Tonight I stayed outside a few moments to water my elephant plants, my withering ornamental grasses and my struggling flower bed. A recent storm wrecked havoc on my little plot and relocated some of my precious soil to my old concrete sidewalk. I noticed among the wreckage a lone bulb that had somehow uprooted and found itself displaced among the mess.
One of my favorite musicals is The Secret Garden by Marsha Norman (based on the famous novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett). I often feel a bit like Mary Lennox when I'm close to the soil. It's easy to feel a swell of pride and ownership for my little plot, however small, and I feel so satisfied making it beautiful. I love the smell of the earth, the promise of new life, the hope of the future. One of my favorite characters is Dicken who exudes faith and positivity and helps Mary uncover the magic of the garden.
I only meant to water, but soon found myself spraying away the remains of the storm, straightening the fence and establishing some order again in my little plot. Before I realized it, I was considering placing another plant in the center to help cover the window grate and create a better balance. I was getting excited thinking about lining the border with bricks between the sidewalk and my little picket fence. This would help prevent future rainstorms from destroying my little garden and help it look complete.
I have an active imagination and have always relished the idea of finding a secret overgrown garden to nurture back to life. As fun as that would be to do in a literal sense, in metaphor, we have that opportunity to find and make hidden beauty every day. Sometimes we discover the beauty, other times we create it, but it is always there. That's why the theme of this blog is creating beauty. I could spend my whole days finding and creating beauty that wasn't there or wasn't recognized or appreciated yet.
I emerged from my divorce feeling like I wasn't beautiful. Or that I wasn't being recognized or appreciated. I felt invisible like Mary's garden, overgrown and unseen. A year and a half later, I have come a long way. I have more confidence, and that to me is beautiful. But I've more fully accepted myself. I say more fully, because acceptance is a process. I'm happy with myself and that creates a flourishing garden.
One of the simplest yet truly helpful principles I've heard this year is to water the flowers and pull the weeds. How often do we do the opposite, pulling out the truths and watering the negative thoughts that grow? What we focus on expands, so with my life, just like my flower bed, I'm focusing on the things I want to grow.
What needs to grow in your life that needs a little more nourishment? What needs to be ripped out to make way for new life? Find the beauty today and give it a little extra love. And feel more whole in the process.
One of my favorite musicals is The Secret Garden by Marsha Norman (based on the famous novel The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett). I often feel a bit like Mary Lennox when I'm close to the soil. It's easy to feel a swell of pride and ownership for my little plot, however small, and I feel so satisfied making it beautiful. I love the smell of the earth, the promise of new life, the hope of the future. One of my favorite characters is Dicken who exudes faith and positivity and helps Mary uncover the magic of the garden.
I only meant to water, but soon found myself spraying away the remains of the storm, straightening the fence and establishing some order again in my little plot. Before I realized it, I was considering placing another plant in the center to help cover the window grate and create a better balance. I was getting excited thinking about lining the border with bricks between the sidewalk and my little picket fence. This would help prevent future rainstorms from destroying my little garden and help it look complete.
I have an active imagination and have always relished the idea of finding a secret overgrown garden to nurture back to life. As fun as that would be to do in a literal sense, in metaphor, we have that opportunity to find and make hidden beauty every day. Sometimes we discover the beauty, other times we create it, but it is always there. That's why the theme of this blog is creating beauty. I could spend my whole days finding and creating beauty that wasn't there or wasn't recognized or appreciated yet.
I emerged from my divorce feeling like I wasn't beautiful. Or that I wasn't being recognized or appreciated. I felt invisible like Mary's garden, overgrown and unseen. A year and a half later, I have come a long way. I have more confidence, and that to me is beautiful. But I've more fully accepted myself. I say more fully, because acceptance is a process. I'm happy with myself and that creates a flourishing garden.
One of the simplest yet truly helpful principles I've heard this year is to water the flowers and pull the weeds. How often do we do the opposite, pulling out the truths and watering the negative thoughts that grow? What we focus on expands, so with my life, just like my flower bed, I'm focusing on the things I want to grow.
What needs to grow in your life that needs a little more nourishment? What needs to be ripped out to make way for new life? Find the beauty today and give it a little extra love. And feel more whole in the process.
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