How often thoughts have been crossing my mind these days – the same thoughts with an underlying current of a common theme: specifically, how difficult and pressure filled all our lives seem to be. How any one of us in any number of given situations are struggling; making ends meet, dealing with family troubles, nursing old hurts, reckoning with illness – the worries are endless. Yet how much of our days’ precious hours are spent enforcing our own wills and controls over our very own life’s garden; indeed, how many of us are furtively planting azaleas in full sun?
Over the years, I have spent countless hours in my very own life garden; vainly, I used to believe that I could keep the growth healthy and vibrant on my nurturing efforts alone. Sometimes, a simple twist of the tendrils and a particular project might even bend to my directive! More often than not, however, I slowly noticed that my insistent nature was no match for the gentle corrections of His Gloved Hand.
Gardening has always encouraged my mind to wander. Some of my deeper thoughts have presented themselves while my hands were dirty and three inches deep in soil; granted, not the most perfect time for recording any profound revelations for seasons to come. Still, the messages clearly repeat themselves often enough: learn to wait; learn to have patience. So now I heed the opening of each season’s blossoms and in His Own Time, take yet another lesson from my garden.