Yes, gardening is hard work. I've been working on cleaning out all the beds for about a month now at the rate of 30 minutes to 2 hours per day at least 4 days per week. But it's worth it when the flowers bloom in the spring, summer, and part of the fall.
Friendships take year round effort and a lot of patience as well. I was contemplating this one day and wrote the article below:
Cultivating Gardens and Friendships
My students and I took the weed infested edge of a field and turned it into a garden. We learned about growing things from seeds and planning the layout of a garden, the two objectives of the science lesson. However, I learned much about the hard work of cultivating the soil as well.
The first year I thought I effectively cleared the weeds from a square yard of ground, and my class planted twelve marigold plants we had started from seed in the classroom window. They grew and bloomed with the help of water laced with Miracle Grow, but I continued to fight weeds all spring.
The next year I prepared a larger rectangle and worked harder to dig up the roots of those weeds. They extended about two feet into the ground and were as thick as the handle of my shovel in places. I toiled many afternoons digging and hacking at roots. When I thought I had done the best job humanly possible, I worked in a large bag of peat moss and three bags of top soil. We did an experiment with live worms and then released them in the garden to aerate the soil. My young gardeners helped me plant seedlings of marigolds, nasturtiums, and zinnias. Then came the rabbits. Nasturtiums are supposed to be good in salads, but I never found out because the rabbits ate them almost before the children had the opportunity to see them.
The next year I read that rabbits don’t like wild onions. The sixty second graders at the private school helped me enlarge our plot. We dragged rocks from the playground and used them to outline our garden. Along the back edge there were wild onions transplanted from a friend’s yard. Marigolds formed diamond shapes around two beds. One contained alternating carrot and radish plants. The other contained three types of herbs. That was the year of the late freeze in March. I thought I’d never collect enough cans and cartons to cover the seedlings we had already planted, but somehow the second-graders and I protected our plants. That year the school won a beautification award from the city, and our garden was listed as one of the reasons.
Establishing a garden from ground long uncultivated took work, sweat, and some money. It took a lot of time, and we never completely eradicated those weeds. But the reward of watching the students smell the flowers and herbs and eat the carrots and radishes they had grown was well worth it.
Building a friendship is much like cultivating that unused land. It takes work to get below the surface of the mask we show the world. It takes much time spent with someone to uncover the barriers that keep a friendship from taking root. When the seedling of a relationship is established, the work is not over. We must water it with appreciation and attention. Neglected friendships seldom bloom.
After a friendship blooms, new weeds may surface and try to choke out the beauty that is just beginning to emerge. Hurt feelings, mistrust left over from a failed relationship, strong differences of opinion can whither a friendship if not dealt with swiftly and in love. We cannot abandon the friendship at the first sign of a difference. We must seek to love each other as our Lord commands for our love for each other is what identifies us with Christ (John 13:35).
Sometimes the rabbits of the world (worries, unwholesome activities, and bad influences) will eat away at a friendship. We must find ways to guard against them. We must continue to reach out to the friend who is chasing those rabbits. Sometimes we must speak truthfully with a friend who is going astray. Even though it is difficult to do, saving that friend from self-destructive behavior is more important than the momentary discomfort a loving confrontation may bring (James 5:19-20).
There will also be winters that may strain friendships. It is hard to know what to say to friend who is frozen with disappointment or loss. Even though you may not have the best words, a simple hug may be the warmth needed to keep a heart from dying in the cold. Don’t smother the hurting friend, but be available to knock off the cold winds of doubt that often follow the death of a loved one or the end of a dream.
Cultivating a friendship will take much effort and, perhaps, some tears; but the rewards far outweigh the costs. The fruit of a good friendship is sweeter than any apple. The kind words of a friend can make all the difference on a dreary day because “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). May the Lord help me to be the type of friend that digs deep to eradicate barriers, waters with kindness, and protects when the cold winds blow. And I thank the Lord for those who have made the effort to cultivate a friendship with me.
My students and I took the weed infested edge of a field and turned it into a garden. We learned about growing things from seeds and planning the layout of a garden, the two objectives of the science lesson. However, I learned much about the hard work of cultivating the soil as well.
The first year I thought I effectively cleared the weeds from a square yard of ground, and my class planted twelve marigold plants we had started from seed in the classroom window. They grew and bloomed with the help of water laced with Miracle Grow, but I continued to fight weeds all spring.
The next year I prepared a larger rectangle and worked harder to dig up the roots of those weeds. They extended about two feet into the ground and were as thick as the handle of my shovel in places. I toiled many afternoons digging and hacking at roots. When I thought I had done the best job humanly possible, I worked in a large bag of peat moss and three bags of top soil. We did an experiment with live worms and then released them in the garden to aerate the soil. My young gardeners helped me plant seedlings of marigolds, nasturtiums, and zinnias. Then came the rabbits. Nasturtiums are supposed to be good in salads, but I never found out because the rabbits ate them almost before the children had the opportunity to see them.
The next year I read that rabbits don’t like wild onions. The sixty second graders at the private school helped me enlarge our plot. We dragged rocks from the playground and used them to outline our garden. Along the back edge there were wild onions transplanted from a friend’s yard. Marigolds formed diamond shapes around two beds. One contained alternating carrot and radish plants. The other contained three types of herbs. That was the year of the late freeze in March. I thought I’d never collect enough cans and cartons to cover the seedlings we had already planted, but somehow the second-graders and I protected our plants. That year the school won a beautification award from the city, and our garden was listed as one of the reasons.
Establishing a garden from ground long uncultivated took work, sweat, and some money. It took a lot of time, and we never completely eradicated those weeds. But the reward of watching the students smell the flowers and herbs and eat the carrots and radishes they had grown was well worth it.
Building a friendship is much like cultivating that unused land. It takes work to get below the surface of the mask we show the world. It takes much time spent with someone to uncover the barriers that keep a friendship from taking root. When the seedling of a relationship is established, the work is not over. We must water it with appreciation and attention. Neglected friendships seldom bloom.
After a friendship blooms, new weeds may surface and try to choke out the beauty that is just beginning to emerge. Hurt feelings, mistrust left over from a failed relationship, strong differences of opinion can whither a friendship if not dealt with swiftly and in love. We cannot abandon the friendship at the first sign of a difference. We must seek to love each other as our Lord commands for our love for each other is what identifies us with Christ (John 13:35).
Sometimes the rabbits of the world (worries, unwholesome activities, and bad influences) will eat away at a friendship. We must find ways to guard against them. We must continue to reach out to the friend who is chasing those rabbits. Sometimes we must speak truthfully with a friend who is going astray. Even though it is difficult to do, saving that friend from self-destructive behavior is more important than the momentary discomfort a loving confrontation may bring (James 5:19-20).
There will also be winters that may strain friendships. It is hard to know what to say to friend who is frozen with disappointment or loss. Even though you may not have the best words, a simple hug may be the warmth needed to keep a heart from dying in the cold. Don’t smother the hurting friend, but be available to knock off the cold winds of doubt that often follow the death of a loved one or the end of a dream.
Cultivating a friendship will take much effort and, perhaps, some tears; but the rewards far outweigh the costs. The fruit of a good friendship is sweeter than any apple. The kind words of a friend can make all the difference on a dreary day because “Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones” (Proverbs 16:24). May the Lord help me to be the type of friend that digs deep to eradicate barriers, waters with kindness, and protects when the cold winds blow. And I thank the Lord for those who have made the effort to cultivate a friendship with me.
2 comments:
Hellooooo out there. I found your new blog at Christan's place.
You can add me to your blogroll, too, now. ha!
I've been at this for over 3 years. Come visit.
Oh I might add...you shoulda called your blog Susie Q!
:-)
Post a Comment