I Did What I’ve Never Done Before

In my time away from regular life, work, and all the noise that comes with it, I found myself nurturing my garden with intention. I was looking up YouTube how-to videos, watching Monty Don do his garden magic, soaking up all the things I never knew, trying things that would have scared me silly just last year, and enjoying the quiet process of nurturing the small life that grows in gardening pots.

Flowers from the grocery store have turned into so much more. They have become life lessons, picture frames for my own soul seasons, and resilient blooms that return and return and return.

My garden is delightful, but not spectacular. I coax life, watch for life, and wait for life. Nurture and anticipate. That’s all that’s required of me. I’m not working to a finished garden, but walking through the process that yields a healthier garden.

I noticed one of my flower bunches had outgrown its pot. The roots were reaching out of the drainage holes. So I did what I’ve never done before. I became a plant surgeon. Instead of buying a larger pot, I used what I had. I broke the soil and gently yet firmly replanted both into separate pots.

I wasn’t sure my hanging flower pot would make it and it still looks weak, but the flowers are getting stronger and I’ve seen new green sprouts growing boldly despite the shock of being uprooted and replanted. The other flower bunch that was dying is now thriving. And so life triumphing over all.

Historically, August is a hard month for me, so to see so much life sprouting up (other flower pots in my garden are bursting with it!) has been it’s own kind of poetry and a true gift from God.

I keep being reminded of Spring 2018 when I was inexpertly plopping soil into a pot thinking, “ I don’t know what I’m doing, but I’m doing a new thing. Immediately from this thought, God seemed to say,“I KNOW WHAT I’M DOING. I’M DOING A NEW THING!”

And He has.

And He is!

Transplanting flowers with a courageous hand and celebrating every single new green sprout confirms just how much life God has done and is doing on the outside of me and in the inside of me.

I am a gardener. I am a celebrator of life. I am at peace. I am full of hope. I am watching. I am waiting. I am living from a place of joy.

I am here.

All because God knows what He’s doing.