My Garden

God is giving me a life lesson in my garden.

March 26

I love all my spring Flowers! I wish they would stay all summer long. But alas, my Paperwhite Narcissi have already died and my Hyacinths are fading fast. My tulips are still beautiful and new life is springing forth everywhere. Every day there is more green on the trees. The Cherry Blossoms are stunning and the Azaleas are on fire. Growing up in Canada, I don't remember Spring being this beautiful. Everything came back to life and the trees were green again. I loved the smell of the first cut of grass. But I don't think we had all this color. The trees don't just come back green. Before the green leaves arrive they blossom! We have pink trees, white trees, purple trees, fuchsia trees, more colors than I can count. Some trees don't blossom but the leaves don't start as green. They come in initially red or yellow, some are even orange. As much as I hate to see my early spring flowers die, I am excited to see my hydrangeas bloom. My Rhododendron is about to burst. My garden is constantly changing, as is my life. God is showing me that if I keep looking at the flowers that are dying, I will miss the beauty that is coming. Too often this is true in my life. I want all the beauty, all the time. When something that was beautiful ends, it can be hard for me to see the beauty that is coming. I want to hang on to the beauty that was. My Hyacinths are dying, most of them don't look beautiful anymore. But my eyes are not on the Hyacinth, they are on the hydrangeas. The hydrangeas have no blooms. They don't even have any buds, but each day I see more pretty little green leaves. I know the flowers are coming, and I can't wait. I am too busy watching the new growth to allow sadness to creep in for what has already passed. Every day I spend time in my garden, grateful for what is blooming. grateful for what came up in early spring, grateful for what is in bloom now, and grateful for what is to come. The same needs to be true for my life.