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There's Always Something


 I decided to start my gardening early, before the sun would find its way into our front yard atrium.  I started trimming the jasmine and alyssum that seem to think they are the only plants that matter.  I am sure that they feel they are justified in spreading beyond their borders.  The Bird of Paradise, now over 25 years plus old also sprawls across its center spot.  Its large leaves attempt to curtail the jasmine growth, but the jasmine just kindly winds itself around the leaves and doesn't particularly feel bothered by them.  The ferns have continued to show resilience and repeated growth, and yet when I rearrange them, I see a spot of dryness that they cleverly hid.  The roses too required pruning, and defend their growth by poking me with their thorns.  I try to be careful as I work because I actually have the privilege of hosting a morning Dove mother and her nest.  She took up residence in the center of my hanging plants, just after I had redone them with small fuschia flowers.  


There's always something that shows up as a surprise in my garden.  Sometimes it's perfectly round chomps cut out of my rose leaves by grasshoppers.  Sometimes it's a party of lady bugs, sometimes it's been a hummingbird that has made a nest in my jasmine vine.  But this time, it's this Mother Dove.  I have watched her every day, and am amazed at her patience and endurance.  She has continued to sit on her nest of 2 eggs 24/7.  I am not even sure how or when she eats or even gets a drink of water.  She's quiet, and seems to tolerate my chatty conversation with her whenever I greet her.  She never flies away abruptly, and throughout all my trimming and cutting of my out of control and unruly garden, she stayed put and didn't even flutter her wings.  

I don't think I could be so patient.  And obviously, she is very trusting, in that I think she had surveyed that particular spot for awhile, as I had viewed the doves often in our front yard or atrium.  Ideally, I wished she wouldn't have plopped down in my newly done basket of plants, but at this point I am willing to let it be until she has her baby birdies.  Yes, there's always something . . . but what does that matter? What are the lessons that the garden is showing me?


Perhaps, it's a reminder that growth happens even in spite of what I do or not .  It's God who causes the growth.  Yes, I can water, feed, trim and prune, but I cannot cause one iota of growth.  I need to be thankful for the growth, the beauty of each plant that seeks to display itself.  I am to realize that each one shares in the making the atrium a beautiful and peaceful place, especially throughout the seasons of the year.  Each one has the timing of their bloom.  I need to pause and be grateful that I have this special spot to sit and breathe, enjoying the summer breeze and scents, where I know that I'll find there's always something . . .


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