Growing Pains

“One can choose to go back toward safety or forward toward growth. Growth must be chosen again and again; fear must be overcome again and again.” - Abraham Maslow

When I was a child and school was out for the summer, my father would swap shifts at his job to stay with my brother and me during the daytime until my mother got home. There are plenty of stories, but the ones currently on my mind are those from the summer garden. I don’t remember if we planted every summer, and I remember helping, but I don’t remember whether I liked it. It seemed like the deer would often eat the garden down, and I think we finally gave up trying in our backyard. My parents came from families where growing food was essential to making ends meet. Their parents(my grandparents) grew up in rural America during the Depression, so gardening was hardly a hobby to them. It was a means of survival. I’m glad I can go to the store and buy food (if you saw some of my gardening skills, you would know why), but something about gardening is so genuine. Every day in the garden is a reality check. It may be the thing I love most about it. In the garden, I see many metaphors for life. After all, gardening itself is about life– bringing life, nourishing life, protecting life, and making the most of life. 

Among other things, I planted two watermelon vines this year. Until the other day, I thought there was but one lonely piece of fruit growing on the vines, but when I removed the weeds around them, I found four more watermelons growing! It doesn’t take much to thrill this small-time gardener. In my mind, there was a life lesson in the watermelon surprise. 

How often do the good things get “lost in the weeds” of our lives? Think about it. A song 90's country song lyric comes to mind:

Phone rings, baby cries, TV diet guru lies.

“Good morning, honey.”

Go to work, make up, try to keep the balance up,

Between love and money.

The song describes a hectic life in a few lines– the consistent balancing act in which we find ourselves. What to do? I’m not foolish enough to think it is as simple as pulling weeds, but, then again, maybe I am.

If you will pardon the use of my own metaphor, sometimes life gets so busy that it can be hard to see the watermelons for all the weeds. I am always coming up with new ways to remove the “weeds” from my life, or more specifically, to slow down, simplify, and appreciate the good things. It is sometimes a painful process that comes at the price of emotional sweat and mental heavy lifting, but it helps me to be more thankful for what I have. As with gardening, growth often comes after some hard work. 

I hope my little anecdote from the garden has left my dear readers with something to ponder. 

Until next time, try pulling some weeds.