Metaphors

Back when I was healthy and running, I could apply just about every running experience of mine to some experience in my life. Marathons are fantastic metaphors for life--setting goals, hills and valleys, needing help along the way, receiving support, feeling alone, crossing the finish line. However, since I have been unable to run, I have been lacking some of that insight into my life. Until last Friday...

Our acre garden is growing beautifully. This is the third year that we have planted it. The first year, all we had was a plow. You know, the old-fashioned kind that used to be pulled behind horses. With huge clumps of grass in between the "rows", John insisted if we just flipped them over, the grass would die. Also, since we didn't have any real rows, John just tossed the corn kernels into the air and hoped for the best. The cantaloupe plants died promptly when I didn't believe the instructions that said they need plenty of water in the beginning "for best results". The tomato plants fell over on themselves with no stakes or cages. The corn had worms, and I think we ate maybe one watermelon.

Last summer, we invested in a tiller for the soil and added loads and loads of horse manure. We measured the rows according to the package instructions. Because it was a year of little rain, I spent hours toting cans of water from the house out to the garden, watering each row of seeds or seedlings. Within months, we had cantaloupes filling our refrigerator, more peppers than we knew what to do with and pumpkins coming out of our ears. The tomato plants were huge and the strawberries were producing, but each night, the rabbit "fairy" would visit our garden and check each growing fruit. Within seconds of any of the fruits becoming ripe, that dumb fairy would take a huge bite out of the tomato, or strawberry, and then throw it on the ground. 2 strawberries and 4 tomatoes later, our crop was done. We planted the potatoes too deep, and only got enough for one meal. And, oh, the weeds. Because we had planted the rows too close, we couldn't just run the tiller in between the rows to get rid of the weeds. Oh, no. We had to spend hours upon hours hand-picking the weeds.

This year, we're trying it all again. We have planted the rows at least eight feet apart--perfect width for a tractor and tiller. We have fenced in the area with lettuce and tomatoes and broccoli and have threatened to shoot ON SIGHT any rabbit fairy we might find. We have put down landscaping fabric to cut down on the weeds. We even planted the carrots and potatoes at correct depths and are seeing great results.

As I surveyed the garden the other day, after many days of rain, I noticed something peculiar. We had a new crop. Green, tall and beautiful. Lovely for summer days and picnics. Yes, we have unwantedly produced a lovely crop of GRASS!! Mind you, we can't get it to grow in our YARD!!! But we can't keep it out of the garden. So, despite all our best efforts, the garden STILL isn't quite what we had hoped. Thankfully, the rows are nice and wide, and we'll just plow it under :-)

Isn't the garden like life? We are presented with a challenge. We learn by experience how to overcome it, only to be presented with a new challenge unlike the other. And to think that what might be a challenge for us could be a blessing for someone else or for us, only in a different time or arena. We learn from mistakes and press on. Eventually, the grass dies, the weeds are tilled under and we are able to enjoy the sweet fruit of our labors.