Spring Seeds

There is nothing I enjoy much more than sowing seeds in late winter and then watching them emerge from the cool spring soil.  To be honest I get a little drunk on visions lush greens or climbing vines loaded with yummy fresh produce.  There is no anticipation better after the winter season I think.

This year I find that I am being afforded the opportunity to teach others how to sow seeds as more and more people are needing or wanting to grow their own produce.  What a delightful endeavor to teach someone to sow seeds that may, Lord willing, bring forth a bounty of fresh produce for their table.

It is however funny to me to see how many people have never sown a seed of any kind.  Funnier still that they are afraid to even try sowing seeds, afraid they will fail and the seed not grow, afraid of doing something wrong.  I've never had that problem.  My angst is that I will sow the seed and then the weather will turn and the newly sprouted seedlings will freeze or the seedbed will dry out because of a warm windy day and my labors will be ruined as my little seeds, die a horrible death. It crushes me to see my seedlings fail.  In spite of this till I push forth every year with the same hope and determination and a desire to be more mindful than the last year.  And when those little baby leaves emerge I can appear a bit crazy as I dance around the beds, cooing over these tiny seedlings.  Yes I do love my little seedlings.

I remember the first year I really gardened on my own.  We had just constructed a beautiful raised bed area in our front yard and I sowed all kinds of seeds.  It seemed that everything I sowed grew with such joyous abandon I was immediately hooked!  That was the first and last all out success with seeds I ever had and it changed my life forever I think.  May I also state for the record that I am thoroughly convinced that it was God's doing not mine.  I had no idea what I was doing. 

This season as I sowed the seeds for my garden and thought of how good or bad things went in years past, I was reminded that it is indeed God who brings forth the harvest...not me.  This truth has given me great pause to give thanks and actually be able to relax a bit more than I have in a long time.  I am only human after all, I make all kinds of mistakes all the time.  And you know what?  Somehow things still grow.  Isn't that just amazing?

Copyright © 2010 by Patty Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.

Ignorance and anxiety.

                                                        Moss invading Lavender

I am sitting in my living room thinking about all the things on my list that need to be accomplished before the week's end.  Running in the background of this list is another list...all the things I need to get done before the Spring growing season really takes off.  I go through this every year.  It never changes.  The only difference now is I don't need a list of what needs doing in the garden.  I've rehearsed it in application so many times its automatic.  Oh to be ignorant again.  To sow seeds for the first time and watch in amazement as they come up and not be filled with the "what I must do next" thoughts.  It seems that acquired knowledge has created anxiety.  Hmmm...

I say this with a certain guardedness because I know that no matter what I do, if God does not bless this work it will fail.  I've had a lot of failed attempts at things in the recent past.  I really wonder why at times.  Am I doing something I'm not supposed to or is there something I'm being taught by God that I will be able to share with others later.  Or did God somewhere back there tell me to stop trying and am I just being stubborn and continuing to do what I should not be doing and that is why the failure. Whatever it is I do know that nothing is lost in God's economy of things and I can at least share with others what I learn and pray I am paying attention to what God is trying to teach me.  So why be anxious if God is the one who blesses what we do.

So again...I am hearing the litany of my garden to-do list running in the back ground.  My body gets tense with the thought of it all.  Be anxious for nothing..I remind myself.  Once again I desire ignorance.  It is bliss, at least for a season.  But better still is to be able to shut off the anxiety and breath knowing that everything has its season and if something doesn't get done the earth won't fall off its axis.

"Patience pays the gardener." I've told so many people this.  Time to take my own advise.  So I take hold of my thoughts and surrender this list bound up in the chords of anxiousness and give them to God.  This will help me to take care of what "really" needs taking care of today...bring rest to my soul, my mind and my heart.  For today has enough cares of its own and God knows what the future holds.  So I'll put my trust in Him for the rest.

Copyright © 2010 by Patty Hicks

All rights reserved. No part of this blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review. All reviews must include author's name and a link back to this blog.