Work and wait

Hi everyone!  I hope you had a great weekend and are raring to start a new week. I had a wonderful weekend, but I was very busy working outside in the gardens. To many,  gardening is work, but to me, although it is extremely physical labor, it is ENJOYABLE work and even better therapy.  I’ve waited all winter long to begin the week-long task of planting.  My body is aching today, but I managed to get 9 flats, 10 hanging baskets, and a lot of vegetables planted!  There is still much to do, but I made great progress and the weather cooperated for a change. Today I am peaceful, hopeful, and happy.

It is remarkable to me how relaxing and therapeutic it is for me to “create” new beds and color combinations, and plant the annuals. It is physically, mentally, and spiritually uplifting, and for 2 days, my mind avoided much of the daily stress that often clogs up my thoughts. Gardening is so much like my journey and I am empowered as I dig.  The theme for most of the weekend was “work….and wait!”  That, essentially, is what I do each spring and what most of my journey has been. I work to carefully transplant each delicate plant from the nursery pot to its home in a big pot or one of the beds, all the while hoping that it will grow and produce vibrant blossoms or fruit.  It would be foolish to plant with the mindset that, “this is going to die anyway, so what’s the use?”  Rather, I plant with the full expectation that THIS YEAR I will actually get a watermelon big enough to eat; THIS year my lilies will bloom BEFORE the deer eat the buds; THIS year I will manage to keep things watered and protected from the frost (wouldn’t you know it…it’s in the forecast for Weds!); and THIS will be the year that I see the results of my hard work.  So much work…..and so much anticipation……and oftentimes, not the results I hoped for.

So much like our journey!  We work and work….full of determination that THIS time we will be successful. IT would be foolish to begin a journey expecting to fail.  So much hope that THIS time we will resist temptation and manage to keep at it long enough to see the results before we get discouraged. So much effort….and we have to WAIT and WAIT and WAIT…and stick with our plan, even when we don’t see the results for weeks at a time.  So many times we think we can take the easy way out (maybe we buy a big planter already in full bloom), but we still have to work to maintain it. There is no EASY WAY in our journey either. It take work and effort, even when we don’t want to do it; even when we are tired and would rather do something else.

 I went to bed last night completely exhausted, but happy because there was an 80% chance of rain. I was thrilled because I was too tired to water in all the new plants spread ALL OVER THE YARD. Anyone who plants knows that watering in a new transplant is critical to your success, and I was relieved to know that I didn’t have to spend an hour or more watering before I went to bed. Mother Nature would do it for me….or so I thought!  As of 11 pm, there was still no rain and when I looked out the window, I could see stars so the forecasted storm broke apart and missed us completely.  I was bummed!!!  It meant that I would need to water plants right at daylight before I went to work to ensure that they would survive the hot sun.  So…at 6:00 a.m. before it was even light enough to see what I was doing, I was out fighting the mosquitos watering my plants.  WHY?  Because I had already invested a lot of money, time, and effort into the plants….AND…I want them to produce MORE than I wanted to sit in the lazy boy with another cup of coffee.   It’s about MOTIVATION and COMMITMENT. 

Oftentimes on your personal journey you are going to have to do things you don’t want to do…IF….and ONLY IF…..you want to see results.  Sometimes you are going to have to get up early to pack a healthy lunch, or get a bit of exercise in BEFORE you begin the day.  Sometimes, you are going to work and work and work….and you are still not going to see results (in my case, the deer will eat my plants, the frost will get them, or they will just not take root), but I tell you what, you aren’t going to see results if you don’t put the effort into it. I can pretty much guarantee that I won’t have much success if I don’t keep my gardens watered in the heat of the summer. Sure, every once in a while you will get lucky and lose a pound or so during a binge week, in much the same way that some little plant will self-sow and grow all by itself, but those things are few and far between.  Our journey is about WORKING….day-in-and-day-out, putting in the effort whether we feel like it or not….and WAITING to see results, all the while remaining hopeful and confident that THIS time you will reap what you sow!  I have faith that most….but not all….of my plants will prosper and bloom if I continually care for them….and I have faith in YOU TOO…that you will be successful in whatever it is you seek to change….IF you are consistent with positive thoughts and healthy choices. Don’t give up on yourself!!!!  You can do it!