.....lessons from the garden

Yogis,

It’s been an odd spring in the Washington area.  Up until last week it has been unusually cool and very wet.  Extremely wet.  A challenging spring for a gardener to know how to proceed. 

I waited.  I watched.  I considered putting my seeds in…….then paused and waited some more.  Until finally I began to worry that if I didn’t plant soon I would not have a chance to harvest this year before fall set in.  The rains had slowed and we were getting some days near 70.  So in went my string beans and celery along with a few seeds of flowers. And I sat back and waited some more.

And while I waited the rains returned.  Flooding rains.  Standing water filled my garden for days on end, only to be followed by drops in temperature and nights back in the 40s.  Oh well.  Guess I jumped the gun.  I checked the garden daily. 

One week, two weeks, three weeks.  Absolutely nothing.  Bare earth.  Sigh.

So on our first truly beautiful spring day as I weeded and planted some perennials I looked over and decided it was time to re-turn the earth and begin anew.  As I walked across the yard to get my shovel I suddenly heard my inner voice piping up. It was repeating my words to me. The ones I myself use when I teach about faith. 

“Faith means the unwavering trust that your visions will manifest. No doubt. Like when you plant a seed and know the plant will come.  You don’t go out to the garden each day and dig it up to see if it is growing.  You ‘know’ it will. Complete trust.”

And here I was about to dig up the seeds. But that doesn’t pertain to flooding rains that had almost certainly destroyed the seeds, I rationalized. Besides it had been more than 3 weeks. I set my shovel and new seeds on the ground and got down on my knees while I slipped on my gloves. Ready to dig.

And that’s when I saw it.  Wait! This slightest bulge in the ground.  So small and insignificant but my eyes locked on it.  I leaned my head down close to the ground so I could observe from the side.  There it was.  There was no mistaking the horseshoe shape of the stem pushing through so that its heavy head would be able to rise up.  I dropped my shovel, sat down and had a good laugh. 

Sarah……ye of little faith.  You won’t get very far with all of that doubt. 

I needed this reminder.  The garden is a microcosm of life.  It teaches me each and every day.  The bean package told me germination would take 7-14 days.  But the seed didn’t follow that agenda.  It grew when it was ready.  When the time was right.  My role was to care for the soil, water it and know it would come. See it.

Like the string bean, our life visions will manifest when the time is right.  When we visualize what it is that we want to create in our lives, our job is to see it with clarity…..often.  Prepare the soil, watch for the signs to follow, and continually take baby steps toward it, but letting go of all attachment to the ‘whens’ and the ‘hows’ along the way.  Not digging up, but instead letting go.  Complete and utter faith.  Doing your part, but trusting the Universe to do its own. 

And I am pretty darn sure I now am seeing a couple of celery sprouts!

Thank you garden,
SARAH