Springtime

It is mid-April, which means spring is coming to a close here in coastal Texas. Mary Grace and I have been planting. I put in three tomato plants at the back of the house, where an overgrown Indian hawthorne used to be. Took a full morning to dig it out, and I had to use the big pickaxe to get it done, but it was well worth it. We already have tomatoes growing on the vines!

I also put in a Don Juan climbing rose bush. It's very small still, but produced two blossoms within its first month. Fragrant burgundy flowers, such a joy.

Mary Grace put in a big garden with help from her grandpa. He tilled up a patch out in the back yard, and she's put in tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, eggplant, lettuce, squash, carrots and beans. It's not big, just a few of each of those, but it looks great. James' fig tree already has a tiny fig on it as well.

I have some herbs to put in a big pot, and planted a small rosemary just outside my meditation garden. It will get to be a big shrub if I take good care of it.

I have lots of other gardening plans, but can only do a little bit at a time. The yard and flowerbeds have such promise, and my dreams for them are quite big. However, there is only so much time in a day, and only so much money to fill out those dreams. So the garden requires that I exercise patience. Patience when I come out to water and want to get to working in it, but know that my priorities must lie elsewhere.

Patience seems to be a lesson I have to learn over and over in my life. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend today. An old dear friend who even after years and years still knows me very well, and whose advice I treasure. But my friend doesn't use the computer the way I do, and so doesn't answer email or use Facebook for the very-nearly-instant-response that I've come to expect with everything else in life.

As I recall, I preached on this very topic a few years ago. Patience. Don't rush, don't be in a hurry, be patient and listen for the nudging of the Spirit.

And here I am, not listening or watching for the Spirit, but checking my phone and computer every five minutes. Silly! The discussion goes round and round in my mind - be patient, am I learning that AGAIN? Still? Be patient. Things will work out, it's worth the wait. Good things come to those who wait. Those who wait will be lifted up.

And then I go check again.

Why is patience such a hard lesson to learn?

Perhaps I should go look at the gardenia buds, and how they are taking their sweet time to unfurl. Perhaps I should go look at the tiny green tomatoes. Take a lesson from nature and her slow unfolding of the beauty and blessings of waiting for the right season. In time, I will know the certainty of the nudging of the Spirit again.