in your hobby. However, bragging rights have paled in comparison to the lessons that God has taught me in the garden. There is much that I can share with you amiga but I will start with the lesson that echoes this season of marveling in the grace that we have received.
The secret to not losing the joy of gardening and how I have gotten better at it is that I expect that I will not get it perfectly. My best laid plans, diagrams, and even hard work weeding and preparing beds has not always resulted in my vision coming to complete fruition. I have made and continue to make mistakes, especially as I try to grow new types of plants. However, it is with each seedling that doesn't make it, every plant that wasn’t sown in the right spot for its light needs - or worse - planted out of season, every bout with powdery mildew disease or yucky cabbage worms that I learn the valuable lesson of how I can do better next time. Sure, there is wisdom to be gained from the courses I have taken in gardening and my favorite gardening YouTubers and these resources have helped me immensely. However, my personal garden has very specific conditions that I have only been able to learn about by not always getting it right. Even now, as I plan which vegetables I will grow this year and which flowers I will steer clear of, it is because I now have experience that has been gained through not always getting it right. The best part? Every spring, I get to start again, a little wiser and steadier on my feet, a little more green on my thumbs. As I grow as a gardener, I will have more opportunities to be imperfect and learn from those imperfections so that I can be better next time. This is a journey and I will never get it all right, yet, there is something beautiful and grace filled about the imperfect journey.
I take this lesson from the garden and apply it to the rest of my life. How many times have I missed out on the joy of living because my circumstances were not perfectly lining up with my plans? I missed out on all that God had given me to enjoy because it wasn’t my version of perfect. There have been so many times that I have seen trials and challenges as a signal to quit when God wanted to use them as areas to teach and strengthen me for the journey ahead. God knows that I won’t always get it right, yet He still calls me His own and beckons me to start again, steeped in the richness of His mercies and the lessons learned.
One of the tools that has helped me as I go from season to season is journaling. I get to chronicle the patterns of areas I need to learn from as well as acknowledge where God’s plans have prevailed and been not what I wanted - but what I sorely needed. I can always go back to these pages and decide what adjustments I need to make, what is meant to grow in my life, what I need to let go of and more than all of that, I get to once again revel in God's presence with me through it all. If you don’t journal amiga, I highly recommend this practice.
Whether it is tending a physical garden or the soil of your soul, I pray that you will receive the grace that is available to you. May you forego perfection for the joy and excitement of letting God lead.
Happy Primavera!
James 1:2-4
Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
