Welcome to the garden!

I love my gardens. I find it very relaxing to spend time there. Often, when I go to the garden, I listen to music or a pod cast. Today, however, I stepped into the garden and invited God to teach me something. No music, no phone, no technology distractions, just me and the garden and God. It is in these moments, when we free our mind of distractions, that God speaks to us. As I set about doing some maintenance (aka weeding) in one of my flower beds, I asked “God, what do you have to teach me as I work in my garden today?”… and God replied.

Before I tell you about God’s reply, let me say that today I chose to work in my least favorite flower bed. The last time I weeded this bed (a year or more ago) a Garter snake startled me, and I haven’t set foot in it since. It’s a messy bed with hard, rocky soil, and a host of small trees, Creeping Charlie and various other weeds sprouting amongst the flowers and bushes. On top of that, this bed sits at the end of my driveway, near the street, where all of my neglect is fully on display for the neighbors to see as they pass by. This bed desperately needed attention!

Now, back to today’s experience. As I entered the flower bed with shovel in hand, prepared to tame the unwanted growth, it came to me that this garden is a metaphor for life. Life can be planted with beautiful intentions, then something spooks you (in my case the snake) and neglect follows. When we neglect to care for our lives and those around us, we, like my poor neglected garden, can find weeds springing up amidst the wonderful things we were cultivating in our lives. And like my neglected garden, once the weeds take hold, it takes a lot more effort to clean up than if we had chosen on-going care.

I feel like God was saying to me “Keep coming back to your garden, I have a lot to teach you!”

Yes, I am a Christian. Much of what I write will be based on my Christian faith. Don’t let that turn you away from this blog. I welcome perspectives from everyone regardless of where you are on your faith journey. My goal is not to make you Christian; it is to share my experiences and hear about yours. That being said, I am always open to praying for you if you need it. Just ask.

So here I am, a Girl in the Garden, working through the messiness of my gardens and learning things about life as I go. I hope you’ll join me.

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