Gardening

At our get-away cottage, we have a fence that runs along the property line on both sides of the back yard. When we bought the house, the fence on the north side ran right against the grass and was just the perfectly location to start a shade garden. I had envisioned a row of hydrangeas growing along the fence and so I dutifully edged out a bed, turned over the dirt, and planted my propagated hydrangeas.

Unfortunately, all the plantings in that bed have not taken. Now after several years of planting other hydrangea plants, I am wondering about the soil. I’ll need to have it tested (which I should’ve done in the first place).

This past Sunday we read about the parable of the sower. The sower spread seeds on rocky, thorny, and good land. It was only on the good land that sustainable growth occurs. It occurred to me that if the sower wants to have a sustainable crop, she has to prepare and tend to the soil in order to receive and grow the seed. I think of how many times we want to skip the tending step (ok, namely I want to skip steps). I want to go right to the reward of the beautiful flowers rather than working through the preparing, planting, weeding, and tending the space.

As our priest was sharing her sermon about the parable, I started thinking about the preparation and process that we need in order to be ready for any growth, whether that is growth in our spiritual, emotional, mental or even physical lives.

Test the soil: See what pH you have and if you need to do anything to augment it. Starting new endeavors sometimes requires a test run. We might need to give ourselves a set amount of time (six months, one year, etc) to see if the new endeavor takes hold, if it is really for us or if we are truly called to it. Other we might need to find out more information about what we want to do.

Prepare the beds: Turn over the soil. Get rid of weeds, roots, or stumps- anything that will impede the development of the plant. Sometimes it is getting rid of habits, certain harmful relationships or even physical “stuff” that prepare us for receiving something new.

Add compost: Compost is taking that which is discarded and seemingly worthless and letting time turn it into black gold. What have we experienced in the past, that which might seem worthless, discarded or rotten could possibly become something that prepares us for the new future.

Know the plants: Right plant for the right growing situation: Like knowing the soil, it is good to know ourselves and what we need to flourish.

Water and fertilize: Generally we can’t just stick plants in and watch them grow. We have to provide nutrients. To keep them from getting parched. I think of our spiritual life. We need to keep watering and fertilizing our knowledge of God through the reading of scripture and through prayer. We need to be connected to God so that when times are tough, we have a foundation to see us through.

Weed and Deadhead: Usually a weed makes it self known quite early in its growth process. That is the time when it is easiest to remove it. But one needs to be vigilant and to observe and remove it in a timely fashion. Same with removing spent blossoms- in doing so one can reap the reward of a second bloom.

Enjoy the bounty: Nothing makes my happier than to see a jumble of cut flowers from my garden spilling out of a pottery jug. The colorful flowers remind me to enjoy and celebrate every moment, for their blooms are fleeting.

Put the garden to bed: As the seed and plant finishes its cycle for the season, it is time to let it rest and rejuvenate. There are times when we may not seem to be growing but the fallow season of rest is just as important as the growing season. Shrubs and trees planted in the fall use that fall/winter season to grow deeper into the ground. We do not see any growth above, but much work is being done to establish roots.

What about you? What kind of soil do you cultivate? Are you producing good plants in your life? If not, what do you need to do?

The one thing about gardening that I always have to remind myself: it is an organic process. Just like life. While I might strive to get it right each season, there is always something that I will learn, need to correct, or figure that I will just try again.

A Fork in the Tree

These last couple of weeks we have been spending time with our one son before he embarks on the journey of medical school. It has been an enjoyable time. One day, we took our dogs and hiked through the beautiful mountainside of Catoctin Mountain Park.

Hiking along the trail we came across a tree. It had grown in a split fashion due to an adjacent tree falling into the two shoots of the main tree. The park ranger or whomever cleared the fallen tree from the trail must’ve cut it off but not removed the dead tree completely. Consequently the living tree continued to grow but just grew around the approximate two foot branch. It looked like a thorn in the flesh of the tree.

I was struck with the analogy of life. Sometimes for no fault of ours, things fall or land in our growth path. We might have been going along and then, either a storm of life, negligence on someone else’s part, poor maintenance or just an accident- things fall into our path and could potentially take us down.

What I liked about this tree was that the tree just continued on- growing around the offending branch. The “thorn” became part of it. In fact, it distinguishes itself from any other tree in the woods by its scar of the thorn. Of course, the tree cannot remove the fallen branch- there had to be some type of help.

I think of different situations in my life and in the lives of friends and acquaintances. Are we defeated by our thorns or distinguished by them? Does the thorn define us? To set us apart in a good or bad way? Are we growing despite the thorn or are we at a stand-still? Has the thorn stunted our growth or even more tragically, caused our death (spiritually, emotionally, relationally) in some way? All our experiences, whether we acknowledge or not, shape our growth and trajectory.

What about you? Do you have a thorn in your life? How is that impacting how you live? Do you need someone to help you remove the fallen tree, to cut the majority of it out of your life? Can you leave the thorn in place and continue to grow? Is the thorn stifling you?

Which way are you going to go if you have a fork in your tree?

More arduous a trail than expected but our final leg brought us to this stream…

The Growth of Forgiveness

Last week I heard the story of Mary Johnson.  She is a remarkable woman who forgave the young man who shot her son.  In fact, she founded an organization, "From Death To Life" with the mother of the killer and she calls that young man, her spiritual son. 

I cannot even fathom what emotions she went through to get to this place of forgiveness much less to a place of reaching out to others.  But it gives me hope.

The part of the story that encourages me is that only after she went through the process of forgiveness and only after she had established her organization was she able to move on.   At one of her speaking engagements, she met a gentleman who had reluctantly attended her talk.  He had lost his son to murder as well.  They connected through the common ground of loss and forgiveness and developed a relationship.   

Who knows if Mary would have found Ed regardless of the circumstances in her life, but certainly his and her path converged after their individual tragedies.  Mary and Ed wed in 2015 and her spiritual son was a part of their wedding. What a story of redemption of loss.   

I love the stories of beauty coming from ashes.  It reminds me of the stories of the plants that grow and in some cases thrive in the aftermath of a forest fire.  Such are the pines of the northwest. Their cones are very thick and hard and do not release their seeds easily. It is only through the heat of the fire which melts the containing resin that allows the seeds to be released. It is then that new plants can grow. 

There are other plants, such as mules' ears and iris which store their energy in their bulbs and roots.  When the fire decimates the landscape, these plants thrive in the nutrients produced by the ash and are one of the first to bloom. 

These stories remind me that there can be redemption out of destruction. Certainly there is loss, no doubt about it, and it is significant.  But, we don't have to stay in the place of loss. We can find the beginnings of growth and a new future. 

What about you?  Are there things in your life that are preventing you from growing or blooming? Is it due to a devastating tragedy or extremely difficult situation?  Has it paralyzed you with bitterness?  Do all you see is destruction and loss? Can you see a glimmer of something good that might have arisen?  Is there any hope of forgiveness?