Last week my new friend Amy came for dinner.
Once we realized we both like gardening
A quick trip to the garden house
Was a must.
Some of you may know that once someone asks me a gardening question
I’m off
Giving them a gardening encyclopedia
When all the really want is a cliff note version.
Normally, several minutes in I finally look at the glazed eyes of my innocent victim
And dial it back a little.
But Amy kept asking questions
And I kept going.
There was one question I’ve been asked before
But I heard it differenly this time.
“Why do you have a fan running on the baby plants” she asked.
To strengthen the stems
My usual reply.
Then it hit me.
Stress….
I’m putting stress on these tiny plants
To make them stronger.
Oh my, maybe it’s just living my life
“Where the wind comes sweeping down the plains”
Is actually a line from our state song,
Or maybe it’s having lived so much life,
Or maybe it’s these past two years
But suddenly I knew.
We are like those baby plants.
Standing in the winds of life.
I know so many people
Who have struggled and stood strong
Against those winds.
And though the stresses of those lives
Would never have been our choice
They have strengthened us
And helped us to grow.
We are all just creatures
In God’s great creation.
What a gift.
Gail
In My Garden 