On Gardening

I recently completed my masters and after working full time and studying for the past two years, I was looking for some things to do to “embiggen” my soul and rejuvenate with the time that had suddenly freed up now that the strenuous time of study was over.

My mom had always kept her yard in pristine condition and loved gardening. But she always had a lot of yard space to work with. Zach and I live in the heart of D.C. and have little yard to speak of, but that didn’t keep us from undertaking gardening.

We live in an English basement or garden apartment (glorified names for a basement apartment). And despite its “garden-y” name, there was no garden when we moved in.

All that changed and we now have pots of flowers lining the walkway out of our house. The amount of joy it brings me just to care for something other than myself is pretty indescribable. While the little pots aren’t much and they certainly aren’t rivaling Monet’s house and gardens, they are a little space of life being cultivated in our own front yard.

The flowers are a good reminder of the fleetingness of beauty, as well as a reminder that beauty is good for the soul. It is also a good reminder that there is a time for everything which reminds me of these verses:

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

²    a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³    a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴    a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵    a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶    a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷    a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸    a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

⁹What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ~ Ecclesiastes 3:1-12

Sometimes, its the simplest things in life that remind us of the profound things of life. The images in this blog post are not of our garden, but of all the beautiful foliage filling the streets of Washington during this time and season. I can’t wait to see what this season of rootedness has for us, but I also can’t wait for whatever season God has planned next.