Pulling Weeds
“The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses.”
- Hannah Rion
This will be my first little garden… ever. Last summer my husband and my father helped me make a little garden plot behind the garage. It was unused space and it gets lots of sun all day long, so it was perfect. I’ve been pulling up weeds all weekend long in preparation for planting in a couple of weeks (Minnesota gardens are always way behind!) I know that so far it’s just a plot of dirt, but I am already finding so much satisfaction in spending hours tending to my little garden. Solitude recharges my batteries. It nourishes my soul. This morning it was so quiet and peaceful except for a few singing birds and cooing doves, and I just drank in the serenity of it all. The warm sun on my back… dirty fingers and toes… the smell of the rich soil… it was heaven on earth. And such satisfaction! Who would have known that pulling weeds could be so gratifying? And I haven’t even planted anything yet… ha! I’m sunburned and tired, but I can already tell I’m going to love gardening. I really do hope I have a green thumb, though, since I’ve never tried this before. I’m also wanting to learn how to can vegetables and dry my own herbs this fall. And I am looking forward to wonderful organic produce while saving money.
Susan Branch has a page in her Summer Book about her kitchen garden. I love the idea of having a little picket fence around the garden with a border of flowers. And a lovely floppy garden hat so I don’t burn my nose like I did today!
As I was pulling weeds I had a lot of thinking time. Tending a garden reminds me a lot of how necessary it is to tend to our hearts and our spiritual life. The little weeds that pop up in our minds and hearts can so easily take over when we don’t do something about them right away. If we let them continue to grow there, they are so much harder to pull out then when they are small. Sometimes it can be exhausting to continually “weed out” the sins, snares, things of this world, etc. But the more we weed them out, the less they return. Clearing out the those ugly weeds is so necessary to our spiritual walk… because the longer they stay, the deeper their roots go and the harder it is to uproot those pesky things. And they begin to choke out the beautiful and fruitful things in our lives. It’s so important to watch over the affairs and thoughts our hearts. Just a few “weedy” thoughts for today!
“Your soul shall be like a well-watered garden” (Jeremiah 31:12).
Tags: Gardening
“Solitude recharges my batteries. It nourishes my soul.”
I hear ya… me too!!
Looks like you’re going to have a great garden~ I just planted a little tomato & pepper plant this morning. I do more flowers than veggies… but just like getting out there digging around in the dirt no matter what’s growing!
have a super week!
amber.
Yeah, I guess I definitely have a jump start on you in the Carolinas, as I planted out the middle of April. It looks like my plantings that I was talking to you about are doing better where they’re at, so I’m going to leave them be and see how the entire growing season goes. One of my cantaloupes is starting to flower and all of my cucumbers have flowers and are starting to grow up the back wire fence. We shall see! I’ve been taking a little time before work each day when I let the dogs out the back to check everything out and water if needed. It is relaxing. Wish I didn’t have the work deadline every morning though!
I just added my pic to my work email at gravatar.com. I’m leaving this comment to see if it worked on that email. Miss you!
L.o.v.e. it!! I was hoping some of you would add your pictures… I think it’s so much fun! My brilliant hubby figured it out.
one of my favorite ways to describe the spiritual life is with the garden. it’s so earthy and understandable to our minds. good thoughts, babe. thanks.