Life is a Garden
My garden is full of weeds. Some weeds I’ve grown to love, some I’ve learned to tolerate and others I still hate and will always try to pull out whenever I see them. Same thing applies to people and situations. Sometimes once you learn more, you realize that certain plants (or folks) are not that bad and may actually be blessings in disguise.
Dandelions, violets, purple dead nettle, and others are some of the first “weeds” to appear in early spring but guess what? They are also some of the first food sources for our native bees, most of which emerge from tiny burrows under the ground and not from bee hives. So in early spring, maybe even winter, some people are already worrying about their lawns and all the weeds that will “invade” their space, and all the poison they will have to spray to anticipate this invasion, but if they only took a deep breath and a step back, and realized that there is a reason and a season for everything…
So often we want to obsessively control everything, including our landscapes, that we lose sight of a much bigger picture out there. Panic, fear, worry- these are all so familiar to me, but stepping back and analyzing why something is a problem or what it represents/brings up for you can be helpful in deciding how to proceed. Sometimes doing nothing for a little while brings even more clarity.
It’s important to remember that a garden is not meant to be perfect. There are seasons…moments when everything looks great and seems effortless, and there are moments when it seems nothing will work out or stay contained, moments of worry and panic and self doubt and everything in between. We don’t live in a gardening catalogue, it will always be a work in progress.
