A Container In God’s Garden

This week has been a fun week! My husband, Wade, was on the last week of his two week vacation. He spent the first week in Michigan visiting his best buddy. He went fishing everyday and caught too many fish to count. Most of them went back into the lake, of course. This week, while he was still on a high from last week, I asked him to help me get my flowers purchased and clean our deck area and get things ready for a fantastic summer! He has gladly catered to  my whims this week. And I love him for that. He planted his garden with tomatoes, cucumbers and green and red bell peppers . . . ummmmm, he may have told me yellow but I can’t remember now. I guess we will see when they start coming on, huh? *wink wink* I found out last year that I really, REALLY love flower gardening. I planted numerous containers and hanging baskets and a flower bed in the front yard. I did the same this year. Some plants I liked enough last year that I bought them again this year. And others, I swapped out for something new. I added a double shepherd’s hook pole and put a couple hanging baskets on it. I love it all! I noticed a few things this week that I quickly turned into lessons for myself and I wanted to share a couple today. 

Along with all the flowers, Dracaena Spikes, and Vinca Vines, I needed to make all the combinations I desired, I also purchased six sweet potato vine plants. They came in their own nice pots but I wanted some of them (four to be exact) to be in hanging pots and one in a larger container in the front driveway. So I transplanted them. I had the same plants last year and was completely amazed and entertained with how their vines stretched out and grew along the privacy fence. They spread out so much. I was sad when the season ended because that had to come to an end, also. I noticed something when I was watering the day after I transplanted them into the hanging baskets and the large container in the driveway. The plant in the larger container had already spread out to take up much of the available space in that container. The two plants that are hanging at the front door are in a pot that are about half the size of the larger container. They aren’t spread out nearly as much. They are restricted. If you’ve had ANY experience with gardening, or even caring for an indoor plant, I know you will understand that the plant you are caring for really is limited by the space it’s contained in. The pot you have it planted in will dictate how large its ultimate growth will be. I’ve repotted a few of my indoor plants a couple times and they always grow and take up as much of their new space as is physically possible.

I started thinking about all the ways I have found in my life to limit myself. I am that sweet potato vine. I have been in small pots and I have been in large containers. But, I feel like I have managed in some way to sabotage myself most of the time before I even get a chance to grow to fill the space that I could inhabit. Maybe this is something else I have found while “Losing Lacy” . . . a desire to be ALL that God intended me to be. I know that sounds kinda corny and maybe even a little cliche. But I am realizing, finally, at 42, what kind of potential I have. Now, please know, I don’t think I am special or better than anyone. But I do think I can do just about anything I put my mind to. So why have I settled in many areas of my life?  That’s more of a rhetorical question and I really can’t answer it here with only one or two sentences. The point is, I am asking that question of myself. But, because this blog is intended to help me and to help you, I would like you to examine your life and your hopes and dreams and expectations. Ask yourself that same question with me. 

Another thought I had this week was about how much happiness comes from being outside digging in the dirt with the flowers and plants and nature. For me, I discovered last year, there is something very healing and calming about being outdoors and doing just that. I made a discovery this week. I have already shared with you that I had gained a little weight since last November. I think part of what I learned this week is that I am going to have to find a way to keep myself much more physically active through the winter months. I went through a small patch of depression through these last months. And although I had been painting and had been enjoying that happiness, it wasn’t as physically challenging as I needed it to be. This was the first fall and winter I hadn’t worked outside the home in almost 13 years. I do know that I miss people. I sometimes miss the crazy, busy days I had when I worked in the dental office. I miss the way that no day was ever the same. They were always busy but never the same. I am going to do a better job this year of working on all that I just mentioned. I think another part of it for me was that it was the first fall and winter where we weren’t completely busy with sports. Franklin didn’t do a winter sport and Ben was away at college. I will need to find a way to stay busier on that front, too. All this to say that I know better what I need to do to stay active, and stay out of depression this coming year. I have another 6 months to prepare for it, but I have to keep myself on track with diet and exercise through the summer to get back where I was to start! I can. I know I can. 

The last thing I thought about when planting was how I will need to start weeding these beautiful flower beds and pots! Of course, that made me think about all the crap we deal with in our lives that needs weeded out. There is beauty in each one of us. We have to make sure we are tending to the watering and fertilizing of our souls on a regular basis. But there are other housekeeping issues to deal with, too. We have weeds popping up all around the flowers in our lives. We have weeds of doubt, limiting beliefs, other people’s opinions, fear and many other things. We have no choice but to pull all those things out by the roots. And as soon as they are spotted. Just like weeds in our flowers, the longer they linger there, the deeper their roots grow and the more difficult they will be to get up and out. Weeds grow so fast. I swear one day there’s nothing and the next you go out and there is this annoying little stem that is a half an inch high and has three leaves on it already. Get them out. Focus on you and what you know to be best for you. It doesn’t matter what other people think. It doesn’t matter how scared you are. It doesn’t matter who has gone before you and succeeded or failed. What matters is that you keep going until you get to where you want to be. The only way you can enjoy the beauty of the flowers is by pulling the weeds out of the way. Those weeds take the nutrients and water and sunlight that the beautiful flowers need to continue to grow and become what they are supposed to be.

The planting, weeding, watering, fertilizing and tending to flowers is time consuming and even tiring at times. But it’s really worth it. I believe the grass is greener and the flowers are prettier where you water them. I think we are at our best when we bloom where we are planted and let our seeds of hope and happiness fill the air and sail on to replant as fresh starts that will grow with time. And I believe that we are all capable of SO MUCH MORE than many of us ever come to realize. As you take in the beauty of the spring and summer please know that you are worth more than settling. You are worth finding your passions and fulfilling your dreams. We are all worth it. 

#loveyourjourney #youreworthit #bettermewithNewYouCBD #Endo30 #itsuptoyou