My Teaching Garden

I have multiple scratches all over my arms and legs from a lost battle with a stubborn rose bush.  My manicure is now dirt-stained.  There's a blister the size of a quarter on my left palm, the result of some over zealous soil-tilling.  When I try to bend over to step into my jeans or tie my shoes, my lower back screams in agony, reminding me of all those bags of soil and mulch I lugged from the car to our backyard.

But, my flower garden is finished!! And this morning, as I sip coffee on the back deck and gaze out at my roses, impatiens, crepe myrtles and dahlias, I know it was worth every single ache and pain.

I love gardening!  I wrote this post a while back about how I first discovered this wonderful botanical hobby, and I'd love for you to read it if you get the chance.  Gardening actually makes me feel closer to God. I imagine He and I have this partnership going when it comes to my flowers.  I aerate and fertilize the soil, plant and water everything, and He makes it bloom and grow!  Although I DO wish He'd help out with the weeding every once in a while, I have to admit, I think we make a pretty good team!

But as I tilled and fertilized and planted over the last several days, some other thoughts occurred to me, and I'd love to share them with you today:

I think working in a garden is a wonderful metaphor for life. Think about it, in order to get good results, you're going to have to dig in and put your back into it.  It's not always going to be pretty -- you'll definitely encounter your share of manure.  But in the end you'll realize it was a necessary element, and definitely helped to promote growth.

You'll also run into a lot of pests, but you'll eventually learn the most effective methods to control them, and they won't bother you any more.  Sometimes the work will appear overwhelming, but you'll figure out that if you take it one section at a time, deal only with what's right in front of you, then move on to the next, you will get through it all.

At the end of it, you'll be able to stand back and take a good look at all that you've accomplished.  And even though your muscles ache and you bear the bumps and bruises of some tough times, you'll gaze out at the lovely product of your labor and say emphatically, "It was SO worth it!!"

Thanks for reading!!