Garden Chronicles
I have always loved to garden ever since I was young. It is all thanks to Margaret who gave me my first gardening class. One day I noticed she was taking a plant out to the ground and putting it in a pot. I, being very curious, asked her what she was doing. She explained to me that she was transplanting this plant (which I later learned was a tiger lily) from the ground to give it a new home. As she was carefully digging a circle around the plant, pushing some of the dirt to the side, she stopped using the shovel and bent down to her knees to gently loosen the roots of the plant. While holding it just so carefully, she lifted it up from the dirt.
Her actions were almost ceremonial to me. I carefully watched Margaret’s face turn from seriousness and intent, as she gently brush the dirt off the roots of the plant, trying not to break them in preparation for its next journey. As the plant’s roots were being released without much effort from the ground, I saw Margaret’s serious look change immediately to a childlike joy of celebratory triumph. As she gently wrapped her hands around the roots of the plant, I saw her looking up to the Heavens above, giving whispered thanks and praise for the gift.
She quickly walked over to her potting table and put the plant in its new home — a brand new terra cotta pot with fresh soil and food. As she was putting the plant in the pot, she began to share with me her secret of gardening. She said, “Ssusan, gardening is more than getting your hands in the dirt, planting, pruning and cleaning. Gardening is about life and love and nurturing one’s soul.” I always thought that mother nature took care of her garden on her own…there was not much one human could do to influence its well-being, I thought. Margaret’s secret to gardening was love and care. She continued, “Plants, trees and shrubs are like people. They all need love and nurturing and a little extra care during the different seasons of life.” As she finished planting the beautiful orange and yellow tiger lily, she gently patted down the top soil sprinkling water on top to help the roots find their way in their new home. I could hear her quietly say, “Welcome to your new home filled with love.”
Years later, I carry on the loving tradition of gardening that I learned from Margaret. She was not just teaching me about gardening and the joy one gains from seeing the fruits of one’s labor but she was teaching me about how we, too, will have many different seasons in our own life’s journey and, through them all, the greatest secret and gift is love.
From that moment of time with Margaret, I found that wherever life planted me, I always had my heart and a few gardening tools. Sometimes all I had were indoor plants and herb gardens on a sunny window sill during the cold winters of the East Coast. It was my West Coast patio that expanded my love for the garden.
Though I have been gardening for years, I still do not call myself a master gardener like some of my friends — Carolyn, Wilma and Kathy to name of few. They know every name of every plant and its formal name and origin. Their generous hearts have always been there for me when I needed their wisdom and encouragement for new planting ideas in my garden.
As I dust off the dirt from a day’s work in the garden, I am reminded how blessed I have been by our Heavenly Father throughout the many seasons in my life. He has “planted” gifted people around me who have shared their hearts with me. From Margaret in my early years to, most recently, Lesse, the Maasai elder in Tanzania, I have learned that the secret to everything in life is LOVE.
As simple as it sounds, sometimes during the seasons of drought, we may find it hard to fill that wellspring of love. Yet, it is always there for all. One of my favorite bible chapters, 1 Corinthians 13 concludes with: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” So, I thank all who have chosen to plant their love in order nurture and help others stretch and grow during their seasons of life.
