The Agony and the Ecstasy
June 29, 2010 
My sweet friend, Flying Jae's Mom, brought up a good point in her comment on yesterday's post. She said that she's heard weeding is supposed to be stress-reducing.
I would agree with her on this point, despite my grumbling and trembling at all the weeds that have currently run a'muck in my own garden. I've given the subject quite a bit of thought over the last few weeks, in fact... While I was out there pulling weeds.
Even though I could live without having to weed and hoe at such a pace just to keep up (or not) with the overall well-being of my garden, when I do get out there, put my nose to the dirt and start pulling, I kind of lose myself in the process. The only things that exist are the weeds and me, and the vegetables that are left standing when it's all said and done (or not done). I contemplate the deeper ponderings of the universe, such as...
1. The garden as a metaphor for life... Nurturing what will be fruitful, weeding out the rest.
2. How much I love the smell of tomato plants.
3. If/when I will ever have time to paint my toenails again. (When you're weeding, you catch a lot of glimpses of your own feet.)
4. If the dirt that seems to have become one with the cracks in my heels will ever come out. (Again, lots of time looking at one's feet.)
5. All of the life going on there in the soil... The way the plants compete with one another. The way the weed seeds, which have been dormant for at least a decade while the area was pasture, have now come to life.
6. The different emotions that the weeds invoke in me... Part of me wants to eradicate them. Part of me wants to suffocate them. Part of me doesn't mind letting them get a little bit bigger because they're easier to pull out. Part of me appreciates them for helping me to apply the principles of the garden to my life... You just do what you have time for, and in that time, you try to do things that are good. You probably can't do too many things, if anything, perfectly; but that doesn't mean you shouldn't attempt them at all. You praise the Lord every step of the way -- because you realize how little control you really have over your garden, your weeds, your world -- and how every good thing you have is a blessing. A gift.
7. How putting in a little time and elbow grease can yield big results. How sometimes it's important not to overthink things, but just get in there and do the work, and along the way the solutions to problems will reveal themselves.
8. How I definitely am not as young/limber as I used to be, and how I must pace myself when it comes to time bending, stooping, crouching and such.
9. How there is a time for everything. Right now the garden maintenance seems so all-consuming, but before we know it, we will enjoy the fruits of our labor and look upon the colors of fall.
10. Wondering what I'm actually going to make with all this food! After all the work I'm putting into it, I have the feeling vegetables are going to never have tasted so good.
Now, just a little update...
The cherry tomato plants that I started from seed in these little pots, back in April...
Looked like this a couple weeks ago...
And now they're rocketing out of the tops and sides of their cages!
I just think that's cool.
Other veggies are bursting as well. Tonight is my scheduled night for weed warfare, so I'll take some more pics to share of all the growth.
Now tell me, in the 'garden' of your life, how do you deal with the weeds? Are you able to focus on what will be fruitful?
Reader Comments (5)
Weeds of life... I haven't always been good at handling them, but with a little help I'm learning! I handled the most recent patch pretty well, I guess. But it wasn't without a lot of painful tears and arguing that it just wasn't right for this to happen. Eventually, I realized that God was still on my side... He was just telling me to wait.
Good luck with your garden weeding! That's always been my least favorite chore!
I love pulling weeds. It seems that is one thing I can make a difference in.
Metaphorically I like to think of them as adversity.
Getting rid of them and conquering them.
It rocks.
The Lord is funny about how He teaches us (me!) lessons...He even uses the weeds! Being faithful to pluck out the 'weeds' in our life, helps our lives grow stronger and helps us to be able to bear better fruit. Thank you for sharing your weeding insights! :)
I think the weeds of life are necessary. Without the strugle, what would really be worth it! A little bit of work makes things a LOT more rewarding. For example, being BACK in school. BLAH. But totally worth it in the end.
Thanks for all the thoughts, ladies!
Lovebird - So true, so true. The 'weeds' are what makes our 'fruit' so much more rewarding! If our garden just grew perfectly on its own, without any tending from us, we wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much.