What's Next?

It is a busy season in my vegetable garden, a season of feasting and watching and waiting

As I was thinking about my garden this morning I was reminded how life is always in transition, just like the garden.  It is never static, always changing, things dying, things growing, doors opening, closing, no pauses, no rewinding.  What happens in the past affects the future trajectory of one's life, just as the work one does in the garden impacts it's future outcome each season.

I love that the earth uses what it has and the things that grow are a representation of that the particular climate and that particular soil in that particular spot and there is such great diversity.  Not all plants grow in compacted clay or sandy soils, not all plants appreciate hummus rich soil either and not all plants grow in cold or warm climates. Nor are the seasons alike from year to year. Every season in my working career is different, with new challenges providing that place that will bring out in me what I need for my future, just the way our gardens progress as they mature.

Each portion of this plant serves a purpose in its season, roots, leaves, flowers, fruit and finally seed.

Every job has it's unique atmosphere or climate to facilitate specific growth for that season.  Being able to recognize what that is exactly may not always be immediately evident and is almost impossible to see if we are bound up in holding on to what we need to let go of in order to grow.  Whether we are able to see it or not does not mean nothing is happening...actually that is when a lot is happening that will facilitate our prospering in our next big growth spurt.

In the garden in winter the roots are still alive, things are happening but we cannot see them, they are growing, extending deeper, wider to be able to take up more nutrients and to support a bigger plant next growing season.  When spring comes and new growth burst forth the plant with these stronger roots can now support the plant as it burgeons forth, flowers and produces fruit for the harvest.  Had we only been looking to what we could see we would miss blessings found only in winter of rest, contemplation, evaluation and planning for the next season.

A fruit for every season and I am waiting for this Trombocino (AKA Zuchetta) Squash to get big enough to eat.

If there is one thing gardening has taught me it is that patience is a most important quality trait for a gardener to have. I may not get to reap the harvest even though I am hungry for it now...but I can wait.  Being able to wait until it is just the right time before biting into that fruit we see on our tree will be far more satisfying than a little instant gratification now.  Those who are impatient do not gain the rich reward of eating the sweet fruit as it is for those who have learned it is far better to wait.  Which are you?

Every year there are containers of plants gone unplanted.  If I had properly discerned this future I now live I would have given them away.

For me another element that impacts what comes next is not what "I think" needs to be done next, but what God wants done next.  Until a few years ago I was constantly running headlong into trouble doing way too much and trusting God too little giving myself a really good case of burnout.  So today I welcome this season with open arms.


Copyright © 2011 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.