Monday, May 22, 2006
GARDENING THOUGHTS.....
I’ve been out trimming my roses which is always a pleasant job. Their beauty has been written about in every language and their history is world wide. From the first explorers to just between neighbors, they have been carried and shared to new horizons. People of high status have roses named for them and collecting favorites is a very personal matter. In kings gardens, blooming from a high-rise balcony or just in the back yard, they bring so much pleasure to those who tend them. My grandmother raised them, her children raised them and most of we grandchildren raise them. Always a pleasant memory as we plant, water and cultivate one of nature’s best.
Gardeners are different from most folks and often thought a bit strange. We dig and plant and worry over each little twig until it “takes hold” and begins to show signs of growth. It takes faith to wait out the work that’s going on under ground. Often plants are jerked up and discarded by those of little experience because they appear to be dead. It isn’t what’s on top that tells the story, but what’s going on below surface.
Gardener’s are visionaries for the most part. We plant things that will go on after we’re gone. I remember my mother mentioning how pretty flowers were as we drove by houses in our small town……. “Mrs. So and So” planted those” she would say with a wistful tone. “I remember how she used to work in her garden, always out working in her flowers”……and she would stop talking, lost in her own thoughts. Now I tend my mother’s flowers that used to bloom for her.
Mom took a daily walk among her flowers to see the new buds, pinch off dead blooms and take inventory of tomorrow’s expected blossoms. “I think my wild phlox will bloom tomorrow”……it was always awaited with anticipation. Mom’s hands were so small and gentle as she worked in the dirt around her plants. She never thought of wearing gloves…… “I like to feel the dirt in my fingers,” she would say, as she worked out the unwanted rocks and sticks from her planting.
Oh that we would all plant gardens in hearts around us. A package of love, some seeds of patience….waters of understanding, sunshine of forgiveness and tender care that nothing is stepped on or cut down with careless talk. If only worldly concerns could be worked out like gardens……planted, cared for and watched over with loving anticipation. Those qualities will bring the desired blooms down the road a’ways……..we may never see them but someone else will be coming along to enjoy the view.
Gardening is easy. Be careful what you plant, tend it well and look to God for the rest. Long after you’re gone the fragrance will remain in your garden………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
Gardeners are different from most folks and often thought a bit strange. We dig and plant and worry over each little twig until it “takes hold” and begins to show signs of growth. It takes faith to wait out the work that’s going on under ground. Often plants are jerked up and discarded by those of little experience because they appear to be dead. It isn’t what’s on top that tells the story, but what’s going on below surface.
Gardener’s are visionaries for the most part. We plant things that will go on after we’re gone. I remember my mother mentioning how pretty flowers were as we drove by houses in our small town……. “Mrs. So and So” planted those” she would say with a wistful tone. “I remember how she used to work in her garden, always out working in her flowers”……and she would stop talking, lost in her own thoughts. Now I tend my mother’s flowers that used to bloom for her.
Mom took a daily walk among her flowers to see the new buds, pinch off dead blooms and take inventory of tomorrow’s expected blossoms. “I think my wild phlox will bloom tomorrow”……it was always awaited with anticipation. Mom’s hands were so small and gentle as she worked in the dirt around her plants. She never thought of wearing gloves…… “I like to feel the dirt in my fingers,” she would say, as she worked out the unwanted rocks and sticks from her planting.
Oh that we would all plant gardens in hearts around us. A package of love, some seeds of patience….waters of understanding, sunshine of forgiveness and tender care that nothing is stepped on or cut down with careless talk. If only worldly concerns could be worked out like gardens……planted, cared for and watched over with loving anticipation. Those qualities will bring the desired blooms down the road a’ways……..we may never see them but someone else will be coming along to enjoy the view.
Gardening is easy. Be careful what you plant, tend it well and look to God for the rest. Long after you’re gone the fragrance will remain in your garden………..
Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther
