Go to the Garden

These are the words I tell myself when life seems out of control, when I need to catch my breath - "go to the garden".

I tend to get caught up in the crazy details and worries of the day so easily, but my garden is a place that never fails to help me find peace and see the bigger picture.  I am the creator of the garden as I am the creator of my life. The designer and the grounds keeper.  

On some days every weed is apparent to my eye and other days I see right past the weeds to the beauty of the garden's secrets that are emerging in front of me.  

I have the ability to nurture the ground that is under my feet and watch it develop into whatever I want or I can ignore it and let it wither and eventually die.  I choose to nurture - to dive in and get my hands dirty, to tirelessly continue my battle with the weeds (and random sumac shoots), to breathe in the scents, listen with attention to the sounds, let my heart expand at the glorious colours, and enjoy to the bounty that is my garden. 

This is not the easy way, but it is the only way.

The gardener does not make the garden, the garden makes the gardener.  

 ~ Karen Maezen Miller