Over the weekend, we worked on the vegetable garden. Ours is about 300 square feet—not too small, not too large—as Goldilocks would say, “it’s just right”.

Just like there are different varieties of gardens, there are limitless ways to plan, plant and maintain them. There have been years when I’ve spent hours planning exactly how I wanted to lay out the garden, then watered at the same time every day and weeded every morning. There have been more years when I simply “put in some plants”, watered when I remembered and let the weeds give the vegetables an awfully good “run for their money”.

There are a lot of parallels between gardens and lives. How we approach a garden—plan it, plant it and tend to it changes the outcome. How we approach our lives—plan it, create it and nourish it changes its outcome too.

What if you could build your own reality—grow it out of your spirit, form it in your mind and then usher it into existence with your heart? What if you could be living, each day, in a world that you envisioned, believed in and fostered?  We have the capability to create what’s most important to us, by our power of choice.

What are you building? When you wake up each day, where does your mind wander? Are you thinking about how you can live into your spirit? Do you have a “plan” for your life—goals that you want to see grow and mature? Have you lovingly planted quality seeds in your life? Did you plant those “life seeds” when the time was right, or did you simply throw them all up in the air and let them stay where they landed?

As plants grow you have to thin them out if they’re overcrowded, give them enough water, and stop the weeds from strangling them. In our lives we need to recognize when the seeds that we’ve planted start to compete with each other—become overcrowded— and then “thin out” what’s become extraneous rather than let them fight it out for dominance.  We have to nurture and “water” the life seeds we plant. It can’t simply be an afterthought.  We need to consistently “remove the weeds” that threaten to choke out our dreams. In order to do that, we first have to identify what the weeds are. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “Every spirit builds itself a house; and beyond its house, a world; and beyond its world a heaven. Know then, that the world exists for you: build, therefore, your own world.”

Build what is beautiful to you.
Create what speaks to your soul.
Nurture what honors you and those you love.

Sure, one year, your garden could fall prey to blight, be ravaged by insects or fight to survive a summer with too little rain. Your vegetables could be “just about ready to be picked” and be eaten by the rabbits and deer. Hopefully, though, you’ve had enough years of “really wonderful gardens” that you survive the drought and have a storehouse of enough good vegetables to hold you over. If you’re really blessed, you may have had so many wonderful gardens that you have the attitude that it’s okay to “share” with all creatures big and small, that your life is full, and that there’s more than enough to go around. That’s what I wish for you this week—a joy-filled, peace-full, beautiful life with more than enough to go around.
Kay

©2016 Peace Full Home/Intentional Living