Garden of Dreams

            While writing this, the weather is miserable, again! Each of us seems to be affected by it this time. Bubbling up in conversations is concern over seeding, especially with this weather taking a defiant stand against the farmers. In the seeding of crops there always seems to be an anxious energy around it and understandably so. Livelihoods depend upon it. But what about planting gardens?
            I realized a striking difference between the two in talking with my parents. I knew they’d been looking forward to planting a garden this year but just this morning my dad announced that it’s probably too late to plant one now. But instead of that silent panic that the farmers are feeling, I was touched by the disappointment in his voice.
            That set me to wondering about the difference between seeding crops and seeding gardens. Do we really have control in our responses to both? Or have our responses become automatic, especially in the case of generational farming where that sense of urgency and anxiety around seeding time seems to have been stamped upon us? I do believe we have a choice and I find that refreshing.

            In contemplating all of this, I remember, as a child, that there was a bachelor who lived at the end of our street and he always had the best garden in town. His garden was a labyrinth of luscious growth. Row and row of crisp vegetables in a rainbow of colors hidden beneath the surface. Bright orange carrots, deep red radishes. I recall how careful you had to be in this land of wonder and promise. Extra care had to be taken when you walked between the rows. Like walking a tight rope, you had to find your balance and maintain it lest you fall and trample the newly erupting plants.

            I think this is the same with our lives. Finding that balance. Living and moving and being in our stressful worlds and at the same time tending the gardens within us where we have planted seed of hope and seeds of dreams. Walking in any garden requires such care and attention. Every seed is important and treated with the reverence it needs in order to be protected and grow. Do you care for your hopes and dreams in the same way?

            One of my favourite things to do is to look at seed packets. They hold such promise don’t they? And the myriad of choices is almost as delicious as a fresh garden salad or crisp and juicy corn on the cob, dripping with melted butter! It’s always a given that, once we have chosen what we will plant, we will tend our gardens with care and in quiet anticipation of our harvest.

            But what of our ‘inner’ gardens? Do we take care in choosing the hopes and dreams we will plant? Do we tend to them with the same care and attention one would give to a backyard garden? Search your heart for your ‘seed packets’. I assure you the packets are there. Choose the ones that strike a chord of joy within you and fearlessly plant them! And don’t forget to balance – tread carefully when you step from the pressures of your life and into your garden of transformation.

This 'garden of dreams' belongs to my amazing sister, Lynette
I love you!


Originally published in the June 7, 2010