My Garden

A few months ago I decided to start a vegetable garden. I had visions of feeding my family of four year round and lovingly supplying my family and friends with my bounty. Well, the pak choi and cucumber came up beautifully – for weeks I had fresh green juice every morning and i gave freely and lavishly to my family and friends. I took special joy in the experience of my daughter Victoria biting into a tomato just picked off the vine and her saying “This is delicious – it’s so sweet”. I had the amazing experience of preparing a salad for the special man in my life – most of the ingredients came from the garden – and watching him savour it.

Then, as suddenly as the bounty appeared, it disappeared! So, I had the gardener sow some more seeds and once again I have pak choi with cucumber and lettuce coming up.

The gardener didn’t come to work yesteday, so this morning I got up and watered the vegetable garden myself. And as I stood there patiently holding the hose, thoughts came up and here’s what I observed:

My life is like the garden. I am a co-creator of my life and as such, I am making choices about the life I desire. So, I am the gardener. I sow seeds (thoughts) and expect them to grow. If I sow too many seeds at a time, some will wither and die from overcrowding. So it is with my thoughts – too much “stuff” running around my mind and some WILL die. But also, the health of what’s left is stunted as well.

I noted that some of the pak choi is being eaten by pests. What are the “pests” in my life? And of course, weeds grow faster than the plants! What are the weeds in my life? My bounty is taking much longer to mature as I am not watering daily. And so it is with my life! Daily maintenance! Maintenance every moment!

And I have also learned that while Marlon, my gardener, is a blessing, I cannot leave the garden up to him – it is my responsibility! And so it is with my life – it is my responsibility! No one else’s. People come and go to help and support, but my life is my responsibility.

The most important lesson though is that I can always start anew. So, after watering, I pulled out all the dead plants, and have made plans to restart the garden – with new learning from this experience. And so with my life – every day I start anew!