Yesterday the weather proved to be a perfect day for me to get the garden underway now that the cold front threats seem to have dwindled.
Seven hours later when the sun began to make its final descent I was pleased to see that a nice 3/4 of it was complete. A bonus to the day... seven hours of what turned into some one on one God time. I would like to be able to say it was seven hours of happiness and smiles, but it wasn't. I was corrected, humbled, and even had a few crying moments.
It began as I walked out there earlier in the afternoon to the 70-something foot by 30-something foot area prepped for planting. I remember just standing there looking at it for a moment, thinking, My God, what have I gotten myself into.
You see, I've been looking forward to getting the garden going for a couple months now. I've had standard gardens before, but this year, the idea of having a full-fledge garden to eliminate the need for fresh vegetables and fruits from the grocery shopping list just seemed like a smart idea. This new garden is set up for every vegetable and vine fruit you can imagine, and then some.
However, even with a garden area that size, I don't have the fancy tools and gadgets for easy planting, I don't even own a tiller... in fact, I realized as I stood there that I didn't even have a clue where the basic garden hoe and shovel had grown legs and walked away to. And yet, I had pounds of seeds (yes, pounds) to plant in the ground so the family would be set for a year on fresh, home-canned, and home-froze veggies.
Have you ever been stoked and completely blank at the same time? That was me, in that very moment. But I was determined. The grocery bill will decrease because of this. I will get some fresh air and time in the good outdoors because of this. Others would be blessed with the harvest drawn in from this.
So I took a large metal serving spoon (don't laugh... I use what I've got!), and started digging rows to drop the seeds into, carefully checking each type of veggie, and the amount of spacing each one required. I was enjoying myself. The sun on my face, dirt on my hands (and arms, and knees, and face, and under nails, and in my shoes...), my Chihuahua fur-babies running and playing around me... it was going great.
A little at a time my hands started getting sore, I began to get sweatier and sweatier, my mouth got dry and parched, and the dogs started irritating me as they ran back and forth over my perfect little rows. The disgruntlement started setting in. I trudged into the house to pour a glass of tea, and set back out to my project. I felt like I had already been out there for several hours, and as I approached, I had a pathetic five rows done. I plopped down on my butt right there in the dirt and just looked around.
Then the mumbling began. Oh, and the pity party... I can't forget that... because that's when the correction began. You know how they tend to start right after you try going to God with a "woe is me" attitude?
Shame on me! Oh I wanted the ground to open up big enough to swallow me up (as though I'd be hiding from God there, right?). I don't consider myself a complainer. I really do like trying to look for the best in every situation. In fact, there might even be a couple people that read this that can admit to getting irritated with me because I worry very little about things, and have been accused on quite a few occasions of being passive, when in actuality I just like the bright side of a situation... the gloomy side is yucky and depressing! Yet here I was, being Miss Debbie Downer.
So yes, there I was still sitting in the dirt. I caught a whiff of the fresh air, and I heard "wake up and smell the blessings". Uh, Lord, roses... the saying is roses. Wake up and smell the roses. And that's one thing I don't have planted around here. "No, blessings. You're thriving daily in a garden of blessings I have provided you, and you're feeling sorry for yourself?"
I'm willing to bet if that moment were captured on camera, the photograph would reveal my jaw dropped wide open.
Don't get me wrong, I'm very aware of the blessings in my life, and am forever grateful for them. But a layer was peeled off my spiritual eyes at that moment, looking deeper into my blessings.
One of my favorite shows to watch is Little House on the Prairie. There I sat imagining myself placed back in the days of Laura Ingalls Wilder and the life they lived. If they wanted food to eat, they hunted or grew their own (no exceptions like a trip to McDonald's if crops were ruined or the game got away). If they wanted water, they hiked to a creek, filled a bucket, and used it sparingly and wisely. If you want shelter to call home you build it from the ground up yourself (without electricity or plumbing) and windows were a special (and costly) bonus. When Charles Ingalls needed work, he would walk for days to get to other towns to earn a dollar or two for a weeks work (and that was on a good week).
We are so selfish. Where is it written that we are entitled to the quick and easy way out of everything we do? Can you imagine if our current generations were time warped back into the Little House on the Prairie days without promise of return. How many would long for the chance to return to their own life, realizing just how blessed we are with things as simple as running water, cars for running errands, grocery stores nearby for a quick dinner run (including a stocked meat department). How long would one last, hunting for and growing all their own food, fetching water from a creek, walking to other towns for pennies per hour of work, sewing their own clothes...
No Facebook games or videos to occupy laziness or idle time, no shopping malls or car dealerships to accumulate debt, no nail salons, no cell phones, no fast food joints when there was a night you just didn't feel like cooking, no video game consoles to keep you from interacting wholesomely with your children, no ESPN...
Just hard-working, living off the land, pure interaction with those in your lives.
Suddenly I was joyfully working in the garden. It blessed me to have the privilege to put my time, hard work, and effort into a source that would provide for my family. With the blinders off, it took on a different perspective. Yes it was hard work, but I felt good when I walked back into the house. My eyes watered when I stood before my refrigerator pressing that lever on the front that dispensed cold fresh water into my glass.
We're so spoiled, and we need to realize that blessings most certainly come in forms we too often overlook. If it takes heaven opening up and angels singing for us to recognize we've been blessed, then it's time to reevaluate our way of thinking. Complaints, grumbling, fuss, and disgruntlement are EVERYWHERE, while the "woe is me, life is too hard" syndrome takes over.
Recognize it, confront it, and get over yourself. We live in a garden of blessings... so wake up and smell your blessings!
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
(Philippians 2:13-15)
